Guest Blog: Creative writing partnership with South Sudan

A group of students in York have been working with Juba University, South Sudan, since 2011 to put together a creative writing anthology - to be published this Easter - with contributions by students from both places.

The theme for the anthology is 'change' as this is a fundamental issue facing students in South Sudan following their country's declaration of independence, andat the same time a central day-to-day challenge for students at York.

The anthology includes a wide range of writing from both York and Juba students, including poetry and prose. It includes topics as varied as Juba students' experience of war, to traditional fables, the ups and downs of relationships and the dangers of drinking too much alcohol. York students have contributed pieces exploring themes from the philosophical to the ordinariness of home.

South Sudanese author Taban Lo Liyong (who is involved in the Juba Arabic production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline at the Globe in May, and a Professor of English at Juba University) has helped with the final stages of the anthology. We have also been working closely with another lecturer in Juba, Adam Cholong.

The launch for the anthology will take place at Pitcher and Piano in York on Thursday 14th June at 7.30. There will be a band and some readings from the entries by York students.

Anthea Gordon 

English & Related Literature Department