Would you enter an establishment offering fifty shades of skrei?* If you would, is that still English? Who decides who gets a piece of the English (fish?) pie? Who is English for? “Native” speakers, scholars, professionals, politicians? Or children, teenagers and gamers? It was an absolute delight to discuss all these questions and more atContinue reading “English in the Nordic Countries”
Author Archives: Kate Sotejeff-Wilson
Space crone writing
Le Guin was writing before I was born and I’ll be reading her long after she died. The first Earthsea book came into the world seven years before I did, and I loved them. Like her, it took me a little while to notice that the heroes were men. To notice the women were onContinue reading “Space crone writing”
Writing for Research and Academic Practice with the WRAP Network
What do you want from a place to write? I want quiet, a good desk, an armchair to read in, lots of natural light, space to move around, somewhere nice and green to go for a walk and listen to the birds. And a comfortable bed and lots of lovely veggie food to eat inContinue reading “Writing for Research and Academic Practice with the WRAP Network”
Writing vengeance
I will write to avenge my people, writes Ernaux. Revenge, writes Szymborska. Why do these Nobelists write vengeance? Sixty years ago, Ernaux wrote a sentence in her diary, that was the springboard for her Nobel lecture: ‘I will write to avenge my people, j’écrirai pour venger ma race’. It echoed Rimbaud’s cry: ‘I am ofContinue reading “Writing vengeance”
Write with us throughout 2024
How far in advance do you block out writing time? I’ve just got my own writing retreat dates sorted for the rest of the year. There might be more to come, but now we know that every couple of months, we have a couple of days to write together in person. Your fellow writers haveContinue reading “Write with us throughout 2024”
Prove you wrote it yourself
Recently, I had to prove that I’d written 300,000 words myself. Why? I’m now a qualified member of the UK Institute of Translation and Interpreting (MITI) for all my three source languages: Finnish, German and Polish into English. If you translate into or out of the “big four” languages, or FIGS (French, Italian, German andContinue reading “Prove you wrote it yourself”
Cyborg writing
We are cyborg writers now. Can we write at all without machines? When my laptop broke, I felt bereft. I decided to write by hand. But how could I share it? Could anyone read it? Writing offline felt scary: it was clumsier, less secure, more precarious. While my laptop was being fixed, I started writingContinue reading “Cyborg writing”
Women writing socially in academia: the lineage of an idea
You might not notice when you started writing something. An idea can take years to develop, and years more to come to fruition. But looking back can be revealing and help you look forward. If you’ve never tried this, I absolutely recommend it. Inspired by Margy Thomas and Helen Sword in #Acwrimoments8 I decided toContinue reading “Women writing socially in academia: the lineage of an idea”
New year, new words
At the end of the year, the English dictionaries hit us with words of 2023 thick and fast. In 2024, which ones do you think will stick? Artificial intelligence (Collins) was the obvious choice. In 2023, this meant generative AI based on large language models you could ‘talk’ to, like ChatGPT (the Economist). But theseContinue reading “New year, new words”
All I want for Christmas is time to write
The holidays are coming closer and so are deadlines, but if all you want for Christmas is writing time, we have new dates and a new venue for the new year. Looking forward to writing with you in 2024! Writing in a Winter Wonderland, Unity Tampere 8&9.2.2024 Unity is a brand-new venue for us, inContinue reading “All I want for Christmas is time to write”
Ridge Writing Retreats 