Person

Neale, Derek

Professional biography: A novelist and short story writer with a practical and research interest in drama and film, script and life writing, I have recorded many interviews with novelists, playwrights, autobiographers and biographers about their approach to writing. I taught fiction and dramatic writing at UEA over a number of years, and have also facilitated writing activities in a prison. I gained my Creative Writing MA and PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from UEA, and joined the OU in 2003, helping to design and write the materials for a whole new generation of Open University writing courses. Research interests: My research is focused on writing practice – the production of original work, predominantly fiction, but also script and memoir. I am also interested in the creative process, the relationship between writing and memory, and generic crossovers and interactions between fiction, dramatic and life writing. See sample author interviews on Creative Writing (tracks 1-10) on OpenLearn.