BHM2019: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk – Baldwin’s Poetry On Screen
For Black History Month we asked students to recommend works by Black writers that are important to them. All recommendations will be acquired by ILS and included in a dedicated exhibition in Fountains. Kicking us off, Adam Kirkbride reflects on the recent adaptation of James Badlwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk.
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Belong at YSJU: Make York Your Own!
In the first of a new series to help new students settle into York, Senior Lecturer in Literature Julie Raby shares some of her favourite spots on campus and around York!
Emma Geraghty’s Social Live Art Performance – Fat Girl Singing
By Abi Whitaker and EllIe Anderson-Ingham
On the night of the 21st of February York Theatre Royal hosted the SLAP event ‘Fat Girl Singing’ by Emma Geraghty. Here Abi and Ellie discuss the performance.
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Two Tales for Christmas Eve: A Christmas Carol & A Christmas Memory
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.
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Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry by Abi Whitaker
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.
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Creature Feature: A History Of Witches Within Literature
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.
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Black History Month: ‘I’ve Known Rivers’ Langston Hughes
By Charlotte Stevenson
As York St. John marks Black History Month, Charlotte Stevenson discusses her first encounter with the poetry of Langston Hughes.
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Black History Month: Frederick Douglass and his Legacy
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.
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Creature Feature: Monstrous Mothers, Talking Animals And The Beldam In Neil Gaiman’s Coraline
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.
Comic Week Special: What Makes a Great Comic Book Movie?
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.
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Touching History: On Holding Eighteenth-Century Literature in York Explore Archive
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.
Black History Month: Changing My Mind, Reflections on the Writing of Zadie Smith
By Freya Bainbridge
As York St John University marks Black History Month, Freya reconsiders the work of Zadie Smith.
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“Keep Your Mind Open to Contagious Ideas”: A Reflection on the 2018 Words Matter Lecture by Dr Jo Waugh
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.
Seven Books to Buy on National #BookshopDay!
- By Charlotte Stevenson
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.
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