Course Programme
10:00 Introduction; Poet and Singer
11:15 Coffee
11:45 Songs of Leonard Cohen
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Songs from a Room
15:15 Tea
15:30 Songs of Love and Hate
16:45 Day school ends
Additional overnight package
On Saturday night you can choose to stay for a delicious two course meal (£25) at 18:30 followed by an informal musical celebration given by Stephen Ferron and singer/songwriter/guitarist Roger Dalrymple at 20:00. To book please follow the link. If you have any queries please contact shortcourses@ice.cam.ac.uk.
Why not complete your visit with an overnight stay as a Bed and Breakfast guest at Madingley Hall? Please contact our reservations team at reservations@ice.cam.ac.uk or +44 (0)1223 746222.
About the tutors
Jem Poster worked as an archaeologist, surveying and excavating a range of sites on behalf of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, before taking up an administrative post with Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education in 1987. From 1993 to 2003 he was University Lecturer in Literature with Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education and a fellow of Kellogg College. From 2003 to 2012 he was Professor of Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, and is now Emeritus Professor. He is the author of two novels, Courting Shadows (2002) and Rifling Paradise (2006), as well as a collection of poetry, Brought to Light (2001), and has recently completed volume 3 of the six-volume Oxford University Press Edward Thomas: Prose Writings. He has won prizes in major poetry competitions including first prize in both the Cardiff International Poetry Competition in 1995 and the Peterloo Poets Open Poetry Competition in 2001.
He has been Chair of the editorial board of Wales’s leading literary journal, New Welsh Review, and is currently Programme Advisor to the Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education’s MSt in Creative Writing and Director of its International Summer Programme in Creative Writing; he is an Affiliated Lecturer of the Institute. He is Director of Academic Programmes for the Financial Times Oxford Literary Festival and in 2014 spent four months as Writer in Residence at Arizona State University.
Stephen Ferron, who grew up in Colorado, received his first guitar and two Peter, Paul & Mary albums for Xmas when he was ten years old. He tuned the six-string with the help of a warped seven-inch 45 rpm single delivered in the cardboard guitar case and, it is fair to say, has tuned at least one stringed instrument every day since. He became a full-time professional musician when he was 22 and in the following two decades, performed in 49 of America’s 50 states, five Canadian provinces, several Asian countries and throughout Europe. In addition to some 5000 live performances, he has worked on hundreds of recording sessions as a producer, musician and arranger.
Stephen reduced his touring schedule in the 1990s to pursue a career in communications but has continued to work on musical projects that are close to his heart, including an album he is currently co-producing with the acoustic Americana group The Red Planet. His unlikely collection of academic qualifications includes an MA in World Music from the University of Sheffield. His even more unlikely collection of musical instruments includes a tenor guitar made in the year of his birth. The dealer described it as “a vintage American, in good condition, with certain signs of wear,” words that resonate with its owner. Stephen lives in Switzerland.
Dietary Requirements
If you have any specific dietary requirements or allergies please inform our Admissions Team on ice.admissions@ice.cam.ac.uk or +44 (0)1223 746262 if you have not already advised us of your requirements.
Additional Requirements
Further information about student support.
