Non Fiction Writing
This cluster brings together colleagues who share an interest in nonfiction writing. We interpret nonfiction broadly and creatively, to include, for example, biography, memoir, autobiography, nature writing, place writing, creative-critical writing and personal essays, as well as various hybrid modes and genres in-between.
René Magritte, ‘The Art of Conversation’
We meet twice a semester to discuss members’ work-in-progress or, more occasionally, to read related texts. Our workshops have aided members in generating and refining many new works for publication.
We also frequently organise and deliver talks and events for both public and LJMU audiences. Current membership is drawn from English, Creative Writing, and Education, and we welcome new members from all disciplines.
Recent publications
- Jake Morris-Campbell, Between the Salt and the Ash: A Journey into the Heart of Northumbria (2025; forthcoming in paperback 2026)
- Joe Moran, ‘Couples: A Collective Life’ (2024), ‘You are not an angel (a letter to my students)’ (2024), and ‘Noli timere’ (2023)
- Jude Piesse, ‘Done with Dickens’ (2024) and The Ghost in the Garden: in Search of Darwin’s Lost Garden (2021)
- Helen Tookey, ‘Special reality: Malcolm Lowry's last notebook’(2023) and Outward Bound from Liverpool: Reading Malcolm Lowry (forthcoming 2026)
- Catherine Cole, A French House: On the Love of Place (forthcoming 2026) and Slipstream: On Memory and Migration (2023)
Recent events
- Contributions to the RILCH Symposium on ‘Writing Matters’ (2025)
- ‘Into Being: The Radical Power of Memoir and its Power to Transform’ (with Lily Dunn, 2025)
- ‘The “I” in History: Writing Memoir’ (with Alison Light, 2024)
- ‘Writing Darwin’s Garden at The Mount: Darwin, Gardens and the Literary Imagination’ (2023)