The Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Trust
Malcolm Bradbury's involvement with the UEA and Norwich dates back to 1965 when he was persuaded to leave Birmingham University for a university that was still being built.
He became a crucial figure in the elevation of the UEA and its reputation, founding the creative writing course in 1970 and presiding over it until he retired to devote himself to full-time writing in 1995. He made the city of Norwich his home and remained at its heart until his death in Autumn 2000.
The Trust has been founded, with the support of the UEA and his family and friends, both to commemorate Malcolm Bradbury's unique role as a literary father figure and, in some ways, to try and follow his example. The Trust's role is to offer a number of scholarships to students attending the UEA creative writing course.
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Project Awards
The Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Trust will consider applications for awards of up to £5,000 each for specific projects. These awards will be open to UEA Creative Writing undergraduate and postgraduate students to support projects that will enhance the culture of UEA Creative Writing in terms of research, publications, public events and collaborative activities. They are not available to fund students' own writing.
In 2007 Claire Griffiths received a Malcolm Bradbury Trust project award. Claire has written a summary of her project:
"I was part of a group of American Literature with Creative Writing BA students who received a substantial bursary from the Malcolm Bradbury Trust in 2006/7. This generous grant enabled us to produce an anthology of creative writing entitled 'Workshop', which showcased the work of undergraduates studying at both UEA and the various international institutions with which the university operates exchange programmes. Publishing the anthology helped the production team gain valuable transferrable skills, including copywriting, editing, proofreading, design and marketing, which we have all since employed in our future careers. From a personal perspective, my involvement in 'Workshop' was a key factor in securing my first post-undergraduate job in journalism, and has also provided me with many of the skills necessary for continuing my academic studies at MA and PhD level."
In 2007 Kate Holeywell received a Malcolm Bradbury Trust project award which facilitated her research at two archives in the United States. Kate is writing an institutional history of the UEA creative writing programme, mapping the rise of this discipline in the British academy. One of the project's objectives has been to create a historical narrative investigating the more complicated and nuanced origins of creative writing at UEA. But the majority of papers relevant to the early history of UEA literary studies are maintained as part of two collections overseas, in Angus Wilson's archive at the University of Iowa and in Malcolm Bradbury's archive at Indiana University. The Trust provided the financial means necessary for Kate to spend two weeks working in these archives. During this period she was able to access institutional documents from the university's early history - such as professional correspondence, prospectuses, diaries, course reading lists and creative writing syllabi.
This research is the basis for Kate Holeywell's history of UEA creative writing, the first account of the programme that relies on archival documents to understand how creative writing was inaugurated as a discipline in the British Academy. Part of this account was published in 2009 by the journal New Writing.
Applying for a project award:
Applicants should submit a project outline of not more than one page of A4, an itemised budget and a proposed time frame for completing the project. Remember to include your name, degree programme (BA, MA or PhD) and the name of a sponsoring tutor or supervisor.
Applications should be submitted before the end of the Autumn semester for consideration by the Creative Writing committee and the Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Trust in January.
When your project application is complete, please post or deliver it to:
The Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Trust
C/o Natalie Mitchell (Registry 3.15)
Faculty of Arts & Humanities
University of East Anglia
Norwich Research Park
Norwich
NR4 7TJ
Scholarships
Every year, the Malcolm Bradbury Trust awards two scholarships of £5,000 each. These are given to two students enrolled on the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) course. The awards will be made by a Selection Committee in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing.
Continuation Grants
In addition to project awards and scholarships, the Malcolm Bradbury Trust awards three Continuation Grants. Continuation Grants, worth up to £1,000 each, are awarded to students completing the MA in Creative Writing and will be awarded to one student from each strand of the Creative Writing MA: Prose Fiction, Poetry and Scriptwriting. The grants are intended to provide encouragement and financial support to the recipients in continuing their writing after leaving UEA, and in awarding the grants, Creative Writing faculty will take into consideration the students' performance on the MA. The grants will be confirmed at the final MA exam board and the recipients informed shortly afterwards.
Visit the Malcolm Bradbury website
Donations
To make a donation to the Trust, please download the Maclolm Bradbury Memorial Trust donation form.
Images: with the kind permission of the Malcolm Bradbury Trust