News

Simone Herrmann, PhD candidate and research assistant at the English Literature Department, has been awarded the David Almond Fellowship for Research in Children's Literature. The fellowship, supported by Newcastle University and the Seven Stories National Centre for Children's Books, allows Simone unique access to the collections of the Seven Stories archives, including drafts, manuscripts and original press cutting of acclaimed British children's literature authors like M.E. Atkinson or Ursula Moray Williams. During her research visit by the beginning of April 2016 she will have the opportunity to talk about her research on negations of individuals and communities in British Children's Robinsonades to fellow researcher and students at Newcastle University.

"In between Trench and Bond Street: World War I in German and British Literature" showcases results of a project seminar held at Siegen University during the winter term 2013/2014. Developed by students from the English and German department, the exhibition seeks to explore various examples of how World War I has been represented and commemorated in both British and German literature in the immediate aftermath of the event as well as in the present. Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, this exhibition was first shown at Siegen City Library in February 2014 and has now moved on to Siegen University Library. It covers a wide range of literary expressions from lyric poetry to fictional diaries and even to the visual medium of television. The project has wished to include often overlooked aspects of the war, for example war experiences as seen through the eyes of a child. Therefore, we are pleased to announce that at the close of the exhibition British children's book writer and comic-strip illustrator Marcia Williams will read extracts from her works, especially from her fascinating fictional scrapbook Archie's War.