Soundings: A Conversation with Doreen Cunningham

Join us online for an informal bookshop-style talk, followed by an open Q&A with writer Doreen Cunningham.
Wednesday 09 Sept 2026, 12:30 – 13:30 – Event Postponed – New Details will be Available Soon

“A striking blend of nature writing, whale science, and memoir”

Whether you are writing prose, drafting a poetry collection, shaping a screenplay, or finding your voice in memoir, seeing a book evolve from a rough workshop draft into an award-winning publication is one of the most inspiring things you can experience as a writer.

I am thrilled to invite writer and former BBC journalist Doreen Cunningham to speak to our OCA creative community about her memoir Soundings as part of OCA’s The Twelve series of talks, which brings visiting experts into our learning spaces.

“A powerful memoir of motherhood, love, and resilience, a woman and her toddler son follow the grey whale migration from Mexico to northernmost Alaska”

Soundings resonates deeply with the climate emergency, charting lives and natural journeys interrupted by global warming.

A Journey From Workshop to Critical Acclaim

One of the greatest privileges of being part of a creative learning community is supporting your peers up close. Over my career as a student and educator, I have worked with many incredible writers, and Doreen’s trajectory is a standout success that I have been proud to follow.

Doreen and I took the same postgraduate creative writing course at Goldsmiths in London. I had the privilege of reading Soundings in its earliest stages—from initial drafts in small workshop feedback sessions to the agent showcase where she was signed. Since then, I’ve watched with pride as this uniquely powerful, timely memoir was published to critical acclaim and major awards. I cannot recommend this beautiful, moving book highly enough.
Dr. Dan Robinson

About Soundings

In this memoir of motherhood, love, and resilience, a woman and her toddler son follow the grey whale migration from Mexico to northernmost Alaska. In this striking blend of nature writing, whale science, and memoir, Doreen Cunningham interweaves two stories: tracking the extraordinary northward migration of the grey whales with a mischievous toddler in tow and living with an Iñupiaq family in Alaska seven years earlier.

Throughout the journey she explores the stories of the whales and their young calves-their history, their habits, and their attempts to survive the changes humans have brought to the ocean. Cunningham’s voice is powerful: sharp, profound, sensitive, and unflinching.

A story of courage and resilience, Soundings is about the migrating whales and all we can learn from them as they mother, adapt, and endure, their lives interrupted and threatened by global warming. It is also a riveting journey onto the Arctic Sea ice and into the changing world of Indigenous whale hunters, where Doreen becomes immersed in the ancient values of the Iñupiaq whale hunt and falls in love.

For this is Doreen’s story, too—a fierce, feminist tale, touching on her childhood and her time living in a Women’s Refuge with her baby, becoming a mother, just like the whales. Lyrical, brave, and fearlessly honest, Soundings is an unforgettable journey.

About the Author & Event Host

• Doreen Cunningham is an Irish British writer born in Wales. After studying engineering Doreen worked briefly in climate-related research at the Natural Environment Research Council and in storm modelling at Newcastle University before turning to journalism. She worked for the BBC World Service as an international news presenter, reporter, and editor for twenty years. She won the RSL Giles St Aubyn Award 2020 and was shortlisted for the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writers Award 2021 for Soundings, her first book.
• Dr. Dan Robinson (event host) is an artist, writer and Senior Academic Manager at Open College of the Arts. He is a Northern Writers Award recipient and associate of Grizedale Arts.

Ready to Start Your Own Writing Journey?

Inspiration is just the beginning. Enrolment is open for our online Creative Writing courses – ranging from 10-week short courses and 1-year foundations to our fully flexible BA (Hons) degree. Whether you want to write your first script, novel, poetry collection, or memoir, we’ll help you find your voice. Explore Creative Writing at OCA.

IMAGE CREDITS: Doreen Cunningham