MA Children's Literature

Harry completed his MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmith’s in 2019 and has written three middle-grade novels and a book of prompts for reluctant writers of all ages.

Harry completed his MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmith’s in 2019 and has written three middle-grade novels and a book of prompts for reluctant writers of all ages. More details can be accessed on his website http://www.harryoulton.co.uk/books/.

Harry started a PhD at Goldsmiths in Children’s Literature in 2020 with the working title of “Arrowfall - the methodology of Adaptation in YA Historical Fiction”. The Paston Letters are a series of over 1000 letters written between members of the same family in the 15^th century. They are readily accessible, and Harry is using them as his principal source material in the creation of Arrowfall, a contemporaneous Young Adult Historical novel. This is the same creative process followed in 1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson when he wrote the YA novel The Black Arrow, and Helen Castor in 2004 when she wrote Blood and Roses, a biography of the Paston family. Arrowfall will interact with all three texts, creating a pyramid of adaptation and informing the choices he makes during the writing process. He will also be drawing on outlaw narratives, from Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe up to the 2017 Netflix series Casa de Papel. Historical Fiction is itself the product of an adaptive contradiction; by necessity, it involves the insertion of fiction into a truth, and this uneasy juxtaposition is best examined and accessed using an adaptation studies methodology. As HF is often used pedagogically, he is working within both the creative writing and the education faculties of Goldsmiths. The pedagogic aspect must consider fidelity, which will ensure he, in turn, addresses the fundamental question at the heart of adaptation; should an adaptation bring the source text to the reader, or should it take the reader to the text?

Helen is researching her PhD thesis into children’s comics-making at Goldsmiths University, having previously studied for a foundation diploma at Camberwell College of Art.

Helen is researching her PhD thesis into children’s comics-making at Goldsmiths University, having previously studied a foundation diploma at Camberwell College of Art, a BA (Hons) in Communication at Cardiff University, a PGCE in Primary Education at Middlesex University and an MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths University. Helen is a lecturer in primary education at UCL, Institute of Education. Prior to this, she was a teacher in primary schools in London for twelve years, during which time she had a range of roles in both leadership and the classroom. Helen currently runs an after-school comic club for children in a local primary school. She has three young children who are all enthusiastic readers and makers of comics and graphic novels.

Helen has been awarded a Goldsmiths, Department of Educational Studies scholarship for her PhD studies. She has published articles and presented at conferences on her specialist area:

Jones, H. (2021). Developing a comic library to support children reading for pleasure. English 4-11, Summer 2021

Jones, H. (2021). Caticorns and Derp Warz: Exploring children’s comic making and literacy worlds in an after school comic club. Presented at: Transitions 9.

Jones, H. (2020). Caticorns and Derp Warz: Exploring children’s literacy worlds through the production of comics. Studies in Comics, 11 (1), 59-93.

Jones, H. (2019). It is awesome and you get to swap fun, funny and fantasy!' How a comic lending library impacted on the reading habits of Y3 pupils. Presented at: UKLA 55th International Conference.

Jones, H. (2019). New Ways to Promote Reading for Pleasure with Michael Rosen. Panel discussion at: New Ways to Promote Reading for Pleasure with Michael Rosen.

Richard has judged for the Empathy Lab the past two years and will do so for the 2022 collection as well.

Richard has judged for the Empathy Lab the past two years and will do so for the 2022 collection as well. He has also judged for his local independent bookseller’s award which focuses on illustrated chapter fiction in 2020.

He has worked closely with the UKLA, running workshops at several conferences before joining their international conference in 2018. He is a regional representative for London and on the Awards Committee, which involves shadowing the text selection process, supporting teacher judges and reviewing applications for the awards.

Following Goldsmith’s Reading for Pleasure conference in conversation with Michael, he has spoken at a few webinars, appeared on several podcasts, and helped create resources for parents centred around Book Talk (created alongside Macmillan during Lockdown 1 last year) – this culminated in a webinar.

This has led to him recently taking on some picturebook consultancy work with the Open University. The project (currently being undertaken) focuses on the theme of hope and overcoming adversity. Framework and resources to support practitioners in classrooms/libraries alongside some academic work should be released around July. 

He is frequently found talking books on Twitter and have run a few regular events which include #OURfPBookBlether and #LetsTalkGraphicNovels.