About Michael Blackburn

Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing in the School of English and Journalism. Poet and writer.

Free online poetry course (How Writers Write Poetry).

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

http://youtu.be/LhlqysmOvFA

The Course

How Writers Write Poetry, a six-week course beginning on June 28, 2014, is an interactive study of the practice of writing poetry. The course presents a curated collection of short, intimate talks on craft by two dozen acclaimed poets writing in English. Craft topics include sketching techniques, appropriation, meter, constraints, sound, mindfulness, and pleasure. The talks are designed for beginning poets just starting to put words on a page as well as for advanced poets looking for new entry points, thoughts about process, or teaching tips. The course will be taught by University of Iowa International Writing Program Director and poet/translator Christopher Merrill as well as Black Rainbow Editions Editor and poet Mary Hickman. Contributing poets’ video talks will be contextualized through online discussion and writing assignments. The Poetry Teaching Assistants (all Iowa Writers’ Workshop students or graduates with university level experience teaching creative writing) will join Mary Hickman in offering online poetry workshops to participants. (Please note: we can’t workshop everyone, but we will workshop a representative selection of participants’ work every week.) Poets who have contributed video craft talks for the course include former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, Kwame Dawes, Marvin Bell, Kiki Petrosino, Kate Greenstreet, and many others. How Writers Write Poetry will offer a diversity of answers to the question of how a writer develops and refines the lifelong practice of his or her craft. Enrollment in How Writers Write Poetry is free and unlimited.

Source/go to: How Writers Write Poetry.

Forever Bag: one of our postgrads becomes an entrepreneur.

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Our alumni go on to pursue a number of careers. Nick Beaumont has struck out into online commerce:

Forever Bag is my first independent venture into e-commerce since graduating from the fantastic MA in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln in 2012. Based in Manchester, our small team work with some top class manufacturers to offer beautiful, design-inspired bags at low prices.

We’re constantly growing our catalogue and our fashion-loving community, and hope as many people as possible can get involved! We’re currently offering free delivery and a 10% discount for anyone who likes us on Facebook, so check out our website: http://www.foreverbag.co.uk, and our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/foreverbag to see our latest blog posts, offers and competitions.

Take a look.

Forever Bag.

The Shakespeare’s Birthday/St George’s Day Field Trip.

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Our Shakespeare’s Birthday/St George’s Day Jaunt to Tupholme Abbey; followed later by visits to the bookshops of Horncastle, including The Most Dangerous Bookshop in the World (Tim Smith Books).

Ranin and Chelsea selfie

Frank thinks of Britt Ekland

Joel looks at a pond

We eat pizza

This is another pond

Ranin gets to go into an English field

Robert Edric, guest reader at symposium.

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Robert Edric, our guest writer at the symposium on Wednesday, 9 April.

With 24 novels to his name he’s one of our foremost novelists.

Many thanks to him for his informative and encouraging words.

Joel’s photos from the Lincoln Drift 2014.

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Frank looks like he’s enjoying himself.

That way, I said, and they all ignored me.

Celia takes stock.

Annie writes.

Claire looks thoughtful.

Chelsea also is thoughtful.

Ranin looks worried.

Pigeons on the roof, alas.

Cathedral.

The Fourth Lincoln Drift

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Photos from the Fourth Lincoln Drift:

“Who You Looking At?

Weird Beastie Looking On.

There’s more to this than meets the eyes (ie, you can see two students reflected in the window).

At the back of student flats.

You may be having a coffee but you’ve still got to write something.

That includes you.

How to look studious in a secondhand bookshop.

It always ends with cake. Today, for Ranin’s birthday.

Interview with Brendan Cleary about his new collection, Face.

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

http://vimeo.com/74104634

Many thanks to Brendan for his great visit on 5 March.

Scott Thurston on a a slope (visiting poet).

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Scott Thurston talking to students 26 Feb.

Not that the building was sloping, just that I can’t seem to get the horizontal hold correct.

Poet Tony Curtis defends creative writing courses.

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Michael Blackburn

Poet and Emeritus professor Tony Curtis responds to Hanif Kureishi’s jibe about creative writing courses being a waste of time (TC being external examiner on the MA in Creative Writing here at Lincoln):

If Hanif Kureishi feels his experience as a teacher of creative writing at university level has been so negative, perhaps he or the University of Kingston should consider his position. My experience of introducing and teaching the subject at the University of Glamorgan, now the University of South Wales, beginning in 1982, was more positive, with some undergraduates and postgraduates going on to publish. Of course, that can never be the stated aim of such courses, but the success of published and award-winning writers and poets from a course reflects back on both their fellow students and the teaching staff…

Read in full.

Nice bit of publicity for Hanif Kureishi, though.

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The MA in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln

Author Archives: Michael Blackburn