Author Amis gets university post

Amis will teach at the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing

A top British author is to help students on the path to literary success - in his new role as a professor of creative writing.

Martin Amis, who has written 11 novels, will run postgraduate seminars at the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing which opens in September.

He will be based at the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures.

Novelist Patricia Duncker and Irish poet Vona Groarke join Mr Amis as new appointees at the academic centre.

Their roles at the university are the latest in a series of appointments of world-renowned scholars, including Nobel Prize winner Professor Joseph E Stiglitz and leading social scientist Professor Robert Putnam.

Mr Amis' appointment shadows the career path of his author father, Sir Kingsley Amis, who also taught university students.

'Dual perspective'

Martin Amis, whose work has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, said: "My father taught - at Swansea, Princeton and Cambridge - for 15 years, and by all accounts he was very good at it.

"So I think I may have something to offer as a teacher, and it's always been a quiet ambition of mine to give it my best try.

"I've written a lot of fiction, and I've also written a lot about fiction, so I'll be bringing a dual perspective to it."

As well as running seminars, Mr Amis will also participate in four public events each year, including a two week summer school where writers will teach MA students from the UK and abroad.

Professor Alan Gilbert, President and Vice Chancellor at The University of Manchester, said: "It will be a wonderful opportunity for our creative writing students to learn their craft from so distinguished a novelist.

"His standing in the literary world and his commitment to fiction and to the critical essay, fit exactly the model of the new Centre for New Writing."