Poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw has been appointed the new Chair of Creative Writing for the Department of English, a post she will take up later this year.
A distinguished poet, novelist and writer of non-fiction, she has worked in areas including art, music, medicine, science and the environment. She will be joining the MA in Creative Writing teaching staff from September 2017 as Professor of Creative Writing, a role previously held by Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate.
“I’m delighted to be joining such an eminent department and a creative-writing programme that offers a particularly high quality of attention to students’ work,” said Lavinia. “It's an exciting time for both poetry and prose as emerging writers respond to our changing world in fascinating and inventive ways. I look forward to working with them.”
Photo credit: Andrew Crowley/Telegraph
Award-winning
Nominated for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Whitbread Book Award (now the Costa Book Award), BBC Short Story Award, and winner of the Forward Prize, Greenlaw published her first volume in 1991. Her first novel, Mary George of Allnorthover (2001) was awarded the Prix de Premier Roman Etranger, and latest work A Double Sorrow: A Version of Troilus and Criseyde, was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award.
She was the first artist-in-residence at the Science Museum and has also held residencies at the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Society of Medicine. She is on the Council of the Royal Society of Literature, former Chair of the Poetry Society, and was Chair of Judges for the inaugural Folio Prize. She is an artistic advisor to 14-18 Now.
Outstanding teaching, outstanding results
Greenlaw was formerly Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, and joins Royal Holloway from King’s College London, where she was a Visiting Professor. She will be joining a strong team on the MA in Creative Writing, which includes the poets Jo Shapcott and Redell Olson and fiction writers Susanna Jones and Nikita Lalwani.
Royal Holloway's highly-regarded Department of English was ranked 9th in the UK for the study of Creative Writing. The department has a number of notable alumni, including award-winning novelist Cecilia Ekback, and Waterstones Book of the Year author Sarah Perry. They also include writer, broadcaster and Private Eye Deputy Editor Francis Wheen and comedian Robin Ince.
Find out more about our English and Creative Writing degree and the MA in Creative Writing on the Department of English webpages.
