Creative Director of the Manchester Writing School and Professor of Contemporary Poetry
"One of the greatest pleasures of my working life continues to be the Manchester Writing School at MMU - a department with a real sense of family, achievement…
Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry)
“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart…live in the question.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Sherry Ashworth was a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School from 2006 until her retirement in 2012. She returned to the School…
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction)
Susan Barker joins the Manchester Writing School team in April 2017.
Professor of Modern Literature
"Reading is at the heart of our culture, but we can never do enough of it. Aim to read as widely as you can and make notes about what you read. The Italian…
Senior Lecturer in English (Writing for Children)
"Read as widely as possible, across all genres from all over the world. I ask students to question everything about the world and about themselves. I work to…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Ed Caesar is an author and feature writer. As a journalist, he has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Outside, The Smithsonian…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Mandy Coe’s 2010 collection If You Could See Laughter was short-listed for a Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) Children’s Poetry Award.…
Senior Lecturer in English (Place Writing)
Before doctoral study, I spent several years working in the arts development sector: first as Arts Officer at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere; and then as Literature…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Amanda Dalton is a poet and playwright, working in theatre and radio. Her poetry is published by Bloodaxe. She lives in West Yorkshire and works part-time as Director…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Steve Dearden is the Director of the Writing Squad, the north of England’s development programme for writers aged 16-21 and beyond. Previously has been Director…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Paul Dowswell is a British writer of non-fiction and fiction, writing mainly for children and young adults. He has written over 60 books, mostly with history as…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Boris Dralyuk is the Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books. He is a literary translator and holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from UCLA,…
Manager of the Manchester Writing School
I am the Manager of the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met. Working closely with the Academic and Creative Directors, I have responsibility for…
Senior Lecturer in American Literature (Poetry)
"Whatever you read or do, remember it’s ok to get lost; it’s difficult to discover things if we’re not prepared to lose ourselves sometimes.…
Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Arts (Place Writing)
Best known as the author of the Guardian’s Country Diary, Paul Evans is a naturalist, broadcaster of natural-history documentaries and award-winning…
Graduate Teaching Assistant
"Learn because you want to learn. Read because you want to read. And write because you want to write. Try different cheeses. My teaching style is wild, inclusive…
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction and Script)
Rachel Genn joined the Manchester Writing School as an Associate Lecturer (Fiction) in 2011 and was appointed Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction and Script) in…
Senior Lecturer in English (Writing for Children)
Chloe joins the Manchester Writing School teaching team in September 2017.
Visiting Professor
I’m thrilled to be joining Manchester Met as a Visiting Professor. I’m Senior Narrative Designer with Sony VR and a writer working across different media,…
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction)
Andrew Michael Hurley joined the Manchester Writing School as Lecturer (Fiction) in 2016. Photo credit: Johnny Bean.
Reader in Place Writing
Rachel Lichtenstein joins the Manchester Writing School as Reader in Place Writing in January 2018.
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Script and Poetry)
Anjum Malik has written extensively for screen, stage and radio. She was a Visiting Teaching Fellow at the Manchester Writing School for several years…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Rachel Mann is an Anglican priest, scholar and poet based in south Manchester. Between 2009 and 2017 she was poet-in-residence at Manchester Cathedral and helped…
Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing (Writing for Children)
Nicky Matthews-Browne - who publishes as N. M. Browne - joined the Manchester Writing School as an Associate Lecturer (Writing for Children) in 2011.
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Shirley May has performed predominately in the North West, nationally and internationally, appearing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York and the Calabash writing…
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry)
Andrew McMillan joins the Manchester Writing School team in September 2017.
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction and Writing for Children)
"Be patient: becoming the kind of writer you want to be takes time and it can take even longer for the publishing world to get round to your point of view!"
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry)
Helen Mort joined the Manchester Writing School as Lecturer in Creative Writing in September 2016.
Visiting Teaching Fellow
André Naffis-Sahely is a poet, critic and translator. He was born in Venice to Italian and Iranian parents, and grew up in Abu Dhabi. He has a BA in History…
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction)
"My advice for any creative writer is simple: read. Read all you can, whenever you have a moment. This is happy advice – it means you are ‘working’…
Professor of Poetry
"Any good writer is a good reader first. There’s no substitute for being steeped in the great work of the past, and reading the work of your contemporaries.…
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction)
"I think it's vital that emerging writers spend a period of time as an apprentice, learning their craft. Do the best you can. Tackle difficult subjects,…
Reader in Creative Writing (Fiction)
"Every year among the new intake of MFA/MA novel-writing students, I find a selection of writers who are so talented that it is inspiring and exhilarating to…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
David Shook is a poet, translator, publisher and filmmaker. He was raised in Mexico City and earned a BA at the University of Oklahoma and an MSt at Oxford University.…
Professor of Creative Writing
"Anyone interested in studying creative writing needs to read. It’s not just about reading for pleasure, but reading as a writer. You must develop a curiosity…
Professor of Scriptwriting
"Manchester Metropolitan is a university of infectious intellectual breadth and energy. The potential for collaborative work with some of the leading teachers…
Visiting Teaching Fellow
Hugh Stoddart has written the screenplays for many successful films both for TV and cinema. He has adapted novels such as To the Lighthouse, We Think the World of…
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction)
Joe Stretch is the author of three novels – Friction, Wildlife and The Adult. The Adult was nominated for the Portico Prize and received the Somerset Maugham…
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Writing for Children & Young Adults)
Alex Wheatle MBE joins Manchester Metropolitan University as a Lecturer in Creative Writing in January 2018, teaching on the Writing for Children and Young Adults…
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Fiction and Writing for Children)
"Read, read, read. Live in your own head and inhabit the world of your fiction obsessively. A course in Creative Writing is licence to daydream."
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Script)
After graduating from St. Anne's College, Oxford, I trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School under Nat Brenner, as an actor and director. I was an acting/writing…
