Sheffield Hallam University will be celebrating the passion of its staff, creativity of students and collaboration with industry in a Hallam curated line up of events for Off the Shelf Festival of Words (13-19 October)

Press contact: Emma Griffiths | e.griffiths@shu.ac.uk

The University has curated a range of live and online events, including a performance of Shakespeare’s Othello adapted by AI, for this year’s festival in partnership with the University of Sheffield.  

Hallam staff will be sharing their passion for their research with the public through events led by academics:  

• Lecturer in Performance, Dr Fraser Stevens, is behind the groundbreaking new performance of Othello, generated by AI and performed in collaboration with Sheffield Theatres. 
  
  
• The Art and Craft of Grammar is an online event hosted by Senior Lecturer in English Language, Dr Jodie Clark. The event will move away from the idea of grammar as something which is either right or wrong, but a set of guiding principles to help people in their work and creativity.  
  
  
• The Art of The X-Files will showcase the research of four Hallam academics. Dr David Clarke and Andrew Robinson discuss the mysterious Calvine photograph that made global headlines, and Dr Diane A Rodgers and Dr James Fenwick will be previewing the anthology on the legacy of the hit show, The X-Files, which will be published in November.  
  
  
• Research Professor of Arts and Culture John Goodby, a leading authority on Dylan Thomas, will be presenting Thomas' writing for public service film, a lesser-known aspect of his career. The Q&A will be chaired by cultural historian, Professor Alison Twells. 
  
  

• Children and grown-ups will be able to join Illustration lecturers, Mike Doney and Jo Breese, for a half-term comic book superhero workshop in an illustration studio in the Head Post Office. 

Events will also invite conversation with authors, poets and industry experts:  

• Blood Feather is the new collection of poetry from Sheffield Hallam honorary professor, Patrick McGuinness. He will be in conversation with Charles Mundye, Head of the Department of Culture and Media. 
  
  
• The second Creative Writing Masterclass is 100 Queer Poems, an evening that celebrates a recent anthology, that sees poets Andrew MacMillan and Clare Shaw in conversation with Professor of Ecopoetics at Sheffield Hallam University, Harriet Tarlo. 
  
  
• Comics in the twenty-first century is a talk by comics expert, Dr Harriet Earle, which is enhanced by the Graphic Novel Reading Room, an initiative headed up by Gabi Putnoki which brings a dynamic library of graphic novels to the event.  
  
  
• Sheffield institution, Forced Entertainment, celebrates their fortieth anniversary with the launch of their book, Things That Go through Your Mind When Falling: The Work of Forced Entertainment.  
  
  
• Hallam will host award-winning stage, screen and voice actor Richard Armitage to discuss his debut thriller, Geneva. Richard will be in conversation with bestselling writer T. M. Logan, author of The Curfew and The Catch.  

And showcase the creativity of students:

• Creative Writing PhD student, Joanna Dobson, is hosting Noreen Masud, author of A Flat Place, for the first of two Creative Writing Masterclasses as part of the Off the Shelf. 
   
  
• Joanna is also hosting a Creative Writing workshop with recent PhD graduate, Dr Elin Ivansson, which explores the Writer in the Archive, and is based on their respective PhD works.
  
  
• Transformative Acts welcomes back three recent Acting graduates, Connie Fiddament, Chris Riley Ellis and Salome Martha Hakunandaba, to the stage to perform exciting solo performances.

Ashley Barnes, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture and Media at Sheffield Hallam, said: “It is a great pleasure for us to support Off the Shelf again this year by including a series of events that highlight the skills, talents and creativity of our students and staff. 

“Off the Shelf is such an important local festival and we’re sure there is something in our programme for everyone. We can’t wait to welcome the public to the University to share our passions with us.”