Award-winning theatre and TV producer and director Lawrence Till (BA English and Theatre Studies, 1985) has blazed a trail in the Arts with a host of recognisable productions to his name. He tells us how Warwick helped him lay those firm foundations for success and how the common ethos shared by Warwick alumni is one of the most powerful he’s come across.

Emily Wells (BA English Literature and Creative Writing, 2013) has a job many booklovers would envy: she gets to read for a living. As Senior Editor for a division of world publishing giant Hachette, her week is spent dissecting what makes a story sell and succeed on the market.

We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn that Peter Mack died as the result of a car accident on Thursday 5th October.

Peter Mack was a rigorous scholar and an excellent administrator. He directed the Warburg Institute from 2010 to 2014 and was both Head of the Department of English & Comparative Literary Studies and Chair of the Faculty of Arts, besides being actively involved in the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance. A Fellow of the British Academy and a leading authority on the English and European Renaissance, combining Shakespeare and Montaigne, his work and kindness touched everyone who met him, from students to colleagues, across various disciplines. His many books included Elizabethan Rhetoric: Theory and Practice (2002); Reading and Rhetoric in Montaigne and Shakespeare (2010); A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380-1620 (2011); and Rhetoric's Questions, Reading and Interpretation (2017) 

Further details about the funeral and memorial event will be announced as soon as we have them. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. 

The University of Warwick is collaborating with the Coventry Biennial art festival 2023 to celebrate local artists.

The Biennial is an exciting time for contemporary art that heralds the cultural significance of the city and is set to launch this autumn in venues across Coventry and Warwickshire. The festival includes exhibitions, public talks, workshops, and activities that have been visited by a million people since the Biennial began in 2017.

Among the artist and researcher collaborators is Graeme Macdonald, professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick who’s teamed up with local artist Paul Lemmon for Coventry Biennial 2023 as part of a new artistic commission.

Growing up in northwest London, Kaya Patel (BA Film and LiteratureLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, 2020) considered universities around the UK. But she chose to move to the Midlands for her undergraduate experience because she trusted her intuition.  

Stratford Herald reported on the cultural insights revealed at the Shakespeare and Poland Festival gala concert for Ambulance Aid which took place at Stratford Town Hall on Sunday evening. The event included a lecture by Tony Howard, Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Warwick, entitled A Better World Than This: Shakespeare and Poland.

This summer saw the resumption of the annual PhD Writing & Publishing Workshop at the Monash Prato Centre in Italy. Led by staff from the University of Monash, it took place over three days, 20-22 June, at their palazzo in the Tuscan city. Prior to the global pandemic, Warwick had participated in this event and this year three postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts and Professor David Lambert CADRE Director joined staff and students from Australia, Malaysia, India, Italy and elsewhere in the UK. The event included staff-led workshops on the fundamentals of academic writing and publication – from choosing journals and structuring articles to responding to feedback and building an academic track record. The heart of the event was the sessions devoted to the practice of writing itself. Supported by allocated academic staff who were on-hand to help with planning, the presentation of arguments and the choice of language, these provided great opportunities for focused work in a supportive environment.

Recently, we shared more about our new home in Venice, just one of the ways Warwick is reconfirming a deep commitment to the arts.

In this article for the Times Higher Education (THE), Stuart Croft, our Vice-Chancellor, talks about the importance of backing both STEM and the arts, and why Warwick is investing more than ever in arts and humanities.

You can view the article on the THE website (first published 26 June 2023) or read it below.

The University of Warwick is proud of its long-standing connections with Venice. Our History and History of Art departments have collectively taught students in Venice for well over 50 years. From 2007, the University had a base in the Cannaregio district of the city. Other departments, including Italian Studies, WBS, Global Sustainable Development, Economics, WMG, and the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, also used this space to deliver short courses and host academic conferences.

Circumstances necessitated the search for a new premises. After an interim period during which we were hosted by Ca’ Foscari, a new location was identified: the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin.

The opening event for the new venue was held on the 22nd May followed by a series of bi-lateral meetings between academics from Warwick and their counterparts from Ca' Foscari University on the 23rd May.

BA English and Theatre Studies alumna Vinitaraj Aulak may have only graduated in 2021, but she wasted no time chasing her dreams and securing a radio presenter role on BBC Asian Network. Here she shares how her undergraduate degree taught her to break the mould and follow her passions.