What can writers and teachers of Creative Writing learn from psychiatry, neuroscience, and other medical disciplines about the links between creativity and mental illness?
Richard Hamblyn, Toby Litt and Lily Dunn, from Birkbeck, University of London, have organized an exciting series of dialogues, culminating in an ambitious one day conference on ‘Creative Writing and Mental Health’.
Professor KR Jamison (Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and Artistic Temperament) will be giving the keynote address on Saturday 27th May 2017.
In the run-up to this, there will be public events at Birkbeck each Friday evening from 28th March onwards, establishing a dialogue between medical professionals (often with literary backgrounds) and writers (often with medical experience).
Invited participants include: Birkbeck Creative Writing MA graduate Suzanne O’Sullivan (It’s All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness, winner of the 2016 Wellcome Book Prize); Lecturer in Creative Writing and former psychiatric nurse Nathan Filer (The Shock of the Fall); and Lecturer in Creative Writing and former psychiatric patient John O’Donoghue (Sectioned: A Life Interrupted).
The full list of the seminars on offer are:
- Dr Sarah Jackson and Robert Power, Friday 28 April 2017, 6-7:30pm
- Dr Lisa Conlan and John O’Donoghue, Friday 5 May 2017, 6-7:30pm
- Suzanne O’Sullivan and Prof Roberto A Bressan, Friday 12 May 2017, 6-7:30pm
- Nathan Filer and Agata Vitale, Friday 19 May 2017, 6-7.30pm
- Professor Kay Redfield Jamison, Friday 26 May 2017, 6-7:30pm
- Creative Writing and Mental Health Conference, Saturday 27 May 2017, 10am-5pm
For more information, including venue and booking details, please click on the links to individual seminars provided above or visit the conference page here.
Funded by the Birkbeck/Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF).
