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Creative writing lecturer Dr Sarah Dobbs has recently published three short stories. 'Burning the Ants' was commissioned for Unthank's collection The End , along with contributors Professor Ailsa Cox and AJ Ashworth, who also attended the Sunderland launch of the collection in the recent Sunderland Literature and Creative Writing Festival . All stories are phrased around images provided by London artist Nicholas Rushton, exploring narrative and emotional responses to the notion of 'the end'. Her other recent short fictions, 'The Imaginary Wife' and 'As Linda was Buying the Flowers' are featured in Unthank's unthology 8 and 9 respectively.

Dr Susan Mandala (Reader in Pragmatic Stylistics, TESOL) has published a chapter in Dialogue across Media , an edited collection published by John Benjamins (Mildorf and Thomas (eds.) 2017). In her chapter 'Pragmatic stylistics and dramatic dialogue', Susan views dramatic dialogue as a form of exchange that can be read on the page just as legitimately as it can be experienced on stage. Employing a pragmatic stylistic analysis linking the text on the page to her interpretation, she offers a re-reading of Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter . While for Burton (1980) Ben was 'the dominating and superior interactant,' and Gus 'the dominated and inferior one' (70), Susan argues that it is Gus who can be considered the dominating character and shows in the concluding discussion why this recalibration of power is significant for a wider understanding of the play.

New approaches to storytelling in the digital age is the subject of the next School of Culture research seminar. From poetry on Instagram to Twitter short stories, moving graphic novels on Vine and seeing who reads your guerrilla stories, social media offers new opportunities to get your prose, poetry and other work in front of new readers. This workshop from Iain Rowe (author of One of Us and the director of the creative writing strand of the Sunderland Literature and Creative Writing Festival) will explore the possibilities and get you creating. 10th February 12 noon, Priestman 115 http://www.iainrowan.com/ #! This is a free event open to all, but please email sarah.dobbs@sunderland.ac.uk to register interest.

Angela Smith has recently been promoted to Professor of Language and Culture within the Faculty of Education and Society. Her research interests are in gender, discriminatory practices, media discourses and language in popular culture.  The various contexts of her research range from the home front in the First World War to the pioneering broadcast career of Kate Adie. Angela is interested in the various forms of confrontational language that is found in broadcast media, from Radio 4's Today programme to Top Gear . In her professorial lecture, entitled 'War, Conflict and Sid the Seagull', Professor Smith will also mention Paddington Bear and how he actually links these seemingly distinct themes.  Recently, her research has expanded into a project with other members of the English team at Sunderland to explore the city's literary and cultural history, and this feeds into the City of Culture 2021 bid.  This talk will explore these issues in more detail and will identify

Culture Research Seminar Series  Faculty of Education and Society The School of Culture is pleased to announce the new season of research seminars. All sessions except otherwise stated will be in Reg Vardy 111 10th February 12 noon, Priestman 115 : Iain Rowan (Sunderland University) New approaches to storytelling in the digital age 24th February 4pm: Dr. Kevin Yuill (Sunderland University) Rebels against the infinite: Attitudes to suicide in the fin-de-siecle USA 24th March 5-7pm, City Library @ Museum & Winter Gardens : Dr. Mary Talbot (author of The Red Virgin ) and Dr. Laura O’Brien (Northumbria University) Revolutionary women: Imagining Louise Michel 7th April 4pm : Dr. Delphine Doucet (Sunderland University) Priestcraft, civil religion and toleration in the early modern period 12th May 4pm: Dr. James Koranyi (Durham University) Fascist Divisions: a Romanian German "historians' dispute" at the end of the Cold War 9th June 4pm : Dr. David Fallon (Sunderland Univ