Literary experts to discuss process behind storytelling

Tue 08 March, 2022

The University of Bedfordshire will be hosting a panel of three local and successful authors – Toby Litt, Adam Croft and Emily Short – for a free online literary-themed event, as part of its long-standing Beds Talks programme.

This event has been organised by Dr Tim Jarvis – Lecturer in Creative Writing with the School of Arts & Creative Industries – and the University's Creative Writing team. This instalment of the popular Beds Talks series will involve presentations from each author, a round table discussion about the topic and a Q&A session which the audience can partake in, delving into the ins and outs of progressing from writing to book publishing – including traditional methods to self-publishing and new media.

Beds Talks is a series of free public engagement events from the University of Bedfordshire, sharing research and knowledge with the wider community. This particular event, Telling Stories, is guaranteed to fascinate anybody interested in literature and publishing, with the opportunity to pose questions to the guest speakers. Authors appearing on the panel include Bedford-born short story-teller Toby Litt, University honorary and crime fiction writer Adam Croft, and interactive fiction ‘modeller’ Emily Short.

Ahead of hosting the event, Dr Jarvis said: “I’m looking forward to introducing this guest panel to our audience of students, staff and the public as it’s sure to be a really insightful event. Those with an interest in local heritage, creative writing and modern publishing practice are sure to find this discussion engaging and entertaining as it provides an exclusive insight into the workings of contemporary literature.”

This Beds Talk event will support the University's Research Institute for Media, Art & Performance (RIMAP) in its Literary Bedfordshire project – an initiative which aims to identify and excavate the literary heritage of the county.

Professor Alexis Weedon, Director of RIMAP, commented: “It’s fantastic to be able to collaborate on this event with a selection of our region’s celebrated modern day authors. All three have a different story and experience to tell, and I hope their backgrounds will help inspire future literary stars.”

About the authors…

Toby Litt wasborn in Bedford and raised in Ampthill and is the author of short stories, novels, diaries and lots of other things. He is best-known for writing his books in alphabetical order (apart from the non-fiction ones); he is currently working on Q and R. His story ‘The Retreat’ won the brand new 2020 Short Fiction/University of Essex Prize, and his story ‘Call it “The Bug” Because I Have No Time to Think of a Better Title” was shortlisted for the notoriously lucrative Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Toby is a Reader in Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, London, where he is the convenor of the MFA in Creative Writing.

Adam Croft is one of the world's biggest-selling authors of crime fiction and gripping psychological thrillers. His books are known for their quick pace, thrilling plots and believable characters, and have sold in more than 120 countries around the world. His books have topped the Amazon storewide chart seven times, and in February 2017 Amazon’s overall Author Rankings placed Adam as the most widely read author in the world, with J.K. Rowling in second place. In 2018, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts by the University of Bedfordshire in recognition of his outstanding services to literature.

Emily Short works in interactive fiction, narrative design, and conversation modelling, and is currently the Creative Director at Failbetter Games. She has worked with Riot, Monolith, Paradox, Niantic, E-Line Media, Eko, Big Fish Games, Telltale Games, ArenaNet, ngmoco :), Nerial, Six to Start, and Fusebox Games among others. She was the creative director of the Versu project, building interactive iPad stories around AI characters. She has written over two dozen works of interactive fiction and is part of the design team for Inform7, a tool for creating parser-based IF – a ‘text adventure’ genre which is one of the oldest and best-known forms of interactive fiction. Her blog can be found at: http://emshort.blog

People interested in this event can register by signing up for a free ticket via Eventbrite. Guests will receive a confirmation message and a joining link will be sent to their email address nearer to the day of the event.

For more information about upcoming events hosted and organised by the University of Bedfordshire, visit: www.beds.ac.uk/events

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