Siobhan Campbell – författare

The First World War gave new and vital impetus to the ancient idea that books could heal. This interdisciplinary collection provides a targeted survey of 100 years of historical and contemporary understandings and practices of ‘the book as cure’.The contributors explore the curative practices of wartime reading, how they were developed and institutionalized after the war, and the afterlives of these ideas and practices today. Divided into three sections, the first considers bibliotherapy in World War I.’ It is rooted in the wartime cultures which ensured bibliotherapy became part of the active treatment of soldiers’ damaged minds and bodies on both sides of the Atlantic after 1914. Parts two and three examine the expanding variety of critical contexts, both historical and more modern, in which reading and wellbeing continued to intersect. The chapters draw on a wide range of source material from trench magazines to autograph books to e-novels, as well as on data and information drawn from practice-based encounters. They also provide the basis for further scholarly exploration of, for example, national traditions and contexts and the inter-disciplinary relationships which they inspire.A Hundred Years of Bibliotherapy: Healing through Books provides the first interdisciplinary dialogue on and account of bibliotherapy, addressing both historical and present-day modes of engaging with the ostensibly curative power of reading and reading cultures. It is an invaluable resource for scholars of literary studies, book history, and the medical humanities.

An essential guide for writers of fiction, poetry, life writing and drama, A Creative Writing Handbook offers expert advice on structuring compelling narratives and cultivating distinctive voices.Writing, research and editing activities combine with rich and varied examples to help develop the skills and techniques a writer needs. This hands-on approach examines scriptwriting for different media and considers how skills and techniques from one form of writing might usefully cross over to others: how does a short story become a film? How are techniques from scriptwriting employed in novels? And how might poets and life writers fruitfully engage with the strategies of dramatists and writers of prose fiction?This second edition has been extensively updated with content that reflects current developments in forms such as life writing, flash fiction and audio drama. It includes examples of work by a wide range of writers using a variety of styles and approaches, showcasing the diversity of contemporary writing. For individual writers, writing groups and courses, and writers’ workshops, A Creative Writing Handbook provides: creative techniques for developing short stories and novelsdetailed introductions to stage, audio and film writingstrategies for incorporating dramatic techniques in poetrythought-provoking approaches to life writingpractical guidance on layout and adaptation techniques for different mediaexciting activities to help writers discover new approaches, strengthen their writing, and develop their own practice and voice.A Creative Writing Handbook has been written by nine published authors and creative writing lecturers who have taught at institutions including the University of Cambridge, the University of East Anglia and New York University.It is edited by Derek Neale, a fiction writer and dramatist who is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at The Open University, and Heather Richardson, Emma Claire Sweeney and Siobhán Campbell, Senior Lecturers in Creative Writing at The Open University, who are variously novelists, short story writers, poets and authors of creative non-fiction.

Siobhán Campbell is an Irish author noted for poems characterized by keen intelligence, cool skepticism, rich textures and wryly witty observations. Her new collection from Seren, Heat Signature, continues her fascination with power and responsibility as she skewers our most cherished notions in sharply memorable poems.

"One of our most beloved contemporary poets", is how former Ireland Professor of Poetry Paula Meehan describes Philip Casey (1950-2018). Cherished by many for his tenderness, fortitude, hope and tenacity, Philip was an award-winning novelist, admired poet and vital presence on the Irish literary scene for four decades. Philip battled repeated health challenges, stood up for causes he believed in, and relished making mischief. He was, in the words of the poet Theo Dorgan, "some man for one man". Philip believed in the idea of a community of writers, and his open-mindedness drew others towards him - whether to his Dublin home, or to his grassroots support base in his earlier home of Hollyfort, Co Wexford. His booming laugh and powerful handshake were legendary. The many contributors, including Sebastian Barry, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Dermot Bolger, Moya Cannon and Thomas Lynch, praise Philip Casey's gifts as a writer of poetry and fiction, as well as highlighting their admiration for him as a man.