OCA preloader logo
Barbara Henderson, Author at The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

Browsing Category:

Barbara Henderson


OCA events: Hexham Book Festival   thumb

OCA events: Hexham Book Festival  

This year, some festivals are staying online, to prevent having to cancel at a later date. But the established Hexham Festival, established in 2006, is planning to go ahead next month in beautiful Northumberland.  We’re delighted that three of our creative writing tutors will be running workshops at the event.

Read More
Tutor news: Vicky MacKenzie thumb

Tutor news: Vicky MacKenzie

Huge congratulations to OCA Creative Writing tutor Vicky MacKenzie on this highly prestigious book deal for her novel. Any of her students will agree that she is a wise and wonderful writer as well as a wonderful tutor – so it’s great news to hear of the imminent publication of this fascinating book.

Read More
Poetry Sensory Writing Workshop thumb

Poetry Sensory Writing Workshop

Wednesday 3rd March 1pm In this workshop we will think about the senses and how a range of sensory images can bring a poem to life.  We will consider what a cliché is and discuss some examples of these, focusing on how the images could be more original if reworded. Students will read two and […]

Read More
Top of the ‘greasy’ pole! thumb

Top of the ‘greasy’ pole!

Those of you who follow our OCA Creative Writing social media – in particular, the @ocawriters Twitter account – may have spotted a few celebratory posts earlier in the year. When we learned the course had achieved 100% student satisfaction in the 2020 NSS survey, we were all absolutely thrilled. ‘NSS’ stands for National Student […]

Read More
Socially distanced, still smiling: a play for our times thumb

Socially distanced, still smiling: a play for our times

If someone were to write a book of ‘Lessons from Lockdown’ – and I am sure they will! – then surely one of the most important is how much we should value the arts. How many of us were comforted during the worst times by reading, music or visual art or by being able to […]

Read More
Assessment Reflection with Barbara Henderson thumb

Assessment Reflection with Barbara Henderson

A long time ago… Back in autumn 2019 – which feels like a galaxy far, far away – OCA first piloted online submissions for the Creative Writing degree.  It made sense: writers are used to submitting work electronically, for competitions and to agents or publishers. Very few organisations expect hard copies of writing work these […]

Read More
A diverse reading list: Starting young thumb

A diverse reading list: Starting young

In these times when we recognise the need to encourage young people to read, it’s important that children see fictional characters they can identify with. Many readers can remember that feeling when the characters they read about may as well be creatures from Mars, for all they had in common. It used to affect young readers who were working class, for example. But while representations of different social backgrounds have improved in children’s fiction, the same can’t yet be said of ethnicity.

Read More
Calling all Level Three creative writing students! thumb

Calling all Level Three creative writing students!

The Creative Writing department is now offering Zoom-based peer hangouts and workshops for students at HE6 (Level 3) on a regular basis. 

Read More
OCA Wellbeing: A trip to the bibliotherapist thumb

OCA Wellbeing: A trip to the bibliotherapist

Imagine going to the doctor’s and coming out with a prescription – for a good book. It’s really not as daft as it may sound. And what’s more, the notion that our mental wellbeing can be improved by something other than pills is far from new.

Read More
OCA wellbeing: Gardening for mental health thumb

OCA wellbeing: Gardening for mental health

Lockdown in mid-March prompted two responses. First was a recognition that getting outside for parts of the day without bumping into other humans would become a very valuable thing. Second, I had some new time, that used to be spent travelling and trolling the train companies about their poor service, and I could put this to good use by sorting out my embarrassing back garden.

Read More