Writing the seasons

Joanna Dobson and Sophie Parkes-Nield, two creative writers with an interest in place, seasons and environmental writing, introduce their current SHU PhD work-in-progress. Joanna is interested in the way humans experience nature after an experience of trauma, and is writing a memoir that weaves the story of her childhood with that of restoring a neglected allotment in south-west Sheffield. Sophie's research explores calendar customs, the seasonal, traditional events that take place in communities, to see how they can be used by the fiction writer to influence the text. After discussing their work, Jo and Sophie will be open to questions about memoir, fiction and applying for and surviving and thriving whilst completing a practice-based Creative Writing PhD.