The College of Arts and Humanities Welcomes Sarah Moss

Posted 21 September 2020

^{Pictured above: Professor Sarah Moss and Professor John Brannigan}

The UCD College of Arts and Humanities and the School of English, Drama and Film are delighted to welcome acclaimed author Sarah Moss to the Creative Writing Team, on the first day of the new academic year. 

This exciting appointment marks UCD’s continued commitment to developing the Creative Writing department in the School of English, Drama and Film. Moss joins Professor of Fiction, Anne Enright; Professor of Poetry, Ian Davidson; Dr Paul Perry, Associate Professor of Creative Writing and the newly appointed Teaching Fellows Declan Hughes and Dr Catherine Morris. Creative Writing is available at Undergraduate level in the (opens in a new window)BA Humanities and at Postgraduate as an  (opens in a new window)MA Creative Writing, (opens in a new window)MFA Creative Writing and PhD.

Commenting on her appointment Moss said: "I’m excited to be at UCD, to be joining the excellent writers and scholars at the School of English, Drama and Film and contributing to new and established programmes in creative writing. Ireland, and Dublin, are attractive places to a writer, and I’m very much looking forward to participating in literary life here."

Welcoming Moss, Professor Sarah Prescott, Principal of the College of Arts and Humanities said: "It is my great pleasure to welcome Sarah Moss to the College of Arts and Humanities. Sarah is an exceptionally talented novelist and academic writer and the College is very much looking forward to working with her as we continue to develop excellence in creative writing provision at UCD."

Professor John Brannigan, Head of the School of English, Drama and Film, also extended a warm welcome: "The School of English, Drama and Film is thrilled to welcome Sarah Moss as our new colleague. Sarah is one of the leading writers of our age, and an exceptionally gifted and inspirational teacher of creative writing. With the excitement surrounding the publication of her seventh novel, Summerwater, it is a great time for our students to learn from Sarah's experience and talents as a writer and teacher."

Commenting on her appointment Dr Paul Perry, Associate Professor of Creative Writing said: "I am excited to welcome Sarah Moss to UCD Creative Writing. The appointment marks UCD's focus on building upon its strong literary reputation and commitment to creative writing."

Moss recently published her new novel Summerwater, a devastating story told over twenty-four hours in the Scottish highlands, and a searing exploration of our capacity for both kinship and cruelty in these divided times.

Read more about Moss’s appointment here

You can join Sarah Moss at the next (opens in a new window)UCD In Conversation: A Virtual Series, where she will appear alongside fellow author Emma Donohue and host Rick O’Shea, this Thursday at 7pm. Register (opens in a new window)here.

About the Author

Sarah Moss is the author of seven novels and a memoir of her year living in Iceland, Names for the Sea, shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. Her novels are Cold Earth, Night Waking, Bodies of Light (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize), Signs for Lost Children (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize), The Tidal Zone (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize) and Ghost Wall, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2019.

Sarah was born in Glasgow and grew up in the north of England. After moving between Oxford, Canterbury, Reykjavik, West Cornwall and Warwick, she now lives in Dublin.