Sara Maitland: Other Work

 
I have now been commissioned by Granta to write a new book, provisionally entitled Enchanted Forests, which will explore the connection between the forests of Britain and traditional fairy stories. The book will contain both history and description of forests and re-tellings of fairy stories. Like most writers I do not write books all the time. This page is about some of the other ways I make a living. Residencies One as writer in residence in HMP Ashwell, a prison in Rutland. Another at Lincoln Cathedral, from which I developed Heartbreak (2003) – a Radio 4 Afternoon Theatre drama about a modern choirboy and the history of the cathedral itself. Other Media My first radio play, Other Voices (2001), was about Voice Hearing and won a Media Health Award in 2002. Mental Health issues are very important to me. I have had a number of short stories commissioned for Radio 4 as well – and (despite the fact that it cannot be silent!) love writing for radio. I was the last writer to work with Stanley Kubrick on A.I. – the project that Speilberg picked up and completed when Kubrick died. I collaborated with the animator Ruth Lingford on her wonderful short film – The Pleasures of War (Channel 4, 1998) www.sherbet.co.uk/directors/ruthLingford In December 2008 Far North by the British Director Asif Kapadia and starring Michelle Yeo and Sean Bean is going to be released. It is based on a short story of mine – and I think it is an extraordinarily beautiful and powerful film. It seems to be rare for writers to like films based on their work, so I am both lucky and privileged to have had Asif and Tim Miller, his scriptwriter. Teaching Lancaster University MA in Creative writing (Distance Learning Mode). Lancaster offers its MA in Creative Writing as an on-line course, as well as the more usual face-to-face/workshop model. This is an ideal way of working for someone like me who never wants to leave home and prefers silence. It also means that we get exceptionally interesting students – people who have enough life not to want to leave it for campus regression. It is also an unusual teaching job because I practically never have to talk to anyone. www.lancaster.ac.uk I also assess manuscripts and mentor writers for The Literary Consultancy: www.theliteraryconsultancy.co.uk http://www.sherbet.co.uk/directors/ruthLingfordhttp://www.lancaster.ac.ukhttp://www.theliteraryconsultancy.co.ukhttp://www.packawallop.org/shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2