The #British Academy: Four questions with Dr #KimWiltshire

Dr Kim Wiltshire, Reader in Creative Writing at Edge Hill University, and one of the speakers at the British Academy Late: The Human Experience

1. What have you been reading, watching, and listening to over the last month?

I am very lucky to be part of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize committee, which means I get to read a range of published short story collections, and in the past fortnight I’ve read about five – but I can’t reveal which ones until the longlist is out!

The short story is a great form. When I run writing workshops in healthcare settings, people often say they always wanted to write a novel, but I try to steer them towards the short story as it is such a flexible form – you can be poetic, biographical, experimental and explore ways of writing not sustainable in a novel. It can be a tricky artform, but a great place to start if you want to explore your creativity through writing.

2. What book do you always return to?

There are a couple of books I often return to, the first ones I read in terms of the craft and pedagogy of creative writing. Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down The Bones and Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer both highlight that whilst writing itself might not be a subject you can teach, learning how to be a disciplined writer – showing up at the desk, Brande calls it – is something you can teach. They have exercises and advice that still underscore my methodologies for both workshops and HE teaching.

3. What’s your guilty pleasure to read, watch or listen to?

There are no guilty pleasures! I think that is one of the main messages I try to bring to workshops – if you enjoy reading/watching/listening to it, then enjoy it and never feel guilty.

4. What’s one piece of interesting advice you can give us that you’ve learnt from your subjects?

Working with NHS staff in creative workshops highlighted that if we just give ourselves an hour or so a day, a week even, of playing, of being purely creative just for the sheer joy of it, then the power that has to aid our own health and wellbeing is amazing. Please try it!