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Translation

The Creative and the Critical: Creative Writing for Researchers

A Midlands4Cities Dialogue Day - Call for Expression of Interest

  • Date: 29 May 2025, 10am to 5pm
  • Place: The University of Warwick

Traditionally, there has been an invisible division between creative and critical practices. Researchers of literature and culture do not have to write fiction and poetry themselves, and their writing does not have to make sense to a general readership. Nor do creative writers have to write academic texts. Some would argue that the creative and the critical belong to different realms that do not intersect. However, there are myriad ways in which academic researchers would benefit from having creative writing skills. Similarly, creative writers could produce more interesting and engaging work by addressing critical questions or contexts.

This M4C Dialogue Day aims to explore the reciprocal relationship between the creative and the critical by bringing scholars, PhD researchers, and creative writers together. It invites two experienced creative writers (Elaine Chiew and Leanne Moden) to offer fiction and poetry workshops to PhD researchers, and PhD researchers to share their experiences of writing creatively. At the end of the day, participants will have produced two short draft pieces of creative writing (poetry and flash fiction). They will also have gained a deeper understanding of the topic and expanded their employability skillset. This will hopefully inspire many participants to consider writing for the public and working in creative and cultural industries.

Who is this event aimed at?

PhD researchers who:

  • are interested in, or would like to pursue, creative writing but have not had a creative writing education
  • would like to expand their employability skills by learning to write for the public and publish in non-academic journals and literary magazines.

Eligibility

  • You are a PhD researcher currently enrolled at one of the M4C institutions.
  • You are new to creative writing, have not taken a creative writing course, and creative writing is not part of your PhD work.
  • You submit an Expression of interest (EoI) with all the required documents before the deadline.

Activities on the day

  • Two creative writing workshops led by experienced writers (Elaine Chiew and Leanne Moden) where you will learn the fundamentals of writing fiction and poetry, and you will also have the opportunity to write your own poem and flash fiction.
  • A roundtable discussion between creative writers and researchers (incliuding Hongwei Bao and Jane Qian Liu) to explore the relationship between the creative and the critical modes of writing.

Note: Participants will own the intellectual property of their own work produced during the workshop. They may be asked to read out and share their work on a voluntary basis.

Application

To apply for a place on the M4C Dialogue Day, please send an Expression of Interest (EoI) with the following documents to Dr Qian Liu (qian.liu.1@warwick.ac.uk) and Dr Hongwei Bao (hongwei.bao@nottingham.ac.uk) before 24 March.

  1. A statement (maximum one page) of who you are, what course you are on and why you are interested in this M4C Dialogue Day, explaining how your current PhD study or your future career may benefit from this opportunity.
  2. A short writing sample of your creative work in English (and it does not have to be already published or publishable): up to 1,000 words for prose, and up to 100 lines for poetry.
  3. (optional) A short statement about whether you need to apply for a travel bursary, how much the cost is anticipated to be and what it will be used for. (Please note that you will need to pay for your travel first and then claim expenses after the event.)

Applicants will be notified of the outcome in two weeks after the EoI deadline.

Travel and accommodation

Participants will need to sort out travel and accommodation (if needed) by themselves, although they can apply for a reimbursement of travel cost (up to £60 per person). Travel bursaries are limited and will be offered based on the needs and the workshop capacity.

Biographies

Hongwei Bao

Hongwei is associate professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham. His work explores queer desire, Asian identity, diasporic positionality and transcultural intimacy. He is the author of The Passion of the Rabbit God (poetry, Valley Press, 2024), Dream of the Orchid Pavilion (poetry, Big White Shed, 2024), and Queering the Asian Diaspora (nonfiction, Sage, 2024). His work has appeared in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Covert Literary Magazine, Shanghai Literary Review, The Hooghly Review and The Ponder Review. His short story ‘A Postcard to Berlin’ was a runner-up for the Plaza Prize for Microfiction in 2023.

Elaine Chiew

Elaine is the author of The Light Between Us, longlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize, and a short story collection The Heartsick Diaspora (Penguin SEA 2019 & Myriad Editions UK 2020, and a recommended read in The Guardian, The Straits Times Singapore, BookRiot and Esquire SG) . She is also the compiler/editor of Cooked Up: Food Fiction from Around the World (New Internationalist, 2015). Twice winner of the Bridport, she has had numerous stories published in Singapore, US and UK, notably with BBC Radio Four and Best Asian Short Stories. Her articles on arts and culture have appeared in ArtReview Asia, Ocula and ArtsEquator, and she has made guest appearances on BBC Radio London, Open Book for BBC Radio 4 as well as BBC Cultural Frontline.

Originally from Ipoh, Malaysia, she has a J.D. from Stanford Law School and has worked as a corporate securities attorney in New York, Hong Kong and London. In 2017, she received an MA in Asian Art History at Goldsmiths, University of London and has worked as an arts archivist in Singapore. She now resides in London and is a tutor with The Creative Writing Programme, as well as a freelance mentor, editor, and researcher.

Jane Qian Liu

Jane is associate professor of Translation and Chinese Studies at the University of Warwick. Her research interests include comparative literature, translation studies, modern and contemporary Chinese literature, and more recently, the study of reading. She is the author of Transcultural Lyricism: Translation, Intertextuality, and the Rise of Emotion in Modern Chinese Love Fiction, 1899–1925 (Brill, 2017), among others. She writes fictional and non-fictional works in English and Chinese. She has published short stories in English including ‘The Family Man’ and ‘The Disrupted’.

Leanne Moden

Leanne is a poet, theatremaker and educator, based in Nottingham (UK). She’s performed across the UK and Europe, including gigs at WOMAD Festival, Sofar Sounds, and Bestival on the Isle of Wight. She was a semi-finalist at the BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam in 2018, and has shown work at Fourth Wave Feminist Festival, Trinity College Cambridge, and TEDxWOMEN UCL. In Summer 2019, Leanne performed her first solo theatre show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and her second pamphlet of poetry, “Get Over Yourself,’ was published with Burning Eye Books in 2020. She is currently working on her first full-length play.

Discover more about Leanne: