Staff Profile
Dr Margaret Wilkinson
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing
- Email: margaret.wilkinson@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5225
- Fax: +44 (0) 191 208 8708
Introduction
Margaret Wilkinson, is a prose, stage, screen and radio writer. Previously Degree Programme Director for the MA and PGC in Creative Writing, she is now senior tutor with a special interest in dramatic structure (for both script and prose writers), voice and dialogue.
Research Interests
I have a special interest in dramatic and narrative structure, voice and dialogue as applied to both prose and script writing, as I teach on the Master’s Degree in both strands. I am particularly interested in three act structure as a fluid, yet stable, principle for organising drama and fiction and in the way this framework might function creatively as well as structurally.
Other Expertise
I have a special interest and expertise in writing for radio and an ongoing interest in the psychological and dramatic aspects of the ghost story. As a teacher and mentor I continue to pursue my interest in nurturing new writers, and guiding more experienced writers, in the region. I currently supervise 7 PhD students- five in prose fiction and two in drama. For many years I have contributed regular columns to the nationally and internationally acclaimed, writing magazine, Mslexia, disseminating ideas about the craft of writing through exercises and techniques I have personally developed. Recently I have completed a series of six articles for Mslexia on writing for radio and four articles on the short story.
Current Work
After writing and editing, along with PG students in Creative Writing, a stage play, The Newcastle Witches, based on archival material and events surrounding the witch-trials held in Newcastle in 1649, researched by PG students in Literature, supported by MEMS and the Newcastle City Guides and performed in Newcastle Guildhall 2014, I have become extremely interested in how the creative writer approaches an archive for inspiration, and uses the archive in the development of drama. My current work is a one-act play based on the Mary Shelley archive and a drama based on the archive for Stannington Children's Sanatorium, the first children's hospital for TB patients in the UK, held in Woodhorn & Northumberland Archives.
Co-investigator, Cracking Good Stories Project- a Creative Writing and Linguistic collaboration to bring good fiction to adults who are learning to read in English for the first time, the project examines the role of fiction and pleasure reading in boosting reading fluency in adult learners
Future Research
Postgraduate Supervision
Postgraduate Teaching
Writing Workshop SEL8507 Writing for Radio or Stage
SEL8641 Introduction to the Craft of Writing
- Wilkinson Margaret. Nocturne. 2014. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play, 45 minutes.
- Wilkinson Margaret. The Quivering Woods. 2014. Comma Press.
- Wilkinson M. Out of the Ashes. BBC Radio 4, 2009.
- Wilkinson M. Blue Boy. 2012. Newcastle; Durham; South Shields; Darlington: Northern Stage; Durham Lit Fest Durham Town Hall; Customs House; Darlington, 2 weeks.
- Wilkinson M. Can You Hear Me?. 2011. BBC Radio 4.
- Wilkinson M. Thirty Minutes to Curtain Herr Mahler. 2010. Manchester: The Bridgewater Hall.
- Wilkinson M. Queen Bee. 2009. South Shields, Leeds, Lancaster, Newcastle, Hexham, Darlington: Customs House, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Northern Stage.
- Wilkinson M, ed. So, What Kept You?: New Stories Inspired by Anton Chekhov and Raymond Carver. Hexham, UK: Flambard, 2006.
- Wilkinson M. Passover. UK: BBC Radio 4, 2005. Radio Play.
- Wilkinson M. KAPUT!. UK: New Writing North, 2004.
- Wilkinson M. I Married a Marxist. 2003. BBC Radio 4.
- Margaret Wilkinson. I Decided to Kill my Brother-in-Law After Dinner. 2002. BBC Radio 4, UK: BBC Radio 4.
- Wilkinson M. If He Wakes, Thought X: Fictions & Hypotheticals. 2017. Comma Press.
- Wilkinson M. Stannington, five part Radio 4 Woman's Hour drama. 2016.