Lesley McKenna
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing
I’ve been a writer ever since I can remember being able to put pen to paper. I think writing, live writing, and dream about writing. I was a student here on the original creative writing course in the year 2000, when we were still Luton University, and I gained a BA first class honours. I went on to study for my Masters by Research degree in 2005 , and attained a distinction for the resulting novel and accompanying thesis. This novel, Clutching Shadow, a story of incest, betrayal and death, was long listed for the Cinnamon Press novel prize in 2008.
Now I’m lucky enough to be a senior lecturer in Creative Writing. I’m passionate about teaching, and I’ve had the privilege of helping students to write since 2005. I teach at all levels, and run specialist units in Writing Horror and Dark Fantasy Fiction (Level 5); and Writing Fantasy Fiction (Level 6). I also supervise projects for final year students. I also supervise students at Masters level, and have successfully seen numerous students though the process.
As can be seen from my specialist subjects, I am interested in horror fiction, and fantasy fiction, and read avidly in both areas. Currently, I’m reading a lot of historical fiction too.
- BA Honours First Class in Creative Writing (University of Luton)
- Masters by Research in Creative Writing (University of Luton)
- ‘The Sign’ in Nicole Mollet’s (artist) A Graphic Novel for Luton. Funded by Arts Council England, Luton Arts Council, and University of Bedfordshire TestBeds programme.
- 'Representations of Emasculation and Displaced Masculinity in A Game of Thrones.' (2016) British Fantasy Society Journal.
- ‘Womb Distortion’ (2010) cover design for ‘Amaranthus Caudatus’. Kater Murr Press.
- ‘Womb Nebula’ (2010) asemic text-art sequence. Divergence Online Journal of
- Innovative and Experimental Writing and Text-art.
- ‘Amaranthus caudatus (Love Lies Bleeding)’ (2010) Pamphlet. Kater Murr Press.
- ‘Body/Scapes’ (2008). Prose poetry sequence. Great Works. Ed. Peter Philpott. Archived by British Library at www.greatworks.org.uk/poems/lmck1.html
- ‘The Snowbound Heart’ (2007) Short story. Blackest Death Volume III. Black Death Books.
- Dead Babies. Novella. Short listed for Cinnamon Press Novella Award. Summer 2008.
- Clutching Shadow. Novel. Long listed for Cinnamon Press Novel Award. Summer 2008.
Reading: 2017. Revoluton Arts. Qalam Women's Writing Group. 'Crow Lass'
- Horror Fiction.
- Fantasy Fiction.
- Women and the representation of the feminine in horror and fantasy fiction.
- Conference. 2017. All About Cinderella: Retellings in a Cultural Imagination. University of Bedfordshire. ‘Prom Night: Cinderella Gets a Gun.
- NAWE Conference. 2012. York. ‘Toward a Personal Poetics of Horror.’
- NAWE Conference. 2010. Cheltenham. ‘Writing in Tongues: Working with Source Texts.’
- Symposium. University of Bedfordshire. 2009. Determining Creative Practice. ‘Cutting it Up - Intertextuality and the Collage Poem’ plus reading of ‘Amaranthus caudatus (Love Lies Bleeding)’.
- Symposium. University of Bedfordshire. 2008. ‘Circularity, narrative and aesthetic translation.’ Reading of Body/scapes.
- E: lesley.mckenna@beds.ac.uk
- Twitter: twitter.com/ceris57
- Blog: Tales from the House of Words and Memory at lesleymckenna.wordpress.com
address
School of Culture & Communications
University of Bedfordshire
University Square
Luton, LU1 3JU
United Kingdom