Event overview
Writing the Younger Self: Readings about the traumas of youth as seen through the lens of an older narrator
Clare Fisher and Francis Gilbert will read from their fiction at this session; their work explores representations of the younger self as viewed by an older narrator. Their fiction is accessible, dramatic and, at times, traumatic.
Clare Fisher was born in Tooting, south London in 1987. After accidentally getting obsessed with writing fiction when she should have been studying for a BA in History at the University of Oxford, Clare completed an MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. An avid observer of the diverse area of south London in which she grew up, Clare's writing is inspired by her long-standing interest in social exclusion and the particular ways in which it affects vulnerable women and girls. All The Good Things is her first novel. Her debut collection of very short fiction, How the Light Gets In, will be published by Influx Press in 2018.
Francis Gilbert is a Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is Head of the MA in Creative Writing and Education and course leader for the PGCE English course. He has taught creative writing for many years and has published novels, memoir, social polemics and numerous educational guides. He worked for a quarter of a century in various English state schools teaching English and Media Studies to 11-18 year olds before taking up his post at Goldsmiths. He has appeared numerous times on radio and TV, including Newsnight, the Today Programme, Woman’s Hour and the Russell Brand Show. In June 2015, he was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing and Education by Goldsmiths.
His novel ‘Who Do You Love’ is about Nick, who is cracking up. In his mid-forties, he has just been sacked as an arts journalist, with little prospect of getting such a well-paid, prestigious job again. Even more worrying for him is his suspicion that his wife, a Deputy Head at a school, is having an affair with a much more successful person: does she want to trade in Nick for a better model? By turns comic, tragic and romantic, ‘Who Do You Love’ is a stirring novel which explores the big issues of passion, death and grief; a fast-paced contemporary love story but also moving exploration of what it means to be alive today, which should appeal to fans of writers like David Nichols, Ann Tyler and Nick Hornby.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Oct 2017 | 5:00pm - 6:00pm |
Accessibility
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