Studying English and Creative Writing: two Roehampton students tell us more

In this film Oli Simmonds and Lauren Sharp tell us about their experiences studying for English Literature and Creative Writing degrees at Roehampton. We hear about moving from short stories to the novel as a creative writer, and the balance between historical and contemporary issues in the study of literature. We also hear what it has been like to study at a time of Covid, both the good and the bad sides of lockdown learning.

Oli and Lauren also tell us about Fincham Press, Roehampton’s own publishing house, which nurtures new writing from students and staff. We hear about student trips to Paris and across the streets of London, bringing literature back into the real world that produced it and where it is set. They both speak powerfully about love, literature and stories, and working as a student community to take each other seriously and help one another to develop. Literature, they tell us, is something that records who we are and who we might be, and documents our lives even as it changes them.