SED Final Years: Dissertation Hall of Fame – Win £25 Love2Shop Voucher with your Selfie or MEME #SEDHallofFame

To celebrate 🎉 our final year students handing in their final projects/dissertations we’re looking for your dissertation selfies 🤳 and memes 🤣.

You could win a £25 Love2Shop voucher for sharing your dissertation selfie or meme.

Give us the a pic with the story of your disso or make a gag-worthy MEME to win!

How to enter…

  1. Email us your picture or MEME, full name and caption to: sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
  2. Tag us @QMULSED on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #SEDHallofFame
  3. Message or post to our Facebook Page here

Entry closes on 3 July 2020 at 5pm. Our team will pick the winners on or shortly after 3 July so please get your entry in before then! There will be 2 winners one for selfie and one for meme. We will contact winners via email so keep an eye out on your inbox after 15 June.


Fahima Begum – BA English

Samiha Begum – BA English

Aysel Dilara Kasap- BA English with Creative Writing

Chloe Hocking – BA English

“I have had the most amazing time at QM over the last three years. I’ve met some soulmates. Had a few breakdowns. Hit my limit of daily replacement library cards. Spent £49000 on coffee. And had most of the happiest moments of my life. I know that this dissertation doesn’t sum up everything I’ve learnt and everything that I can do now (notably, go to the shop without having a panic attack). But it was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And I’m proud of myself for doing it. A huge thank you to every lecturer, advisor, member of staff, and student for helping me through. From helping me choose a dissertation topic to making me a coffee with a smile. Also- to everyone who is still working on their dissertations- you can do this and you will do this. Remember not to compare your own academic achievements to other people’s because yours are just as brilliant and just as important. Okay I’m done now. Gonna go drink, eat, and watch Netflix… Until I have to start the next one.”

Hana Hussein – BA English with Creative Writing

“1 word down 9,999 to go”

Kirsten Murray – BA English

“Standing in the North Sea was not the original dissertation hand in photo I had in mind. Although I am currently some 300 miles from the bustling city of London, my time at Queen Mary has enhanced my passion for literature and developed my personal and academic confidence. The supportive SED staff have even inspired me to continue my studies at the University of Cambridge in a genre, Romanticism, I initially loathed when I arrived in London three years ago.”

Christian Richardson – BA English with Creative Writing

Christopher Smith – BA English

Eleni Sophia – BA English

View this post on Instagram

Yay! Three years & many matcha lattes later, I became a CEO, an author of three poetry collections and completed my dissertation 🙌🏼🥂 I’m so grateful for my time at Queen Mary; both, the @qmulsed & the enterprise department have helped me expand Perspective Press Global and I’m so thankful 🙌🏼 Anyone who’s starting university, please take each opportunity as it comes: go to events, make use of your careers departments — it doesn’t matter if you don’t know anybody, go alone! It can be scary but you never know what opportunities may rise ✨ I’ve also just hired my first employee & I’m super excited to see where my journey takes me 🌺 Thank you to everyone who’s purchased a copy of either book — I appreciate you all so much 💫 Lots of love, Eleni Sophia 🥂

A post shared by Perspective Press Global Ltd (@perspectivepressglobal) on

Demi Whitnell – BA English

English and Drama Newsletter – May 2020 Edition

Welcome to May 2020 from English and Drama at Queen Mary. We hope you are keeping well and staying safe in these strange times. We hope this newsletter can help provide some comfort and distraction this month.

Our student of the month for May is Yue Wang (pictured above middle, pre-lockdown), one of our English PhD students.

Read on for news on events such as the new journal Diaspora SpeaksShow and Tell podcast relaunch and projects from our students and staff.

Online Events

OPEN DAY

Virtual Open Day – for 2021+ Applicants
Friday 26 June 2020, 2-5pm BST, Online

Booking is now open for our June open day – Open Day’s are a great chance to explore the subject, discover the QMUL campus and to meet our students.

Register here

LISTINGS

What Now My Love? Care Café
Thursday 7 May 2020, 7pm BST, Online

Our very own Lois Weaver (Drama) hosts Care Café, a place for people to gather their wits, thoughts and comrades in action.

‘We are all trying to figure out how to breathe through this present moment, how to take care of ourselves and others, and find ways to keep connected to each other.’

Register here

News & Links

Sawdah Bhaimiya (Second year English Student)has co-founded a new publication, Diaspora Speaks,which strives to project the voices of students of colour.

Get involved here

Jerry Brotton 
(English) discusses English Touring Theatre’s staging of Othello in this videofrom an online event.

Charlotte Byrne (PhD English)has just published a Young Adult fantasy adventure novel called Folked Up.

Eve Bolton and Jasmine Rothon (2nd Year English Students) have become part of the Quest Radio management team. Eve will be the Station Manager next year, and Jasmine will be Head of Production. 

Joshua Fraser (2nd Year English Student) has become co-editor of CUB Magazine.

Genna Gardini (PhD Drama) took part in Keep on Writing 2020, presenting a new play via Twitter called Dress for Success. Watch it here

Jen Harvie (Drama) recommends Sally Rooney’s Normal People, adapted by Rooney and playwright Alice Birch, on the BBC iPlayer. Jen says it’s: ‘A very faithful and powerful adaptation of the novel, its really thoughtful direction (by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald) and nuanced acting (especially, for me, by Paul Mescal as Connell) get at the excruciating difficulties of communicating and holding self-belief.’.

Michael Hughes (Creative Writing) recommends watching this new video piece by theatre company Forced Entertainment. Recorded via a 6-way Zoom call, he says it’s: ‘The best piece of work I’ve seen in any form responding to the current crisis, and the first time in a few weeks I’ve properly laughed out loud watching something.’.

Michael is also taking part in regular literary ‘shindig’ ‘A Leap In The Dark’, hosted on Zoom by writer and critic David Collard every Friday and Saturday evening. He says: ‘It’s an eclectic mix of readings, interviews and performances, and I’m there every Friday, reading the latest instalment of the poem Spring Journal, a living record of the current crisis by writer Jonathan Gibbs, inspired by Louis McNeice’s poem ‘Autumn Journal’. Places are limited to 75 each week, so for an invitation, contact David on Twitter @DavidCollard1, or via his blog https://davidjcollard.blogspot.com/. The poem so far can be read on Jonathan’s blog here.

Maggie Inchley (Drama)’s essay ‘sticking in the throat/keyword bitch: aesthetic discharge in debbie tucker green’s stoning mary and hang’ has just been published in debbie tucker green: Critical Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan).

Hari Marini (Drama/Admin team)’s poetry book has been reviewed here. She has also launched a new video of her Spirals project, online here. Hari’s company Partsuspended is part of Live Art Development Agency’s Something Other Live online series, which is ‘searching for queer ways of occupying the present and its differences’.

Daniel Oliver (Drama) has been running Queen Mary Arts and Culture Writing Retreatson Wednesdays. To sign up, or for more information, please contact us at qmul-arts@qmul.ac.uk.

People’s Palace Projects has been awarded £2.7 million in funding from Barts Charity to establish a Youth Resilience Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London, starting in March 2021.

Read more here

Claire Preston (English) highly recommends this FEEL GOOD DANCE video saying ‘if this doesn’t make you smile, don’t call the doctor because you’re already dead!’.

Nisha Ramayya (Creative Writing) has published a poem for May Day as part of the TENANCY project edited by poet and academic Helen Charman. Read the poem here

Matt Rubery (English) has written a blog post Audiobook highlights, which explores what goes on behind the scenes when producing an audiobook.

Show & Tell podcast is relaunched on the Anchor.fm platform, with fresh new talks from inspiring speakers in the creative industries – including a BAFTA winning TV writer and our very own Jen Harvie (in an episode is introduced by Lois Weaver).

Listen to episode #4 now

Solitude and COVID-19 Barbara Taylor (English/History)’s Solitudes project is posting a series of blogs under the heading ‘Solitude and Covid 19’. It includes pieces on self-isolation and loneliness, the treatment of the over-70s (‘Killing Off Older People), Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, Donne’s hellish sickroom solitude and more. Next to come is a blog by a former Iranian political prisoner, who spent two years in solitary confinement, on self-isolation as imprisonment.

Read the blog posts

Split Britches’ (aka Lois Weaver – Drama and Peggy Shaw – Drama Fellow) Lesbians Who Kill is available to watch online here.

Wasafiri Magazine partnered with the online Bookbound Festival 2020. Guest speakers and participants included our very own Susan Rudy and Malachi McIntosh.

Watch the recorded videos here

Whilst we try our hardest to make sure listings are accurate, we recommend contacting the event organiser or registering before attending as mistakes can be made and we apologise for these.

If you have any news or events for our June newsletter please  email us.

Student of the month: Yue Wang – PhD in English

I am a PhD student and poet.

Tell us about your time at QMUL. What have been your highlights?

It’s fantastic! I love the people, the natural beauty and the adademic events in QMUL. I am so excited to learn from many excellent scholars, which makes me feel so good.

How has your course at Queen Mary helped you to progress into the world outside? What’s next?

I am so grateful to my supervisor Matthew Ingleby who invited me to study here and brought to meet many excellent scholars in 19th century studies seminar held by IES.

I am so lucky to listen to Mark Currie’s lectures in person, whose book I have read before in China. I am so grateful to Professor Scott McCracken and Professor Julia Boffey, whose classes inspire me a lot.

Thanks also to Howard and Hari in the research teamwho helped me a lot during my study. Because of the excellect scholars in English department, my mind was open and my academic net was enlarged. Hopefully I can contribute my academic studies in future and I am willing to be a good bridge between UK and China.

Aside from course content what have been your favourite elements of the experience of studying here as a whole?

I think the academic atmosphere attracts me deeply and the independent thinking spirit and the friendly classmates all make me feel so encouraging and enjoyable.

Tell us about your life outside Queen Mary including any projects, ambitions or jobs you’ve had.

Usually, I take part in some lectures held by Senate House or KCL. And also I join some poetry recital events or watch a drama performance or visit a cultural site. I hope I can travel all the literary sites related my study project in the next 6 months.

What could be improved to enhance future students’ experience at Queen Mary?

Hopefully, there will be more PhD communities, which can encourage exchange and build more social relationships.

Find out more about our English PhD

Announcing: ‘Diaspora Speaks’ – new student publication – Interview with co-founder Sawdah Bhaimiya

We caught up with English student Sawdah Bhaimiya to talk about the new publication Diaspora Speaks which aims to showcase the journeys, opinions and experiences of students of colour.

Tell us about Diaspora Speaks. How did the idea come about and who are the key team?

The main purpose of Diaspora Speaks Magazine is to highlight the journeys, opinions and experiences of students of colour. The idea started forming in my head around November last year, and at the time I was very involved with student media as I was working with Cub Magazine, The Print News, Quest Radio, as well as QMTV. I started to become more aware of the lack of diversity in journalism as a whole and I wanted to fill that gap by creating something that ethnic minority students at the university could get involved with whether they have experience with writing or not. As 69% of Queen Mary students are BAME it seemed right to create a platform where they can be heard. 

I voiced my opinions to a fellow CUB writer, Sara Omar who loved the idea from the start. We watched it grow from an idea to a real outlet and we’re excited to see how far it will go in the next year. The team is currently just Sara and myself, but we are looking to expand and we have open applications to become a part of our 2020/2021 team. 

What or who are your inspirations for working in journalism and starting the publication?

My inspirations for working in journalism are probably Stacey Dooley, Iman Amrani, Liv Little and Anila Dhami. I think real journalism is about being open-minded, exploring different perspectives, and telling the stories that matter. I’ve always been quite an inquisitive and curious person and I enjoy telling stories so I found myself gravitating towards journalism because I feel as if I can have a real impact with it.

Furthermore, a publication that I really admire is gal-dem as they carved a space for ethnic minority women and non-binary people of colour, and really established themselves as serious contenders in a journalistic landscape that can often be hostile to POC.

Diaspora Speaks Magazine is modelled after gal-dem, and we really do hope that ethnic minority students get to tell the stories that matter to them.  

How can students get involved with the magazine? What kind of submissions are you looking for?

We have currently opened applications to become a part of our regular team for 2020/2021. The link to the application is https://diasporaspeaksqmul.typeform.com/to/YQQkDL.

We are looking for regular writers, artists, photographers, section editors, graphic designers, and a treasurer. Submissions can include articles, interviews, poetry, artwork, photography, etc. We have various different sections that can be found on our social media and we will be opening submissions soon so to keep updated follow our social media:

Are there any areas you’ve studied on the English course that have influenced your work on Diaspora Speaks?

I studied Postcolonial and Global Literature as a module this year and it has really enlightened me to the extent of the discrimination faced by POC. I was very unaware of the impact of colonialism before I studied it in English this year, but I am now aware that even though colonialism has ended, its impact is still felt today.

I understand and support the efforts of students and teachers who are working towards decolonising the curriculum, the university and more. Diaspora Speaks Magazine I hope will play a part in that effort. 

Free Literature Festival: Bookbound 2020 presented with Wasafiri Magazine (Based at QMUL)

BookBound 2020: an antiviral literary festival

bringing authors and readers together online for 7 days of stories and conversation

Monday 27 April to Sunday 3 May 2020

Add to Calendar

BookBound 2020 is a new, not-for-profit literary festival, bringing authors and book-lovers together online for 7 days of exciting events, including readings, story-times and live author-to-author conversations.

While the majority of BookBound 2020’s team is based in the UK, the festival’s mission is to make connections and support new voices in Britain and around the world.

Wasafiri Logo

Proudly partnered with Wasafiri Magazine (based at QMUL), BookBound 2020 offers a global platform for big names, emerging authors and all lovers of literature to come together during this period of international uncertainty and isolation.

Throughout the festival period, speakers will be championing their favourite independent bookshops, and encouraging remote support for the industry while Covid-19 restrictions remain in place.

Viewers will also be able to help their local bookshops through a special arrangement between BookBound 2020 and the online bookseller Hive.

Here’s 10 writers we’re most looking forward to hear from including some QMUL connections:

Octavia Bright

Octavia Bright

Octavia is a writer and co-host of the New York Times and Guardian-recommended literary podcast Literary Friction. She holds a PhD from UCL, where her research focused on hysteria and desire. She has written criticism, fiction, journalism and essays for a variety of publications including Elephant, Orlando, Somesuch Stories, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar and The White Review. She has written librettos for several musical collaborations, which have been performed at Snape Maltings, Kings Place London and LSO St Luke’s.

Wed 29 April | 5.30pm BST

Caleb Femi

Caleb Femi

Caleb is an acclaimed London artist. Featured in the Dazed 100 list of the next generation shaping youth culture, he uses music and film to push the boundaries of poetry. Stream SLOG, Caleb’s latest body of work, and preorder his debut collection POOR (Penguin, July 2020).

Fri 1 May | 5.30pm BST

Niven Govinden

Novelist and speaker Niven Govinden

Niven is the author of four previous novels, most recently All The Days And Nights which was longlisted for the Folio Prize and shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. His second novel Graffiti My Soul is about to go into film production. His third novel Black Bread White Beer won the 2013 Fiction Uncovered Prize. He was a judge for the 2017 4th Estate/Guardian B4ME Prize. This Brutal House was shortlisted for the Gordon Burns Prize 2019.

Sat 2 May | 9.15pm BST

Intisar Khanani

Author and Speaker Intisar Khanani

Intisar grew up a nomad and world traveller. She has lived in five different US states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Her works include The Sunbolt Chronicles and Thorn.

Sun 3 May | 5.30pm BST

David Lammy

MP and author David Lammy

David was born in London to Guianese parents and has served as the MP for Tottenham since 2000. He was the first black Briton to study at Harvard Law School and before entering politics practised as a barrister. David served as a minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. His first book, Out of the Ashes: Britain after the Riots, was published to widespread acclaim. Tribes: How Our Need to Belong Can Make or Break Society, is out now.

Sat 2 May | 7.15pm BST hosted by Wasafiri Magazine’s Malachi McIntosh

Georgina Lawton

Georgina Lawton pic by Alicia Canter/The Guardian

Georgina is a 27-year-old author, journalist and travel writer. A former Guardian Weekend columnist, her first book, Raceless, a memoir on family and identity, will be released in September 2020 with Sphere (UK) and Harper Collins (US). Her writing and speaking has been featured in: The Independent, Sky News, Ref29, Stylist, BBC Newsnight, Travel + Leisure, VICE, Suitcase, and Time Out London.

Tue 28 April | 5.30pm BST

Amber Massie-Blomfield

Creative non-fiction writer Amber Massie-Blomfield

Amber Massie-Blomfield is a creative nonfiction writer and arts producer. She has written for titles including The Independent,The Guardian, The Stage and Exeunt. Her first book, Twenty Theatres to See Before You Die was published in 2018 (Penned in the Margins).

Wed 29 April | 7.15pm BST

Malachi McIntosh

Malachi McIntosh

Malachi is Editor and Publishing Director of Wasafiri magazine. Along with his books Emigration and Caribbean Literature, and Beyond Calypso: Re-Reading Samuel Selvon, his writing has appeared in the Caribbean Review of Books, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, the Guardian, The Journal of Romance Studies, Research in African Literatures, Under the Radar, and The Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature, among others. Prior to joining Wasafiri he was co-lead of the three-times award-winning Our Migration Story project.

Sat 2 May | 7.15pm BST

Lola Olufemi

Writer, organiser and researcher Lola Olufemi

Lola is a black feminist writer, organiser and researcher from London. Her work focuses on the uses of the feminist imagination and its relation to liberated futures. She is the co-author of A FLY Girl’s Guide to University: Being a Woman of Colour at Cambridge and Other Institutions of Power and Elitism (Verve Poetry Press, 2019), author of Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power (Pluto Press, 2020) and a member of ‘bare minimum’, an interdisciplinary anti-work arts collective.

Sun 3 May | 7.15pm BST

Susan Rudy

Susan Rudy

Susan is Director of the Centre for Poetry in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London. Her research investigates the intersections between experimental writing, radical feminist theory, and gender ontoformativity. With Dr Georgina Colby, she founded SALON – LONDON: a site for responding to the present through women’s experimental writing, and is currently working with collaborators across the UK to establish a Queer Poetics Research Network at Queen Mary’s Centre for Poetry.

Thurs 30 April | 9.15pm BST

Join Alumna Christina Storey’s Instagram Book Club – Interview

We caught up with 2018 English graduate Christina Storey to talk about her brand new book club bringing a new book community to Instagram.

We asked her about the The Storey Book Club, her favourite books and her time at Queen Mary.

Tell us about your new Instagram book club. What should people expect when they join?

For ages I’ve been jealous of my mum’s ‘real life’ book club, and with everything going on at the moment I’ve seen lots of literary events move online so I thought, why not create an online book club?

I’ve been posting my own book reviews on my personal instagram for a while and got a few messages from friends and random followers saying that they liked my book recommendations and wanted more. I decided I wanted to create a little community on the internet that people can just discuss their favourite books and most recent reads.

I’m going to be posting recommendations a lot and plan to have a weekly post of a favourite book from childhood. The main point of it is, of course, the ‘club’ element of it! A book is picked every two weeks, it’s announced on the Saturday evening, and two weeks later there will be a post on the feed with some questions which (I hope!) will create some discussion in the comments! The first book is Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton and we’ll be discussing it Sunday 26th April at 8pm.

It’s an incredibly new venture for me but I’ve had some great responses so far so I’m excited to grow it further! 

What are your 3 favourite books and why? (too hard? Maybe 3 recent books)

Yes that is a very hard question! I definitely can’t pick favourites but I’ll pick three that I love.

1)       Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton

  • The reason I picked this as my first book club pick is just because I simply love it. Dolly writes so candidly about her experiences with everything – boys, alcohol, family, friends, loss – and it genuinely had me laughing one minute, crying the next. When I finished it all I wanted to do was text all my friends saying how much I love them!

2)       The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

  • This was the book that I always mentioned in my first year on university when I was asked what my favourite book was! It has such a unique tone of voice and narrator’s perspective, it tells such an interesting story and is very moving.

3)       A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood

  • I love young adult books so much (I even wrote my dissertation on them) and this is one of my favourites. Set in the 1920s it has the glamour and wistfulness of The Great Gatsby, is beautifully written and also has great character developments and relationships.

Tell us about your time at QMUL. What were the books that made an impression on you?

My time at QMUL was great, I split my time doing my English degree, being in the cheerleading club and working at drapers so I definitely had the full university experience. I am quite set in my ways when it comes to what to read and university definitely pushed me out of my boundaries and opened up so much great literature for me that it’s hard to pick specific books.  Some of the modules I loved were the Arthurian module, Dickens and Jane Austen modules. My favourite module was definitely Reading Childhood/ Writing Children as we analysed so many books from my childhood in a literary sense and I I found it really interesting and thought-provoking!

What advice would you give to current students at Queen Mary about life after university?

Well, my first piece of advice would be to travel! I travelled solo to Australia the January following my graduation. I travelled and worked there for a year and just had the best year of my life. I met so many people, experienced so much and although now some of my friends are ‘ahead’ in their careers compared to me, I don’t regret it at all as I had lots of great life experiences!

However, I realise in the current state of things travel may not be an option and the job market (or lack of) seems even scarier – and I get that, trust me I do! I started looking for a job in publishing when I returned from Australia, and then Corona happened and companies stopped hiring. It’s hard, it’s really hard but you have to try and make the most of it. I’ve been doing some online courses – FutureLearn and Google Digital Garage, which are both really good, and I’ve started up my book club! I’m trying to improve my employability skills so that when companies do start hiring again, I can show them what I’ve been doing with my time and try to be the best candidate possible!

I won’t lie to you, life after University is tough but it’s exciting as well. There is so much out there. Whether that’s career, travelling or your personal life – just try to look for the positives in everything and work as hard as you can!

Announcing ‘Wonderer’ – The Queen Mary Literary Journal

We caught up with English students Chloe Lim and Ioana Radulescu to talk about their new literary journal Wonderer, which launches very soon.

Here’s what they could tell us:

“This project is a great opportunity for budding writers, editors and students who just want to get involved to experience working together to improve writing skills, enhancing knowledge of publishing and sharing new, innovative ideas with a group of like-minded, passionate individuals.

About Wonderer and how to get published in the journal

  • Wonderer will accept submissions from undergraduate students enrolled in any institution of higher education
  • Topics of general literary interest, literary theory, dramatic theory, comparative literature, interpretative readings of texts, philosophical approaches to literary works, research into the literary context of (a) particular work(s), intersections between art history and literature, aesthetics, provided that they are based on at least one literary or non-literary work of any genre. Academic papers should be between 3,000 – 8,000 words in length, and comply with guidelines detailed in the MHRA style guide.
  • Submissions are sent to wonderer.journal@qmul.ac.uk
  • The deadline for submissions is 19 June 2020.

The website is: https://www.wondererjournal.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wonderer.journal/

Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/wondererjournal/

English and Drama Newsletter – April 2020 Edition

A rather strange April is here but don’t worry we have some boredom-busting links and news to share with you, so please read on.

Current students please read our updated:

Coronavirus and the School of English and Drama – FAQs for Students including assessement changes

Our student of the month this month is:

Student of the month

Abdur-Raheem Modan
BA English Literature and Linguistics (Hons)
Read his profile


DON’T FORGET YOU CAN WIN BOOKS:

If you’re a current student or graduate simply fill out a mini student profile and you could feature on our blog and newsletter next monthand win a copy of Brave New Words ed. Susheila Nasta or SED notebook.

Pictured top: A selection of book covers by our English team.

Links


POSTGRADUATE TAUGHT COURSES – VIRTUAL OPEN EVENT

Drama Postgraduate Introduction slide

Last week we held a virtual information session on Zoom for prospective students of:

English
MA English Literature / MA English Literature: Literature and Culture 1700-1900 / MA English Literature: Modern and Contemporary / MA English Literature: Postcolonial and Global Literatures

Drama (pictured above)
MA Live Art / MA Theatre and Performance / MSc Creative Arts and Mental Health

Next steps?

DISTRACTIONS & DISCOURSE


Feather Pen (Blog)
made by our BA English with Creative Writing student Aysel Dilara Kasap has some great content for you including:

Visit the blog now

Jen Harvie (Drama)‘s Stage Left with Jen Harvie podcast is free and available to listen to now. Highlights include:

  • an interview with members of the company Breach Theatre, including Billy Barrret, who did his MA in Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary. Breach Theatre’s show It’s True, It’s True, It’s True was programmed for the Barbican right now but it available online here.
  • interviews with QM graduates Sh!t Theatre and colleague Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw of Split Britches.

Listen here

Vivienne Harris’ (Drama student) persona Minnie Monotone responds to COVID-19 in this video channelling the famous 60s hit Downtown.

Georgia Haseldine (English) wants to shout out her Art Histories module students with this video from Beijing art collective S/ash, with choreography by artist Maggie Menghan Chen and soundtrack by felicita, have made this fantastic take on the at-home isolation work out video.

Knitting is taking SED by storm! Our very own student Molly Raycraft is knitting this festival top for when the weather is a bit more reliable and Jonathan Boffey is taking commissions for his next piece.

News

Pragya Dhital (English) organised a workshop seditious literature in colonial India at UCL and this has now been published  in a special section of History Workshop Journal. The introduction is on History Workshop Online, and all the articles are currently open access.

Read more in Pragya’s blog post

Pictured: Torn poster on a wall in Amritsar, Punjab, bearing images of Bhagat Singh, Har Dayal, Kartar Singh Sarabha and Lala Lajpat Rai. Source: Chris Moffat, 2011

Susheila Nasta (English/Wasafiri Magazine based at QMUL) has been made an Honorary Fellow of the English Association to recognise her contribution to the discipline.


Rosie Vincent (Drama graduate) has had a pledge for £50,000 from Mayor London for The Common Room a community space on Roman Road. Help the campaign in it’s final stages here. Rosie got in touch to say:

“Receiving the maximum pledge of £50k from the Mayor of London proves how vital this project is to help benefit residents, businesses, and community groups in Roman Road. Only two projects (out of 14) have been awarded the maximum pledge of £50k. Our project to Transform The Common Room is one of them. The Common Room is a project that has been trying to happen for over six years. We are so proud to know the Mayor of London also agrees it is time for this space to become what it truly deserves to be. The crowdfund campaign is all-or-nothing. This means Roman Road Trust still need more pledges to reach the total target and actually make the project happen.  So it is more crucial than ever to pledge your support to transform The Common Room into a place for all of us.”

Donate here:  https://www.spacehive.com/transformthecommonroom

Whilst we try our hardest to make sure listings are accurate we recommend contacting the event organiser or registering before attending as mistakes can be made and we apologise for these.

If you have any news or links for next month please reply to this email.

Student of the month: Abdur-Raheem Modan – BA English Literature and Linguistics (Hons)

I am an avid bibliophile and writer.

Tell us about your time at QMUL. What have been your highlights?

My first year has been very exciting and exhilarating. I’ve greatly enjoyed my course and learning material(s). I’ve also had a wonderful time exploring the myriad opportunities/events student life has to offer.

How has your course at Queen Mary helped you to progress into the world outside? What’s next?

I intend to continue my course to completion. It’s helped me to further explore areas that have long interested me as well as potential careers/roles.

Aside from course content what have been your favourite elements of the experience of studying here as a whole?

I have enjoyed many of the extracurricular activities and events.

Tell us about your life outside Queen Mary including any projects, ambitions or jobs you’ve had.

I am a writer and have self-published before. I continue to write, as well as working within my local community as a Young Advisor.

What could be improved to enhance future students’ experience at Queen Mary?

Perhaps more contact with tutors.

Find out more about BA English Literature and Linguistics

Information for 2020 Offer Holders and Applicants

Having applied for a place at the School of English and Drama, we are sure you will have lots of concerns about what happens next.

We recognise how hard you will have been working and understand that this period is extremely unsettling. Please try not to worry, we will work hard to ensure that none of our applicants are disadvantaged by this unprecedented situation.

UCAS has advised that it will be providing an update for those applying for Undergraduate programmes as soon as possible and the UK Government has published on 3 April 2020 this advice on how A-levels will be awarded.

If you have any specific questions about your course, your application or the School in general, we are happy to help. You can contact us via sed-admissions@qmul.ac.uk

We will stay in touch and keep you up to date with our plans. In the meantime, stay safe and well, and we look forward to welcoming you soon.

Useful Links

Coronavirus and the School of English and Drama – FAQs for Students

Please note: this information is now out of date as it referred to the first lockdown in early 2020

It was last updated: Tuesday 5 May 2020 – 17:00

Headlines

  1. New Extenuating Circumstances (EC) rules: Please see below for our SED response to the new EC rules announced by the Vice-Principal, including information about Semester 2 EC requirements and the new ‘Fit to Sit’ rule.
  2. Assessment changes: Please see below for our SED response to Assessment changes announced by the Principal.
  3. Grace Period: You can submit your work up to 14 days late without the need for a Late Work application. The 14-day “grace period” applies to all assignments due in Semester 2 (i.e. those with deadlines from 16 February), the Exam Period and MA dissertations (due in August). The “grace period” also now applies to the “Take-Home Examinations” for ESH101 and ESH110.
  4. Teaching, supervision and drop-in hours: All face-to-face teaching and student support in the School of English and Drama has taken place online and/or by phone since Friday 13 March and continues like this until further notice for the 2019-20 academic year.
  5. Access to Buildings: The Library and Arts One (including Drama’s performance spaces) have been temporarily closed. PC labs have been closed for health and safety reasons. Please consult Queen Mary’s central information for updates.
  6. Access to University services: Services are available online, including The LibraryAdvice and Counselling, and the Dyslexia and Disability Service.

Frequently Asked Questions

WELLBEING

Queen Mary remains committed to supporting students at this difficult time. Please see:

There is also information on what to do if you’re worried about coronavirus on Queen Mary’s dedicated web-pages and on the UK’s NHS website.

ASSESSMENT CHANGES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS

  1. What are the general principles behind our alternative arrangements?
  2. How will I be assessed?
  3. How will my year-average mark be calculated?
  4. Assessment rules

“We understand that the current coronavirus situation can be a source of uncertainty and anxiety for students due to sit assessments. However, we want to reassure you that no student will be disadvantaged as a result of this situation: all final year students will receive an award and all continuing students will be permitted to progress (see below for details).

We’ve put together the following advice to help give you certainty during this time. Please carefully read the advice that relates to your degree type and situation.

If you have a query that’s not covered by the below guidance, please contact your Advisor, Supervisor, Student Support Officer, the Student Enquiry Centre, or the Academic Advice Centre at QMSU.”

What are the general principles behind our alternative arrangements?

“Our alternative arrangements were approved after careful consideration, looking at academic quality and standards to maintain the integrity of your awards, your experience as a student, the need for institutional consistency, and external expectations from the higher education sector. At the heart of our considerations was the central ‘no detriment’ principle: that no student should be delayed in their graduation or in progressing to the next level of study as a consequence of circumstances that have been beyond anyone’s control. The arrangements were approved on the delegated authority of the Senate, our highest-level academic committee.”

How will I be assessed?

“A mark must be generated for each module that you are taking. In some cases, the Module Organiser will have determined that you have already completed sufficient assessments for us to generate a module mark without any further assessments (discounting any elements yet to be completed). In other cases, the Module Organiser has reached the decision that we cannot fairly base a mark on the assessments that students have completed so far. In this case, an additional assessment will be required. This may be submission of a further item of coursework, but in many cases, this will be submission of an ‘alternative assessment’ online (see below). Your school/institute will be able to advise which is the case for each module.”

Please read Queen Mary’s assessment changes in response to coronavirus.

Yes. We expect all students to complete their written assignments. You should submit this work to QMplus as normal.

Specific arrangements for alternative assessments (see below) have been made for any presentations (where necessary), exams and practice-based assignments. Please check the relevant QMplus assessment area for details or contact your module convenor.

Update: Please see Queen Mary’s assessment changes in response to coronavirus.

The School of English and Drama is committed to ensuring that no student is disadvantaged in their assessment outcomes as a consequence of the current pandemic and the transition to online teaching. Members of staff in the School have been instructed to mark your work on the basis of the teaching you have received and the resources that you’ve been able to access, and asked to adjust their expectations as necessary.

In advance of the Subject Examination Boards in English and Drama that confirm your final marks for the year, the School will take extra measures as described in Queen Mary’s assessment changes in response to coronavirus to review student achievement and progression in order to ensure that all students are being treated equally and sympathetically.

The introduction of the 14-day “grace period” generally means that your grades and feedback will be returned 14 days later than expected return date published on QMplus. This is because staff aren’t able to start assessing your work until the “grace period” has passed. This delay is to avoid any risk of marking the wrong version of your assignment if you replace it (without penalty) during the 14-day “grace period”.

How will my year-average mark be calculated?

“Each module you take has a credit value. At the end of the year an average mark is generated, using the credit values to weight the mark. For 2019/20, in accordance with the Queen Mary approach to ensuring ‘no detriment’, the 30 credits with the lowest marks (or 15 credits, for Postgraduate Certificate awards – which are 60 credit awards – only) will not count towards the calculation of the average mark for the 2019/20 year. Your adjusted year average will then be used in turn to generate the mark used for your classification at the end of your studies. (Please note that if your lowest marks are the result of an assessment offence penalty those marks will not be excluded, and the next lowest 30 credits will be excluded instead.)”

Please download this PDF on ‘Estimating your Degree Classification and calculating previous Year and Semester 1 2019-20 averages’

Assessment rules

I need to submit my work after the existing deadline. Do I need to submit a Late Work application?

Only if your assignment is more than 14 days (or 336 hours) late. In light of the coronavirus pandemic (as well as the effects of the recent industrial action), the School of English and Drama will not apply Late Work Penalties to any assignment submitted within two weeks (14 days, or 336 hours) of the deadline. You therefore do not need to submit a Late Work Report application for any written assignment submitted less than two weeks late.

This 14-day “grace-period” applies to all assignments due in Semester 2 and during the Semester 2  Exam Period. In other words, all assignments with deadlines that fall between 16 February 2020 and 31 May 2020 and MA dissertations (due in August), can be submitted up to two weeks late, without penalty. The “grace period” also now applies to the “Take-Home Examination” for ESH101 and ESH110.

I didn’t know about this change in policy and I’ve already submitted my assignment. Can I update it without penalty?

Only in particular circumstances: You can replace your assignment on QMplus up to 14 days (or 336 hours) after the deadline without needing to submit a Late Work Report application. Please take care, though: any replacement submission you make more than 14 days after the deadline will mean that the assignment is considered late (even if you had originally made an on-time submission).

What do I do if I need to submit my work more than 14 days (or 336 hours) late?

If you submit an assignment more than 14 days after the deadline, you should follow the School’s existing processes relating to late work.  The latest date by which you can submit a late assignment that is due in Semester 2 or in the Exam Period is 1 June 2020 at 12:00 noon.

1 June at 12.00 noon is also the deadline to submit any Late Work Report applications for assignments due in Semester 2 or in the Exam Period.

I have outstanding assignments from Semester 1 for which I had ECs accepted in January 2020. Do I also get a “grace period”?

Yes. The deadline for you to submit your outstanding assignment is now 1 June 2020 at 12:00 noon.

I’m a student resitting out of attendance, or have a resit assignment from last year. Do I also get a “grace period”?

Yes. The final deadline for you to submit your resit assignment is now 1 June 2020 at 12:00 noon.

What do I do if I miss submitting an assignment or the ‘take-home exam’ altogether due to extenuating circumstances?

Any assignments due in Semester 2 (after mid-March) and the Exam period that you are not able to submit by the 1 June deadline will be treated as having extenuating circumstances and will be awarded a first sit without penalty at the next opportunity, which is in August 2020. You do not need to submit an Extenuating Circumstances application to request this.

If you did not submit a Semester 2 assignment due before mid-March, you will need to submit an Extenuating Circumstances application to be awarded a first sit without penalty. The application process with be released shortly. It will be ‘light touch’ and the regular evidence requirements will be lifted due to the coronavirus pandemic. The important point is that you submit the application.

The submission deadline for any outstanding assignments is 12 August 2020 at 12:00 noon, and we will send you detailed submission instructions after the July Exam Board. We strongly recommend that you continue to work on your assignments and DO NOT wait until you receive your results in July. This will ensure that the work is ready for submission in good time.

If you did not submit an assignment that was due in Semester 1, you also have until 12 August 2020 at 12:00 noon to submit any outstanding assignments, however, your module mark might be capped/uncapped depending on whether you submitted an End of Semester EC in January 2020 or not.

New ‘Fit to sit’ rule

Normally the core principle behind the extenuating circumstances policy is the 'fit to sit' rule. By taking an assessment (submitting an assignment or taking an exam), students declare themselves fit to take it; any claim for extenuating circumstances relating to that assessment is not considered, and the assessment is marked.

To recognize the difficulties students are facing during the current circumstances, the ‘fit to sit’ rules have been partially lifted and students can now submit extenuating circumstances even if you have attempted the assessment provided you do so before marks/feedback for the given assignment is released.

This new rule is in effect from Tuesday 28 April. Therefore, only claims that are submitted for assignments where grades were released on or after 28 April will be considered. Claims can only be submitted BEFORE grades are released and you will need to submit a claim for each assignment affected.

The deadline to submit a ‘Fit to sit’ claim to request an uncapped first sit of a previously submitted assignment is 1 June 2020 at 12:00 noon.

The School of English and Drama provides the following guidance, which we hope you will find helpful in calculating your averages and degree classification. The School cannot confirm your calculations, which are estimates. Results are confirmed at the Examination Boards in July.

Please download this PDF on ‘Estimating your Degree Classification and calculating previous Year and Semester 1 2019-20 averages’

Advice from the University:

"Your final mark for classification will be derived using all your marks from your previous years of study, as well as the best 90 credits from your final year of study (which is year three for bachelor’s degrees, and year four for undergraduate master's programmes).

In some cases, students will already have passed 90 credits (e.g., if a student has sat and passed modules adding up to 60 credits from Semester A and has a pass grade for a 30 credit research project module). In that case, your school or institute will advise you of your provisional grades and recommended award based on the 90 credits already passed. You would not then be obliged to complete the alternative assessments for the remaining 30 credits in Semester B modules. However, we strongly recommend that you take any remaining assessments available to you to give you the best chance that your 90 credits used to calculate your year average and overall degree mark are scored as highly as possible.

To be eligible for a foundation certificate or a graduate diploma, you must have completed modules to the value of 120 credits and passed at least 90 credits (including a minimum of 30 credits at the academic level appropriate to the award).

To be eligible for a bachelors degree, you need to have studied 360 credits, and to have passed a minimum of 270 credits in total with at least 30 credits passed at level 6. (These requirements may be higher for your award to be accredited by the relevant external, professional body). For an intercalated bachelors award, you must have completed 120 credits and passed a minimum 90 credits including at least 30 credits at level 6.

Remember: while it's mathematically possible for a student who passed 240 credits across years one and two to pass just 30 credits in their final year in order to receive a bachelors award, the low marks for the other, uncompleted, final year modules would have a severe negative impact on classification. This is why we encourage you to complete alternative assessments where you can, to give yourself the greatest number of opportunities for success.

To be eligible for an undergraduate masters degree, you need to have studied at least 480 credits, and to have passed a minimum 360 credits in total with at least 30 credits passed at level 7*."

"If you're studying a PGT award, the standard regulations for award will apply, except that:

a) failed modules can be condoned from zero rather than 40.0 (where condoned failure is permitted), and

b) the mark on which your award is classified will be calculated excluding the weakest 30 credits-worth of marks (or for PgCert, 15 credits).

For part-time PGT students not due to graduate in 2020 but impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the principles described will be applied in your year of graduation. The external requirements of any relevant Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) may mean that certain programmes are obliged to follow the original rules to qualify for accreditation."

There are no core modules in the School of English and Drama.

You are strongly encouraged to continue working on your assignments, make use of the 14-day ‘grace period’ and submit all your assignments. It is important to remember that any work that you complete is still useful to your learning. We will give feedback on any assignments that you submit to help you prepare for your next developmental year, further studies or professional life.

Information from the University:

"All non-final year students (including students on an integrated with-foundation degree programme) will be permitted to progress, no matter the number of credits that you pass.

However, you'll be contacted by your school or institute to advise you if you have passed insufficient credits to receive an award, and you will be advised to resit assessments in the 'late summer' period.

If you weren't on track to progress – for example, if you'd already failed more than 30 credits in the Semester A exams – staff in your school/institute will discuss your options with you individually. But if you nevertheless wish to continue, you will be entitled to do so.

As continuing students, when you complete your degree programme (ie, no earlier than the summer of 2021), your final marks will be calculated both including and excluding all marks from the academic year 2019-20. Consistent with the 'no detriment' principle, you'll receive the higher of those two marks: the final mark that includes 2019/20 and the final mark that excludes any contribution from this year.

For example:

    • For a bachelors student currently in year one, this means calculating your final mark based on a weighting of your year averages for Years 1, 2 and 3 in the ratios 1:3:6 and of 0:3:6, and taking the better of the two outcomes
    • For a bachelors student currently in year two, this would mean calculating your final mark based on a weighted average (for Years 1, 2 and 3 respectively) of 1:3:6 and of 1:0:6, and taking the better of the two outcomes
    • For students on undergraduate masters degrees, we would use the best outcome from 1:3:6:6 and 0:3:6:6 or 1:0:6:6 or 1:3:0:6, depending on which developmental year corresponds to the academic year 2019/20.

In accordance with Queen Mary's approach to a 'no detriment' principle, the marks for the weakest credits from the year will be excluded in all cases; where the recalculated year average would still bring the final mark down, the whole year will be excluded from classification. Note that this only applies to undergraduate programmes, not part-time/multi-year postgraduate taught programmes."

Your Year Abroad does not count in the calculation of your degree classification (it’s a pass/fail element of your programme, which you only need to ‘pass’ in order to progress to your final year). All students in the School of English and Drama who are studying abroad for the 2019-20 academic year will receive a pass grade for the Year Abroad.

Details of all alternative assessments should now have been released; please contact your module convenor if you do not have these details.

Will I still need to complete assessed presentations for my modules this semester?

You will be asked to complete any assessed individual presentations via telephone or video conferencing (e.g. Skype, FaceTime), or written alternative where this has been agreed with your teacher. Your teacher will be in touch to arrange this in due course.

In the case of any assessed group presentations, you will be set an individual alternative assignment directly relating to your presentation (e.g. written script or notes, powerpoint slides, podcast, video). Again, your teacher will be in touch with further details. You will need to make your submission online to QMplus (in the same way as a written assignment) and a dedicated submission point will be set up. The deadlines for these alternative assessments will be no less than two weeks after the date on which a group presentation was due to take place.

Will I still need to complete assessed practice-based assignments for my Drama modules?

Specific arrangements for alternative assessments will be made for each practice-based Drama module this semester, where practical projects had been scheduled between 16 March—9 April and in the Exam Period (May 2020).

Will I still need to take my examination in May for ESH101 Shakespeare and/or ESH110 Literatures in Time?

Queen Mary has cancelled in-person examinations this May/June, including for ESH101 Shakespeare and ESH110 Literatures in Time. However, you will still be expected to complete an alternative assessment for these modules.

I'm supposed to be collaborating with other students on a group assignment: what should I do?

All students collaborating on group assignments will asked to make an individual submission for that piece of assessment to QMplus. Where circumstances permit, you may continue to collaborate with others in your group, in person or remotely, depending on your personal circumstances. Where you are unable to continue collaborating, please inform the rest of your group and continue working independently on the assignment instead. Where a member of your group is no longer able to collaborate, please respect their decision and continue to work with the remaining members of your group. All members of a group may make identical written submissions to a group assignment when you are drawing on collective work. Please ask your teacher for further advice if you are uncertain.

My module has a participation grade. How will I be assessed?

Your mark for participation (where this applies to a module you are taking) will be generated on the basis of the teaching you have received. Your teachers will grade your participation sympathetically, especially in cases where you may have had absences or online access difficulties.

My dissertation is due in hardcopy and e-copy. Do I still need to submit a hardcopy?

No. Undergraduate and MA dissertations are now only due electronically via QMPlus by the original deadline (date and time).

How should I submit an assignment that was due in hardcopy only?

All assignments will now be submitted electronically via QMplus.  Your teacher will advise on any revisions to the assignment brief (e.g. submitting photographs of objects you have made rather than submitting the object itself).

Detailed information can be found on individual module areas on QMplus.

"The Undergraduate Degree Examination Boards, which confirm awards, will be held on 24 July, and the Postgraduate Boards (for students who were expecting to complete in July) on 4 August. Students will be formally notified of outcomes a few days later."

The School will contact students with information about Late Summer Resit assignments as soon after the June Subject Examination Period as possible.

Please continue to work on your assignments you are unable to submit by the final deadline of 1 June, as assignments in the Late Summer Resit Period will be the same. If alternative assessment is needed (e.g. for a presentation) you will be sent the updated rubric as soon as possible.

The deadline to submit assignments in the Late Summer Resit period is expected to be 12 noon 12 August 2020 (TBC).

Advice from the University:

"Examination boards will occur slightly later than usual, so notifications of the need to resit assessment will also be later. There will be more information on this soon, but we expect the reassessment period to be in late August. Academic schools and institutes are likely to use alternative assessment for those assessments, too, as we do not yet know whether we will be able to open to hold invigilated exams."

All students with resits from last year have been informed of the assignments they still need to submit and the revised submission deadline of 12 noon 1 June 2020.

There are designated Resit tutors within School. Please do contact them for help with your assignments.

For English assignments please contact Howard Finn - h.j.finn@qmul.ac.uk

For Drama assignments please contact Sarah Harper - s.j.e.harper@qmul.ac.uk


RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IN THE SCHOOL OF ENGLISH AND DRAMA

All academic Schools at Queen Mary are cancelling face-to-face teaching on their programmes from 5pm on Thursday 19 March.

In place of face-to-face provision, teaching and learning activities are being migrated online, principally via QMplus. In the School of English and Drama we took the decision to stop face-to-face teaching and migrate online from Friday 13 March.

This is in order to address multiple concerns about student and staff wellbeing, and to ensure a parity of experience for all students, including those who have been forced to absent themselves from class and/or return home due to the current pandemic.

Our joint honours partner Schools have made similar decisions, replacing face-to-face teaching with online teaching: the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film has cancelled all face-to-face teaching from Monday 16 March and the School of History has cancelled all face-to-face teaching from Tuesday 17 March.

Our decision is supported by the Principal of Queen Mary, Professor Colin Bailey.

Face-to-face teaching and related meetings/supervisions in the School of English and Drama have been cancelled from Friday of Week 8 (13 March) until further notice for the 2019-20 academic year.

No student will be required to come onto the Mile End campus for face-to-face teaching in the School of English and Drama for examinations or other assessments in May.

No, although the School of English and Drama has closed physically the School’s administrative team remain available to support you remotely during normal working hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-1pm and 2-5pm); please contact sed-information@qmul.ac.uk. Your teachers and advisors are available remotely for you for online teaching, supervision and support.

No. We have been advised that the ArtsOne building has been temporarily closed to all but essential staff.

ONLINE TEACHING & STUDENT SUPPORT

Academic staff have been asked to make the best possible arrangements for their modules in terms of providing online content, and to be available remotely for students in their classes during the normal timetabled teaching slots. These arrangements will necessarily vary, and you will need to watch out for specific announcements from your teachers about your lectures, seminars, and practice-based classes. In general we anticipate that online teaching materials will be available for you via QMplus for each class.

Please attend online classes at the scheduled UK time. If this isn’t possible (e.g. you’re asleep), please review the work and tasks for the assigned week at a convenient time, as close to the original class as possible.

Yes, as far as possible lecture content will be made available to you. Often this will mean reviewing a lecture from last year’s module via QReview, although sometimes teaching staff may post new video or audio content, or upload scripts. Copies of lecture slides and handouts will be uploaded to QMplus as normal.

Your teachers will advise you about what will happen in particular online sessions. You might, for example, be asked to email questions, contribute to online forum discussions, work through preparation questions, complete research tasks, etc. Copies of classroom slides and handouts will be uploaded to QMplus as normal.

You should prepare for class in the usual way as far as possible by following existing (or updated) information on QMplus and/or in module packs. Look out for specific instructions from teaching staff, and take a look at this list of suggestions for how to prepare for online teaching and learning.

Download our advice document

In the first instance please contact your seminar/workshop leader or module convenor. They will be best placed to advise you what arrangements are in place for online learning on your module. Please be patient with your teachers as they adjust to this new way of working. You shouldn’t necessarily expect to find any additional online materials for the class until the date/time at which it is due to start.

The requirements for online learning in the School of English and Drama will be the same as your normal access to QMplus. However, if you do have concerns about your capacity to participate due to technical limitations, please get in touch for advice at sed-information@qmul.ac.uk. If you do not have access to a computer due to financial hardship can apply for support through the Financial Assistance Fund. Please also advise your teachers of your concerns.

Queen Mary’s Library at Mile End and the University of London’s Senate House Library have been temporarily physically closed; please review their websites for up to date opening information. Both libraries offer online resources (e.g. journals, ebooks, databases) and you are strongly encouraged to make use of these resources, along with those on QMplus and other online sources, as appropriate (e.g. museums, galleries, artists, theatres etc.). Please be in touch with your teacher if you have concerns about access to resources.

Please only travel in accordance with UK government guidelines; if you’re outside the UK, please consult local guidelines.

You are not required to attend performances, exhibitions or undertake independent fieldwork in the UK set for your modules. Your teachers will advise of alternative learning activities and any assessment-related adjustments, where appropriate.

Please only travel in accordance with UK government guidelines; if you’re outside the UK, please consult local guidelines.

Please only travel in accordance with UK government guidelines; if you’re outside the UK, please consult local guidelines.

Please refer (as appropriate) to QMUL's "Advice about travel" FAQs and the guidance for PhD students from the Doctoral College. Students concerned about disruption to plans relating to international (or domestic) travel relating to their research are also encouraged to consult their supervisor(s), module convenor, MA Course Convenor and/or Director of Graduate Studies (in the case of PhD students), as appropriate.

Yes. All teaching staff are expected to retain their existing drop-in hours and to offer remote meetings via email, telephone, and/or video conferencing, advising of you of any changes to availability where necessary. Staff are expected to use the same mechanisms to offer dissertation supervision as normal. Please feel free to contact your advisor, teacher and/or dissertation supervisor to find out what arrangements they have made and to book a remote appointment.

Online renewal: You can renew your books online. Please consult The Library’s self-service webpage for details. If you experience any problems renewing, please contact library@qmul.ac.uk

Loan periods: The Library is working to extend loan periods for items already on loan. Please check the Library website for updates.

Fines: All fines have been waived as of Monday 16 March, and no further fines will be incurred during the closure period.

Holds (reservations): These have ceased as of Wednesday 18 March.  See the Library website for information on access to resources (books) and further information on alternative ways to access resources during the closure period.

Please consult the Library website for more details of digital support and services.

No. PC labs have been closed for health and safety reasons. Please consult Queen Mary's central information for updates.

Yes. Please consult the FAQs on the Doctoral College webpage and contact your supervisor and/or Director of Graduate Studies by email for further details.

We expect the process to follow the timetable set out in the module directory.

DRAMA SPACE & SUPPORT

Yes. You’re welcome to contact members of the team by email.

FEES

The University has provided guidance on this matter. Please consult the centrally maintained FAQs for further information.

HOUSING

GRADUATION

No. Queen Mary has postponed summer graduation ceremonies, and will be communicating new dates as soon possible. Please consult Queen Mary’s graduation information and general FAQs for updates as they become available.

TRAVEL

Please only travel in accordance with UK government guidelines; if you’re outside the UK, please consult local guidelines.

Please refer (as appropriate) to QMUL's "Advice about travel" FAQs and the guidance for PhD students from the Doctoral College. Students concerned about disruption to plans relating to international (or domestic) travel relating to their research are also encouraged to consult their supervisor(s), module convenor, MA Course Convenor and/or Director of Graduate Studies (in the case of PhD students), as appropriate.


This guidance has been compiled in order to provide students in the School of English and Drama with the best possible information available at the time of writing. Please remember that the institutional, national, and international contexts in light of the coronavirus pandemic are uncertain and changing, and it is likely that this will continue for some time. As a consequence, we will need to update this information from time to time. Any new decisions that are taken will always be with the best interests of students and staff firmly in view.

If you have a question for the School of English and Drama that is not addressed by this page, please email us on sed-information@qmul.ac.uk.

World-class education: English #11 in UK and Drama #9 in UK in QS World Rankings by Subject

Our English subject area (within QS category English Language and Literature) has been ranked as #11 in the #31 in the world.

Performing arts, a QS category including Drama and Film, is rated #9 in the UK and #31 in the world.

English and Drama Newsletter – March 2020 Edition

Welcome to March. We have some incredible events and news to share with you, so please read on.

WIN BOOKS: Our next student of the month could be you!

If you’re a current student or graduate simply fill out a mini student profile and you could feature on our blog and newsletter next month and win a copy of Brave New Words: The Power of Writing Now anthology edited by Susheila Nasta or a snazzy mini SED notebook.

Complete your student profile

Events

Please note: Due to Coronavirus and Industrial Action events are subject to cancellation at short notice. Please check with organisers before attending any events.

POSTGRADUATE OPEN EVENING

Postgraduate Open Evening
18 March 2020, 4.30-7pm, QMUL – Mile End

Book online

LISTINGS

Macbeth
13-14 March 2020, 6-7.30pm, St Leonard’s Church Spitalfields

Anərkē Shakespeare and Queen Mary’s Centre for Global Shakespeares presents Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Stratford-upon-Avon and London.

Read more here

At the burial site of Richard Burbage, the first player of Macbeth: 13th and 14th of March at St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch, London. Tickets available at the door or at: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/macbeth

Getting into Law for non-Law Students
(you must be logged into TargetConnect as student, alumni or staff to access the link)
17 March 2020, 6-7.30pm, Bancroft Building, QMUL – Mile End

You don’t have to study Law as an undergraduate to become a lawyer – either a Solicitor or a Barrister – law firms are very interested in students from other disciplines. 

As this event, you’ll find out about what lawyers do, how to get into the profession and hear from QM alumni working in Law about how their careers have developed so far.

Book online (you must be in logged in)

Data-Driven History: Text Mining the History of Property Law in the Debates of Britain’s Parliament, 1806-1911
18 March 2020, 3-5pm, Alan Turing Institute, British Library

This talk offers a case-study of a multi-level, AI-driven research on a major problem in history: the story of property law in the modern world. It applies topic modeling, n-gram analysis, skip grams, phrase detection, sentiment analysis, guided vocabularies, geoparsing, and dynamic topic models to understand the changing valences of how contemporaries discussed the ownership and inhabitation of property over time.

This event is part of The Alan Turing Institute‘s Living With Machines project (funded by AHRC). Our very own Ruth Ahnert is Prinicipal Investigator on the project.

Queen Mary Postcolonial Seminar: Prof. Carrol Clarkson
23 March 2020, 5-6pm, ArtsTwo 3.20 – QMUL Mile End
Prof. Carrol Clarkson (Amsterdam), ‘The Aesthetics of Transitional Justice’ (a discussion, seminar paper available by  request, email a.vandervlies@qmul.ac.uk).

Alumni Angles: Women in Leadership celebrate International Women’s Day
24 March 2020, 6.30-9pm, Peston Lecture Theatre, QMUL – Mile End To celebrate #IWD2020 join us for the inaugural event of QMUL’s Alumni Event Series ‘Alumni Angles’, part of the Queen Mary Public Event Series. The panellist event Women in Leadership: A conversation with alumnae leaders, will feature four inspirational alumnae leaders who will be talking to you about their experiences in predominantly male-led sectors and discussing how we can collectively help create a gender-equal world. The event is free for all students, alumni and staff.   Book tickets

Queer Poetics Research Network: ‘Wat if I present as a crowd’?
26 March 2020, 6-8.30pm, Graduate Centre GC701 – QMUL Mile End

Join us to hear Caroline Bergvall read from her new book, Alisoun Sings, and talk about collectivist allegiances and the making of a public voice.

Book now

“INDELIBLE: Performing Feminism in the Age of Trump” by HOLLY HUGHES26 March 2020, PP2, People’s Palace, QMUL – Mile End

Holly Hughes is the first IHSS Distinguished Visiting Fellow in the Sexual Cultures Research Group (aka SexCult) at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in March 2020. Her visit is supported by the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at QMUL.
Book online

The Last Breath Society – Martin O’Brien
28-29 March 2020, ICA

Martin O’Brien presents a landmark live art event at the world famous ICA. He continues his exploration of mortality through his pain-based practice. 

‘Born with a life-shortening disease, Martin has recently surpassed his life expectancy – as such, the artist is now living in what he terms ‘zombie time’. For The Last Breath Society(Coughing Coffin), Martin has gathered a society of sick queers, old queens and others thinking about death to collectively resist the loneliness of decay in a room full of coffins.’

Listen to Martin O’Brien on BBC: The artist who believes he’s a zombie

Book online

Email us your event

News

Jerry Brotton hosted a BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature The East Speaks Back around Ottoman writer Evliya Celebi who will help us discover how the East saw the West in the 17th century. He is also speaking at Harrow Mosque on on early Islamic map making.


Michael Hughes (Creative Writing)’s novel Country has been shortlisted for The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.


Charlie Pullen (English)has won the Raymond Williams Society’s Simon Dentith Memorial Prize for his essay: ‘”Childish Things”: Marion Richardson, Modernism, and the Teaching of Creativity’.

Listen to Charlie talk on BBC Radio 4’s today programme about being first in his family to go to university. Listen from 2:52:50.

Matthew Rubery (English) has published his new book Further Reading.

Phakama, People’s Palace Projects and Wasafiri Magazine: Three arts programmes based at Queen Mary University of London have each been rated strong or outstanding by the Arts Council England  in its 2020 Creative Case for Diversity Report.

Read more here

Eleni Sophia (English student) has got to the final of Gradventure with her publishing business Perspective Press Global.

Read more here

Rosie Vincent (Drama graduate) is crowdfunding The Common Room a community space on Roman Road. Help the campaign here.

The Verbatim Formula (including our very own Maggie Inchley – Drama) hosted an event at Greater London Assembly (City Hall) on The Future of Listening in the Care System.

Tiffany Watt-Smith (Drama) gave a lecture at University of Cambridge on The Enigma of Emotion.

Follow us on Instagram

Whilst we try our hardest to make sure listings are accurate we recommend contacting the event organiser or registering before attending as mistakes can be made and we apologise for these.

Eleni Sophia (English Student) on getting to the Final of Gradventure with her business Perspective Press Global

“So I got a phone call from Francesca telling me I had been nominated for the sem-finals for Gradventure – a competition for the student entrepreneurs of the University of London group where we would be pitching for funding! There were 16 semi-finalists and 8 of us made it to the finals!

On 1 February I had to pitch at Goldsmiths and a week later I was told I had gotten through to the finals! I believe I am the youngest finalist- the others have already graduated.

Next week, (March 12) I will be pitching for funding! By this time next year I want six authors published under Perspective Press Global so I need this funding to be able to provide services for editing, illustrating, marketing, cover designing etc.

When I graduate, I want to work on this full time; there is nobody else doing this in the UK and I already have a large following of almost 60,000 followers on my Instagram- many of whom message me asking me for help! I just need the funding to take it further; everything else is already in place!

Also, just as a side note, in celebration for International Women’s Day we will be donating a pack of sanitary towels (per book sale) for women who cannot afford them in order to raise awareness of Period Poverty!”

Help Drama Alumna Rosie Vincent to Crowdfund The Common Room a community space on Roman Road

Roman Road Trust has launched their Crowdfund London to transform The Common Room into a fully-functional learning facility for the local community. Our alumna Rosie Vincent is the Director of the trust.

The Common Room is a temporary structure first built in 2014 in an un-loved corner of Roman Road. For the past six years, Roman Road Trust and Public Works have been testing out different uses for The Common Room to discover the needs and desires of local people.

The Common Room has been used by the local community for more than 50 events, workshops, and activities. It has become clear that local people are seeking a dedicated space to share their knowledge and skills with others.

However, The Common Room can only be used for short periods during warm summer weather; the roof leaks, the floor is slippery when wet, and it is too cold in the winter. It is clear the structure needs to be transformed to enable Learning and Cultural Programmes to be delivered throughout the year.

Roman Road Trust is raising funds through the Mayor of London’s Crowdfund London to transform the existing structure. The Common Room will need new roofing, flooring, front extension, storage, and toilet.

Rosie Vincent, Director of Roman Road Trust says

‘This is a chance for the local community to come together to make something amazing happen in Roman Road. The Common Room is known and has been used by many local people and organisations over the years. It is now time for The Common Room to become what it truly deserves to be’

‘If we have enough support from the local community, then the Mayor of London will pledge up to £50k towards our project. But we have to first prove The Common Room is something the community want through gaining pledges from local people and organisations.’

Once The Common Room is built, Roman Road Trust and Public Works will plan a Learning Programme that will begin by focusing on sustaining healthy high streets and providing training in Community Organising to local groups. Cultural Programmes will be planned in collaboration with local institutions to reflect our diverse local community. The programmes offered in The Common Room will continually evolve to suit the needs, desires, and interests of local people.

Help making something amazing happen and pledge to The Common Room today: spacehive.com/transformthecommonroom