Pippa Goldschmidt

Being a writer in residence with Ken has been a fanastic experience so far. In 2009, I ran a Creative Writing Competitions which attracted a huge range of different types of stories, inspired by different aspects of genetics. I also ran workshops for social scientists and medical practitioners to encourage them to use fiction to provide a new way of seeing their work. These two aspects of my activities summarise what I’m trying to do as a writer in residence - encourage academics who are used to writing in more formal ways to exercise their creative muscles, and encourage fiction writers to explore new subject matter.

As I hoped when I started work as a writer in residence here, I’ve found the subject of genetics inspirational for my own writing; some of my flash fictions are on Ken’s Human Genre Project.

What’s happening in 2010?

Ken and I gave a talk at the Science Communication Conference (organised by the BSA) about our work, based on the briefings we’ve written:

Using Creative Writing to Promote Discussion about Genomics

We’re going to run a poetry competition on the subject of ‘improving the human’, there will be more details soon.

I’m still writing my blog (I gave it a short holiday but am now back to it) on science and fiction. It can be found at pippagoldschmidtblogspot.com

And we’re organising an event at the Holyrood Festival of Politics (in August) on governments’ use of immigrants’ and asylum seekers’ DNA to confirm their nationalities and familial relations.