Spring into Summer 2016
Spring into Summer 2016 offered four-week and six-week courses, a one-day creative writing workshop, and a series of free events.
Click on the course titles for further information:
- Travel Writing
- The Evolution of Islamic State
- Now in Glorious Technicolour: the use of colour in film
- Conversational Arabic
- Small but perfectly formed: exploring the short story
- Documentary storytelling through history
- Beginning and ending short stories
We also ran a number of free events; click on the event title for information about each event:
- Reading the Scrolls of Auschwitz
- Calamity Corbyn? Why our political leaders fail
- Trying to understand Brexit: an analysis of fear, fiction, fighting and (maybe) facts
- Film screening of the documentary ‘Reel Injun’
- ‘We Talk, You Listen’: Native North America and the Politics of Cinema
- Thinking about Europe: the fate of German and British ‘enemy aliens’ during the First World War
We would like to thank our partners from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies; the School of Politics and International Studies and the Leeds University Business School for their roles in the above events.
Spring into Summer 2015
Our 2015 programme was comprised of a range of four-week and six-week courses, as well as an intensive one-day workshop, which ran from early June to mid-July. This provision was again delivered alongside a series of free one-off events organised in partnership with colleagues from across the University.
Please click on the course / workshop titles for further information:
- Creative Writing: Mash-Up Short Stories
- Creative Writing: Travel Writing
- Culture: Fairy Tales: From Fiction to Fine Art
- Current Affairs: The Islamic Caliphate Revived?
- Language: Conversational Arabic
- Literature: The Book’s Better! Exploring Literary Film Adaptations
Please click on the event titles for further information:
- Payday Loans and the Regulation of Low-Income Lending
- The Music of Jewish Prayer: Unearthing the Layers of Liturgical Chant and Song
- Cheap Energy vs. Clean Technology
- Edith Cavell
- New Atheism: The Dilemmas of Taking on God
- Celebrating Canada Day?
- The Fiction Makes Us Real: An Introduction to Canadian Literature
We were very appreciative of the successful partnerships we were able to establish or build on with Leeds University Business School, the School of Politics and International Studies, the Centre for Canadian Studies, the Legacies of War project and the Performing the Jewish Archive project in the delivery of the one-off events.
Spring into Summer 2014
Following on from the success of the 2013 programme we once again offered a range of six-week courses which ran from early June to mid-July, in tandem this time with a series of free one-off events organised in partnership with colleagues from across the University.
Please click on the course titles for further information:
- Art Appreciation: Encountering Contemporary Art
- Creative Writing: Weaving Stories From Fact: Writing Creative Non-Fiction
- Creative Writing: Writing Short Stories
- Culture: King Arthur: Medieval Myths to Modern Motifs
- Language: Conversational Arabic
- Literature: A Good Read: Leaving Your Comfort Zone
- Literature: Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror
- Religion: Islam: Beliefs, Practices and Traditions
Please click on the event titles for further information:
We were once again impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment demonstrated by the participants, and were particularly pleased with the successful partnerships we established with the School of Politics and International Studies and the Legacies of War project at the University, Leeds University Business School and the Marks and Spencer Company Archive in the delivery of the one-off events.
Spring into Summer 2013
After two successful years of Spring into Summer we were keen to expand and build on the previous format of a week-long programme of one-day workshops. Feedback from previous Spring into Summer learners suggested that people were keen for a more prolonged form of provision and this gave us the confidence to offer an expanded programme of ten evening and daytime courses running for six weeks from early June to mid-July:
- Art: Encountering Art: An Introduction
- Creative Writing: Life Story Writing
- Creative Writing: Writing a Novel
- Culture: Old and New Beliefs in Medieval Scandinavia
- Film: Was this the funniest film ever made?
- Language: Conversational Arabic
- Literature: Reading the Novel: How to get more out of your book group
- Music: Introduction to Film Music
- Religion: The God Question
- Religion: Islam and the Challenges of Modernity
We were delighted with the success of the new format, the enthusiasm and commitment demonstrated by participants who attended and the help and support we received from our fantastic partners:
- 27th Leeds International Film Festival
- Henry Moore Institute
- Hyde Park Picture House
- Leeds Library and Information Service
- Leeds Museums and Galleries
- Opposite Cafe
- Waterstones
Evaluating the success of the new Spring into Summer format was extremely important to us and we were very grateful to receive so much thoughtful and in-depth feedback from participants. Analysing this feedback really helped us to reflect on what we did well and where we could improve, and left us with plenty of enthusiasm for planning the 2014 programme.
Spring into Summer 2012
The 2012 Spring into Summer programme took place in June with the following one-day workshops:
- Creative Writing: Characterisation in the Short Story
- Creative Writing: Growing a Novel
- Creative Writing: Writing Crime
- Creative Writing: Poems Are Other People’s Photographs
- Creative Writing: Writing Scripts
- Creative Writing: The Single Page Comic
- Film: Blurred Identities? The Changing Face of National Cinema
- Literature: Scandinavian Children’s Literature
- Music: Wagner with Feeling and Understanding
- Religion: In Search of the Historical Jesus
- Science: Performance Enhancement: Ethical Issues and Dilemmas?
- Social Science: You, Your Green Bin and the Bigger Picture
The 2012 programme also included a free evening seminar – Reflections on the Arab Spring of 2011 and its aftermath.
Spring into Summer 2011
2011 saw the launch of Spring into Summer. Our first programme saw participants attending the following programme of ten one-day workshops at the University of Leeds:
- Creative Writing: Coming Up Short? How to craft a short story in a day
- Creative Writing: Comic in-a-day
- Creative Writing: Every Picture Tells A Story
- Creative Writing: The Music of Life
- Creative Writing: Who Dunnit and How To Write It
- Film: Sex and Violence in the Films of Stanley Kubrick
- Music: Love and Death in Opera
- Culture: From Vikings to Volcanoes: An Introduction to Iceland
- Culture: Religion and the West: Collision or Conversation?
As this was a new initiative we were very keen to hear participant feedback, which was extremely positive. Many participants were also keen to see more of this kind of provision in the future, with people expressing an interest in a broad range of subject areas. We were delighted with the success of the first Spring into Summer programme and finished the week keen to start planning for 2012.