Blog | English Literature | York St John University
Charlotte Crawshaw
In the run-up to Christmas, YSJ literature students are putting together posts to enter into the festive frame of mind. Here Charlotte Crawshaw discusses her thoughts on reading to de-stress, the writing of Charles Dickens and Truman Capote.
Continue reading “Two Tales for Christmas Eve: A Christmas Carol & A Christmas Memory”
By Abi Whitaker
In this Event piece, Abi Whitaker shares with us on a deeply personal retrospective of last week’s event for the launch of Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry , a poetry anthology edited by Rebecca Tamás and Sarah Shin.
Continue reading “Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry by Abi Whitaker”
By Charlotte Crawshaw
In the wake of Halloween, now more than ever monsters have been leaping to life from the pages of books around the world. In this Words Matter Creature Feature, Charlotte Crawshaw discusses representations of Witches throughout history from the past to the present.
Continue reading “Creature Feature: A History Of Witches Within Literature”
By Charlotte Stevenson
As York St. John marks Black History Month, Charlotte Stevenson discusses her first encounter with the poetry of Langston Hughes.
Continue reading “Black History Month: ‘I’ve Known Rivers’ Langston Hughes”
By Charlotte Stevenson
As York St. John marks Black History Month, Charlotte Stevenson discusses the Frederick Douglass event led by English Literature Subject Director, Anne-Marie Evans.
Continue reading “Black History Month: Frederick Douglass and his Legacy”
By Charlotte Stevenson
As Halloween falls across the land, now more than ever monsters leap to life from the pages of books around the world. In the first post of our Creature Feature series, Charlotte Stevenson discusses the concept of monstrous humans with a focus on Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.
By Ethan Newton-Hamer
As Comic Week draws to a close, Ethan Newton-Hamer reflects on the current ‘age of superheroes’ and ponders what it is that makes a great comic book adaptation.
Continue reading “Comic Week Special: What Makes a Great Comic Book Movie?”
By Charlotte Crawshaw
Last week, Drs Adam Smith and Jo Waugh accompanied a group of students to York Explore Archive to consult a collection of texts printed in York in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Guest blogger Charlotte Crawshaw reports.
By Freya Bainbridge
As York St John University marks Black History Month, Freya reconsiders the work of Zadie Smith.
Continue reading “Black History Month: Changing My Mind, Reflections on the Writing of Zadie Smith”
By Erin Byrne
On Thursday 11th October, Dr Jo Waugh delivered the Literature Programme’s annual ‘Words Matter’ lecture, this year exploring the topic of Literature and Contagion. Regular Blog Writer Erin Bryne was on the scene.
As some of you might know, this Saturday is National Bookshop Day. This means that across the weekend, specifically October 8th, there will be lots of book related events going on across the country such as author readings, signings and such. It’s an occasion to show your local bookshop some love as, whilst Amazon is convenient and easy to access online, there is nothing like going for a browse at your local store. There is a community there, a tangible hum to all of those spines full of potential calling out ‘pick me’. Every penny we spend there goes towards keeping those sanctuaries in place and making sure they remain on our high streets for the long run.
Continue reading “Seven Books to Buy on National #BookshopDay!”
By James Turner
Continue reading “National Poetry Day: Poetry Is Now More Important Than Ever”
By Charlotte Stevenson
This week is Banned Books Week, 23-29 September. To mark the occasion, regular writer Charlotte Stevenson asks: Is it ever appropriate to decide what another person should or shouldn’t read?
We asked our wonderful Alumni of successful graduates if they had any advice they wish they could could to their former second-year selves. The results have been amazing, and what we got back is all exceptional advice for any student!
As summer draws to a close, it is time to put away our YSJ Big Summer Read and turn our attention to the novels, plays, poetry and films that we’ll be reading and discussing throughout the new term. However, before we do that, here is a quick round-up of what everyone thought about this year’s Summer Read: Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad!