Sheffield Hallam to host award-winning writers for Off the Shelf Festival

12th October 2022

Sheffield Hallam University will celebrate the history of the Crucible Theatre as part of a line-up of free workshops and events for this year’s Off the Shelf Festival of Words.

The University has curated a range of online and live events, including creative writing masterclasses, poetry readings and family workshops featuring award winning writers as part of the 31^st edition of the festival, organised in partnership with the University of Sheffield. 

Ashley Barnes, deputy head of the Department of Humanities at Hallam, will lead Crucible@50, an online event and the last in a series of podcasts celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the building of the Sheffield theatre.  

Ashley will be in conversation with Robert Hastie, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres and Edward George, author of Stirring Up Sheffield.  

Children’s author Maisie Chan will be hosting a family event where she will read from her new novel Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu and will be taking questions about being a writer.  

Another family event, Fight Back with award-winning author A.M. Dassu will explore identity, what it means to be an ally and the importance of coming together in the face of discrimination. A.M. Dassu’s new book Fight Back is an empowering, uplifting story which deals with the tough issues of bullying and racism.  

Nicola Chester, columnist for the RSPB and pioneer of ‘new nature writing’ will be discussing her new book On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging.  

Nicola advocates passionately for the force of writing as resistance and the importance of knowing the stories that shape our landscapes. She will also be hosting a creative writing workshop, Writing to Change the World, looking at the art of getting your voice heard. 

For those who want to use language more creatively, Hallam academic Dr Jodie Clark will share strategies for invoking imaginative possibilities from the logical world of linguistics, looking at language as more than just a toolkit. 

PhD students Elin Ivansson and Joanna Dobson will also be hosting a workshop on how to tell stories through collected materials, no matter how small. The workshop will explore archival storytelling: telling stories through collected material like official documents, journal entries, letters, old photographs, bus tickets, even selfies can be prompts for writing about your past. 

The Poetics of Ageing, led by Sheffield Hallam’s Lab4Living will be reimagining what it means to grow older. The event will include poetry written by local communities about the experiences of getting older and living with dementia.  

Sheffield Hallam’s library will be screening short films by Ivor Tymchak. The experimental films were created when Ivor discovered the 16mm film equipment as a student at Sheffield Polytechnic’s art campus in the 1970s.  

The screening is part of a wider project by Sheffield Hallam University’s libraries to digitise alumni films.  

The Rickard Sisters have created a comics adaptation of the novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists. They will join Dr Harriet Earle for an interactive talk and workshop exploring how comics are at the vanguard of social comment with a chance to have a go at creating your own.  

The finale of Sheffield Hallam’s events will be a performance of Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre, reimagined by Chris Bush. First performed at the National Theatre, this performance will be by students from BA Acting and Performance degree.  

Charles Mundye, head of humanities at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “The Department of Humanities is proud to be leading Sheffield Hallam University's strand of events running through Sheffield's wonderful Off the Shelf Festival of Words.  

“Our talented students and staff are staging an exciting programme, with events for children and young adults, our MA Creative Writing Masterclasses, and student performances in The Crucible. We welcome you all to share in the creative passion and energy of our university and city.” 

See the full line up of events and book tickets on the Off the Shelf website.