HU_TALKS
Hi there,
Come this far in?
Fancy hearing from the HU_WRITES community in HU_TALKS?
Listen in for anything and everything: writing, creating, and living the life of a creative. It's not always a glamourous one, it is wondrous though.
Hear it here.
Find what each episode has in store for you. What connects, what resonates.
***Watch out for changes to this page in 2025***
25/26 Episode 1: Welcome to Hull - HU Writes
For our first episode of the 25/26 HU Writes Pod, team members Ross McEwan (2nd year), Rhiana Day (2nd year), and Lyca Slinger (3rd year) talk about their first year at the University of Hull.
Hosted by: Lyca Slinger
Edited by: Ross McEwan
November 2025
Episode 1: Experience in Hull - HU_MEET.US
For our debut episode, First Year students (2021/22) Sam Bland, Cassandra Oakley and Emmy Pye share why they chose to study Creative Writing and how their experience has been at the University of Hull followed by their writing ambitions.
Hosted by: James Mather
Edited by: Robin Baines
April 2022
Episode 2: Covid to Campus -HU_SPEAKS_US
Second Year students (2021/22) Ellie Foreman, Jack Fabris and Antonin Casset share their experience on starting university during the pandemic and going back to campus after that – what it was like to make friends, how they found the motivation to write, the importance of a writing community and advice to First Years transitioning to Second Year.
Hosted by: James Mather
Edited by: James Mather
April 2022
Episode 3: Writing Communities - HU_SPEAKS_US
Masters students (2022/23) Fox Bowles, Kelly Chin and producer Robin Baines alongside the host, James Mather discuss how important writing communities are as a writer, the various platforms they use and how joining HU Writes has been a great opportunity and support.
Hosted by: James Mather
Edited by: Kelly Chin
November 2022
Episode 4: Genre Fiction - HU_SPEAKS_US
Featuring a table of Creative Writing students from different levels, Emmy Pye and Emma Penfold-Hall discuss with host James Mather co-host Omolara Agbaje (Lara) about genre fiction, breaking it down into Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror followed by comics and book-to-movie adaptations.
Hosted by: James Mather, Omolara Agbaje
Edited by: James Mather
November 2022
Episode 5: Mental Health in Writing - HU_SPEAKS_US
Introducing a new group of students today, we have First Year student (2022/23) Emma Penfold-Hall hosting this podcast's short episode on the importance of mental health in writing alongside Masters students (2022/23) AJ Nwaeze and Omolara Adbaje (Lara). Unfortunately we lost to recording of the second half of the episode, but we'll revisit this topic soon!
Hosted by: Emma Penfold-Hall
Edited by: James Mather
February 2023
Episode 6: Meet the Lecturer – Dr Edmund Hurst -HU_TEACHES_US
Joining us on this episode we have Creative Writing lecturer and HU Writes supervisor, Dr Edmund Hurst sharing his interest and specialisation in genre fiction, his upcoming debut novel, teaching at the University of Hull and of course, all things writing and how that journey began.
Hosted by: James Mather
Edited by: James Mather
February 2023
Episode 7: International Students -HU_MEET_US_SPEAKS_US_TEACHES_US
At this very international table joined by Kelly Chin (Malaysia), Antonin Casset (France), Sam Bland (USA) and Lara Trautwein (Netherlands), they share about their experience as international students coming to Hull to study Creative Writing, what parts of the English culture they find fascinating or a shock, and the challenges they face with writing in English when it comes to being multilingual!
Hosted by: James Mather
Edited by: James Mather
February 2023
Episode 8: Role-playing Games (RPG) -HU_SPEAKS_US
RPG lovers and expertises of the University of Hull Creative Writing community, Jack Fabris and Hannah Burgess share about the creativity and improvisation in RPGs, the similarities and differences between being a Game Master (GM) and a writer, and how elements like worldbuilding and character development in RPGs aid with writing.
*Our next showcase is 25th April 2023!
Hosted by: James Mather
Edited by: James Mather
March 2023
Episode 9 Part -1 and 2 HU_Writes in conversation with First years is as above - This is a tradition of sorts now. Started by the Original members of the HU_Writes community, HU_Talks is in conversation with new and old blood into the University of Hull. Studying their passions.
Starring: Faith Bainton and Chris Foster - 1st Years, Emmy Pye now in 3rd year, and Alex White in 2nd year - Hosted by Emma in the 2nd year
Editors - Romane Zanotel and Chris Foster
Mixed and Mastered by: Emma Penfold-Hall
Episode 10! - HU_TEACHES_US
Here we are in conversation with Dr. Chris Westoby talking all things non-fiction and...there's even a couple of nifty little online writing sites mentioned at the end. So many ways writing affects our lives. Writing can even be that place to bolster up a person or bust them.
Ever heard the sticks and stones saying?
Well, words do have an impact. Non-fiction and fiction alike prove as much. The sphere of social media, anyone? (Perhaps an episode for another day).
Hosted By: Emma Penfold-Hall
Edited by: Romane Zanotel
Episode 11 - Feel the fear - HU_SPEAKS_US
This episode: A flow of conversation surrounding what may affect university life, and the differences to previous settings. It also highlights (as in the title), the internalised fear of jumping into the unknown as a student.
Hosted by: Page
Edited by: Romane Zanotel and Chris Foster
Guests: George Roxborough and Emma Penfold-Hall
Episode 12 - What's the Point...
This academic year (2024/2025), the podcast team changed it up. Listening to the sounds and voices of the brand new cohort, the podcast team opened up a roster of choices for what to talk about. Podcasts to stay in the media mix, they evolve. Through change, people can find the missing parts.
A shift has been happening in the last decade or so (again), a new generation wanting change: but, what?
This birthed the title you see above. We've not lost our passion, we're just beginning. You can too!
Find out for you.... What's the Point?
Hosted by: Emma Penfold-Hall
Edited by: Harvey Green and Adelaide Cotu
Mixed and Mastered by: Harvey Green
Guests: Harvey Green and Emmy Pye
Separating Yourself from the Character - HU_Writes' conversating in HU_Talks
Last one of 2024/2025 - Participants: Emma Nicole Penfold-Hall, Harvey Green and Jan Saraneeyawong. Three more to come in the next month. Listen away, new Uni Students. Get the 'lay of the land'.
"Write like it matters, and it will"
– Libba Bray