Creative writing forms

Fiction

We are internationally recognised authors of novels, verse-novels, novellas, short stories, flash fiction and graphic fiction across realist, SFF, Gothic, speculative and hybrid genres. We work with literary festivals and literature development agencies, as well as print and broadcast media, to engage a diverse range of reading communities. We use creative composition to address wellbeing, queer identity, migration, faith and religious experience, youth, environments and other cultural phenomena.

Here Again Now

By Okechukwu Nzelu

Calypso

By Oliver K. Langmead

Ghosted

By Jenn Ashworth

The Three Lives of Saint Ciarán

By Inés G. Labarta

The Gospel of Orla

By Eoghan Walls

Researchers in Fiction

Professor Jenn Ashworth

Professor of Writing

Authors and the World, Creative Writing, Creative-Critical Writing, Digital Humanities, Gothic and Science Fiction, Literature and Religion, Literature, Space and Place, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dr Elen Caldecott

Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing

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Dr Ines Gregori Labarta

Lecturer in Creative Writing

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Dr Zoe Lambert

Lecturer

Creative Writing, Literature, Science and Medicine, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dr Oliver Langmead

Lecturer in Creative Writing

Creative Writing, Gothic and Science Fiction

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Dr Okechukwu Nzelu

Lecturer in Creative Writing

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Professor Catherine Spooner

Director of Postgraduate Research and Research Training, Professor of Literature and Culture

Creative Writing, Gothic and Science Fiction, Literature, Space and Place, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dr Eoghan Walls

Senior Lecturer

Creative Writing, Creative-Critical Writing, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dr Sara Wasson

Reader in Gothic Studies

Centre for Sustainable Soils, Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science, Digital Humanities, Energy Lancaster, FHASS Health Hub, Gothic and Science Fiction, Literature, Science and Medicine, Literature, Space and Place

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Professor Graham Mort

Emeritus

African Studies Group, Authors and the World, Creative Writing, Transcultural Writing, Practice and Research Network

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Professor John Schad

Emeritus Professor

Creative-Critical Writing, Literature and Religion, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Poetry

We are prize-winning writers at the leading edge of contemporary poetry. As well as print poetry collections, we produce poems for radio and collaborative transcultural poetry. One of our specialisms is the interface between poetry and other phenomena, including film, freedom, fashion, travel, faith and philosophy.

Thought Poems - A Translation of Heidegger's Verse

By Martin Heidegger (Author), Eoghan Walls (Translator)

After Sylvia: Poems and essays in celebration of Sylvia Plath

Edited by Ian Humphreys and Sarah Corbett

When It Rained for a Million Years

By Paul Farley

Joy in Service on Rue Tagore: Poems

By Paul Muldoon

Researchers in Poetry

Dr Eoghan Walls

Senior Lecturer

Creative Writing, Creative-Critical Writing, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Professor Catherine Spooner

Director of Postgraduate Research and Research Training, Professor of Literature and Culture

Creative Writing, Gothic and Science Fiction, Literature, Space and Place, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dramatic forms

We write extensively for radio, producing dramas, documentaries and adaptations.

We also write original work for the stage, scripts for television and film, and write and produce podcasts, performance monologues, games, graphic novel scripts and literary adaptations for stage.

We are particularly interested in place/space and sound, transnational/translinguistic communities and speculative genres.

Researchers in Dramatic forms

Tajinder Hayer

Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing

Creative Writing, Gothic and Science Fiction, Literature, Science and Medicine, Literature, Space and Place, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance, Transcultural Writing, Practice and Research Network

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Dr Ines Gregori Labarta

Lecturer in Creative Writing

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Dr Zoe Lambert

Lecturer

Creative Writing, Literature, Science and Medicine, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dr Oliver Langmead

Lecturer in Creative Writing

Creative Writing, Gothic and Science Fiction

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Creative non-fiction

We innovate with form and genre, producing hybrid creative-critical works, innovative literary criticism and various kinds of creative non-fiction, including essays, travel writing, memoir and other forms of life writing. We are interested in writing and the self, illness and recovery, places, spaces and landscapes, faith and religious trauma, and time and speculation.

The Parallel Path

Jenn Ashworth

Paris Bride: A Modernist Life

John Schad

An A-Z of Jane Austen

Michael Greaney

An Invention

Brian Baker

Walter Benjamin’s Ark

John Schad

Researchers in Creative non-fiction

Professor Jenn Ashworth

Professor of Writing

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Dr Zoe Lambert

Lecturer

Creative Writing, Literature, Science and Medicine, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Dr Okechukwu Nzelu

Lecturer in Creative Writing

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Professor John Schad

Emeritus Professor

Creative-Critical Writing, Literature and Religion, Literature, the Arts, Media and Performance

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Writers on writing

We work with (for example) Lancashire Libraries, the British Academy, the British Library and the National Centre for Writing on trauma-informed workshop methodologies. We publish on the teaching of writing for young people and develop new approaches for life writers that bridge the page and lived experience. We write for Kinfolk Magazine, lead residential workshops with Arvon and chair events at Manchester Literature and other festivals, working particularly closely with Lancaster Litfest. We sit on boards that influence the field and contribute to national conversations on authorship, AI and creative writing pedagogy as scholars and practitioners with a stake in where literature goes next.

Writing the Real

Writing the Real

Ed. Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst

In Writing the Real, a selection of the best creative nonfiction writers explore the craft in all its forms. From memoir and personal essays to place-based writing and autofiction, writers such as Nikesh Shukla, Kirsty Logan, Kit de Waal and Tom Lee examine how we shape our own experiences on the page, and how the ambiguity of 'reality' can become a source of creative energy.

Writing for Young People

Writing for Young People: Critical Readings and Discussions on Craft

Elen Caldecott (Author)

Applying the approach of 'reading-as-a-writer' to the craft of writing for young people, this textbook combines critical analysis, unique author-insight and practical application of ideas to give writers the skills to create successful fiction for youth audiences.

Writing the Uncanny

Writing the Uncanny

Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst

Writing the Uncanny sees some of the best contemporary authors explain what drew them to horror, ghost stories, folklore and beyond, and reveal how to craft unsettling fiction which resonates. Authors such as Jeremy Dyson, Alison Moore, Jenn Ashworth and Catriona Ward share their insights on psychogeography, fairy tales, cultural tradition and the supernatural, and offer practical advice on their different approaches to the genre.

Workshop

A writing workshop at Lancaster University Library

Photo credit Gemma Sosnowsky, Lancaster University Library

Okey at Haworth Parsonage, the Bronte museum, in the dining room sat in a chair

Brontë Parsonage Museum

Dr Okechukwu Nzelu at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire.

Photo credit Christopher Bone

Writers on the Lune

Writers on the Lune is a vibrant community of writers based in and around Lancaster. Members come together to share ideas, discuss their work, and support one another in developing and refining their creative practice.

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Creative writing forms

Fiction

Here Again Now

Calypso

Ghosted

The Three Lives of Saint Ciarán

The Gospel of Orla

Researchers in Fiction

Professor Jenn Ashworth

Dr Elen Caldecott

Dr Ines Gregori Labarta

Dr Zoe Lambert

Dr Oliver Langmead

Dr Okechukwu Nzelu

Professor Catherine Spooner

Dr Eoghan Walls

Dr Sara Wasson

Professor Graham Mort

Professor John Schad

Poetry

Thought Poems - A Translation of Heidegger's Verse

After Sylvia: Poems and essays in celebration of Sylvia Plath

When It Rained for a Million Years

Joy in Service on Rue Tagore: Poems

Researchers in Poetry

Dr Eoghan Walls

Professor Catherine Spooner

Dramatic forms

Researchers in Dramatic forms

Tajinder Hayer

Dr Ines Gregori Labarta

Dr Zoe Lambert

Dr Oliver Langmead

Creative non-fiction

The Parallel Path

Paris Bride: A Modernist Life

An A-Z of Jane Austen

An Invention

Walter Benjamin’s Ark

Researchers in Creative non-fiction

Professor Jenn Ashworth

Dr Zoe Lambert

Dr Okechukwu Nzelu

Professor John Schad

Writers on writing

Writing the Real

Writing for Young People

Writing the Uncanny

Workshop

Brontë Parsonage Museum

Writers on the Lune

Researchers in Writers on writing

Professor Jenn Ashworth

Dr Oliver Langmead

Dr Okechukwu Nzelu

Dr Elen Caldecott

Dr Ines Gregori Labarta

Dr Zoe Lambert