#WeAreOCA
The Open College of the Arts' blog
Browsing Category:
Creative Writing
A tale of two residencies – Part 1
Posted: 23/12/19 09:43 |
0 Comments
This year, for the first time in my life, I was awarded an international writing residency. Then, in quick succession, I was awarded another! My life is not usually so glamorous, but this double stroke of good luck meant I spent August at Varuna Writers’ House in the Blue Mountains of Australia, followed by September and October on the shores of the Baltic Sea in south-west Finland. I had a week in-between to do my laundry and get my head together!
Read More
Writing dystopias
Posted: 16/12/19 09:19 |
0 Comments
Dystopias have become a major part of fiction over the last few decades, and with our current awareness of the state of the planet are unlikely to go out of fashion. It is, of course, much easier to write a dystopia than it is to write a utopia, because we all have such different ideas about what, exactly, constitutes a perfect world. Imperfect worlds are all around us, and scientific predictions about what the next century will bring are terrifying.
Read More
Engaging Places: Environment, Anthropocene & Ecology E-Meet Nov 27th
Posted: 25/11/19 04:02 |
0 Comments
Our next Arts & Environment E-meet is November 27th, 6-7pm UK time. Link to join https://oca.zoom.us/j/418087540 Please sign up for the meet first via this google form WHAT and WHY? Get involved. This is an informal online chat using zoom. A 60 minute conversation to share ideas and resources to support each other’s work-in-progress. Our […]
Read More
Support in the ARF /Pt 2
Posted: 12/11/19 05:21 |
9 Comments
Alongside the new changes to the Academic Regulatory Framework, OCA is introducing a number of new mechanisms designed to better support students. What is the support in the ARF? These are the Active Study Policy, Reasonable Adjustments Policy, and a revised Mitigating Circumstances Policy, and also the changes to degree pathways. OCA […]
Read More
Academic Regulatory Framework Changes /Pt 1
Posted: 12/11/19 05:31 |
20 Comments
From 2nd January 2020 OCA is introducing a revised Academic Regulatory Framework. This document, which forms part of the Student Regulations, underpins and governs how all of OCAs degree programmes work, from the credits that are earnt on completion of a unit to the length of time available to complete a unit, level, and degree. […]
Read More
Writing & illustrating – A tutor & student co-operative project
Posted: 11/11/19 09:00 |
1 Comments
I’d like to report on a co-operative project between myself, a writer/tutor and poet on one hand, and Dorothy Flint, a second year illustration student on the other.. We worked together over several months. The co-operative project grew out of Dorothy’s need to find a client for her illustration course and my need to find an artist who wanted a client to make a visual contribution to the poems I had already written between 2015 and 2018.
Read More
Everyone’s a Critic: Some pointers for writing book reviews
Posted: 28/10/19 09:36 |
2 Comments
Writing a book review is something that you’ll very likely be asked to do as part of your OCA courses in creative writing at some point. It’s a good way to begin looking at books critically, and it’s also something you could use to keep a record of books that you’ve read to help you decide what you really think of them!
Read More
What I’ve learned from travelling back in time (in short stories)
Posted: 22/10/19 09:43 |
0 Comments
What have I learned from reading stories from oral traditions?
Read More
Different Incarnations – how writers can have several identities
Posted: 16/10/19 09:31 |
1 Comments
I started out as a radio writer, doing plays for Afternoon Theatre and a short series called Just Before Midnight, one of which I re-wrote for the stage. I also penned short stories for both radio and magazines under my maiden name, Elizabeth Kay. Writers sometimes feel that things have got a bit stale, so after a while I did an MA, learnt about my least favourite form and became a poet for a bit. Due to the need to make some money (and persuaded by my agent) I started writing rather more racy stuff under a pseudonym.
Read More
What exactly is erasure poetry?
Posted: 09/10/19 09:40 |
0 Comments
If visual artists can make collages out of previously-existing materials, and musicians can compose pieces out of sampling and remixing, then why can’t poets ‘remix’ a text through erasure?
Read More
