Storytelling with graphic novels

In the final School of Culture Research Seminar, Costa award-winners Bryan Talbot and Mary Talbot will talk about the books they've done together and what the graphic novel form brings to their storytelling. Focusing on their collaborative work to date, they demonstrate the power of the graphic novel to communicate complex material in an accessible way. Emotionally charged biographical details, tangled historical events or the contemporary challenges of climate change – whatever the subject, the graphic novel’s unique combination of word and image can render it compelling.

Wednesday June 19th at 4 pm in David Goldman 313. All welcome!

The cover of Rain, the next graphic novel by Bryan and Mary Talbot, out in October 2019

Naked dating shows

Professor Angela Smith has published an article about the Channel 4 show Naked Attraction. This programme involves clothed participants viewing and commenting on six potential 'dates' as they stand naked in plastic pods designed to gradually reveal their bodies from the feet upwards. Angela explores how the shock of graphic nudity is ameliorated by the linguistic strategies of positive politeness with which all participants seem to collude and engage. Such amelioration, she argues, would appear to be a defence against accusations of voyeuristic and pornographic content on mainstream TV.

Smith, A. 2019. ‘How the hell did this get on tv?’: Naked dating shows as the final taboo on mainstream TV. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 

Rare Birds by Natalie Scott

Rare Birds, by the poet Natalie Scott, who was awarded a PhD in English from Sunderland in 2015, is a collection of dramatic monologues which creatively re-imagines the story of Holloway Prison’s first one hundred years through the voices of prisoners, staff and others connected to its history, to explore some of the injustices of the penal system during this period. 

The poems voice women in roles other than that of criminal: there are social campaigners, comrades, as well as sisters, daughters, mothers, wives, lovers and companions. Although it has a historical context, the collection explores many of the themes which are still relevant today: human rights, equality, gender, identity, mental illness, social class.

Natalie received Arts Council funding to bring her work to the stage, and in May 2019 an ensemble of West End actors performed her piece in a workshop production at The Soho Theatre, supported by original music and songs from award-winning British musical theatre composers, and devised and directed by Simon Greiff.

You can find out more about Natalie's work at her website.