Professor Jackie Kay CBE returns to Salford as Chair of Creative Writing

The multiple award-winning Scottish poet, playwright and novelist will now have a new role as a senior professor undertaking research and teaching Salford students after her stint as chancellor from 2014 to 2021.

The former Scots Makar is an internationally-acclaimed artist who received her CBE for Services to Literature in 2020 and her last poetry collection, Bantam, was published to critical acclaim in 2017.

Jackie said: “I am delighted to be back at Salford and to be joining the school in this new capacity. I have always found Salford both inspiring and stimulating, a warm place full of possibility, and am looking forward very much to both returning and yet beginning afresh.”

Professor Allan Walker, Dean of the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology said: “We are delighted to welcome Jackie in her new role as Professor of Creative Writing. As Chancellor, she was much loved by colleagues for her warmth, humour and passion and as Writer in Residence, highly respected for her practice-based research and teaching.

“As one of the UK’s most exciting contemporary writers, she will add another level of dynamism infusing the school’s creativity and interdisciplinary thinking in research and helping us to deliver an unrivalled teaching experience for our students here at Salford. “

Professor Scott Thurston, research lead for English Language, Literature and Creative Practice Research Group at the University of Salford, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Jackie back to the University in this new role. She occupies a vital position in the landscape of contemporary British literature, having pioneered an expansive form for writing identity since her earliest published work.

“Indeed, her instincts in using multiple genres as a tool for the exploration and expression of marginalised selves gives her practice an enormous energy and integrity – she has produced a literal body of work that lives and breathes with her and comes fully alive in her peerless performances.

“In our ongoing cultural crisis, Jackie’s capacity for bringing people together is needed more than ever. We are immensely looking forward to working with her again!”

Jackie joins our award-winning English and Creative Writing team this month and will begin more formal research and teaching over the current trimester.

Jackie’s list of accolades includes an MBE for services to literature in 2006, the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year in 2011 for Red Dust Road, The Guardian Fiction Prize in 1998 for Trumpet and being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of Literature.