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Photo: Richard Lofthouse/University of Oxford
The Long and Short of It: The Novel - Amit Chaudhuri
with Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone
Monday 25 March, Zoom, 5.00pm
Tickets: £Free/Pay What You Can
The fourth in a series of OU-sponsored MK Lit Fest discussions on fictional forms, this event will explore the novel and what it might take to sustain a reader’s interest for several sittings. What separates the novel from its near neighbours, the short story and the novella? And what might it have in common with the memoir or biography?
As a creator of diverse literary and musical forms, prize-winning writer Amit Chaudhuri is uniquely placed to untangle approaches to the novel. In conversation with Open University PhD candidate, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, he will look at the delights and challenges of this popular form.
About Amit Chaudhuri
Amit Chaudhuri is the author of eight novels, the latest of which is Sojourn [2023]. He is also a poet, essayist, short story writer, and musician.
His New and Selected Poems was published in 2023 in the NYRB Poets series. His latest album in the 'not fusion' genre, Across the Universe, was also released in 2023. His works of non-fiction include, most recently, Finding the Raga, which received the James Tait Black Prize in 2022.
Other awards his work has received include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Encore Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the Government of India’s Sahitya Akademi Award, and the inaugural Infosys Prize in Literary Studies in the Humanities. He is Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the Centre for the Creative and Critical at Ashoka University. He was Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia from 2006-2021.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an honorary fellow of the Modern Language Association of America and of Balliol College, Oxford. He edits literaryactivism.com.
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About Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone
Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone is a prize-winning writer whose publications include the novel Home (Red Button, 2015) and the short story chapbook, Glitches (Acorn Book, 2014). Rebekah teaches creative writing at City, University of London, and runs regular literary events for both City, University of London and The Book Edit. Funded by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership, she is currently reading for a PhD in creative and critical writing at the Open University, writing a novel centred around the archaeologist and political officer, Gertrude Bell.
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About English and Creative Writing at the Open University
English and Creative Writing at the Open University enables students to anticipate life the better by reading critically, writing effectively and thinking creatively. Each programme is designed to support aspiration, taking students forwards in life. Studying with the OU will open professional avenues, further career prospects, deepen insights and knowledge – enjoyably. The Department's programmes strive to be rigorous while honing the pleasures of reading and writing.
The Contemporary Cultures of Writing research group is interested in all forms of creative and academic writing, and its outlook is interdisciplinary. Membership comprises novelists, poets, dramatists and life writers, as well as academics and practitioners in Literature, Linguistics, English Language, and Translation Studies. The focus is on writing practices, their cultural contexts and impacts, and activities include seminars, conferences, collaborative work, and publications.
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