James Draper

I was appointed one of Manchester Met’s first Enterprise Fellows in 2007, and used the fellowship to establish the Manchester Writing Competition – international literary prizes celebrating Manchester as an international city of writers, finding diverse new voices, and creating opportunities for writer development. The first Manchester Poetry Prize was awarded in October 2008 at a gala ceremony that officially opened that year’s Manchester Literature Festival; the first Manchester Fiction Prize launched in 2009, and both prizes now run each year, with an additional Writing for Children Prize in 2014, to coincide with the biennial Manchester Children’s Book Festival. The competition has attracted more than 50,000 submissions from over 80 countries, awarded £220,000 in prize money to writers, and helped to launch and accelerate literary careers. 

I was appointed Academic Enterprise Lead (later Knowledge Exchange Coordinator) for the Department of English in 2012. In this role, it was necessary for me to think commercially  - to “productise” what we have to offer - to generate income for the department that will enable us to innovate via new ideas and projects. As well as bringing in money, it’s also vital that we maintain intellectual and artistic integrity, combining income generation with academic rigour and the discovery of new creative work - an important, if delicate, balance. 

From 2010-2016 I was a Director of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, devised by Carol Ann Duffy when she was made Poet Laureate in 2009. Through the Festival, the University worked with many of the city’s cultural organisations as well as national and international partners to engage around 10,000 children, young people and families annually, attracting major literary names for events and building relationships and projects with local inner-city communities and schools. The work of the Festival established networks and methods of event and project co-production that endure across the city today. 

In 2020 we launched the QuietManDave Prize, established in memory of Dave Murray, who entertained and informed many through his quietmandave blog, and organised by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Writing and Theatre schools. Dave Murray embraced writing relatively late in life but did so with a passion, and the Prize seeks to enable and promote new writing, offering awards and runner-up prizes for Flash Fiction and Flash Non-Fiction, with sponsored entry available for those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate. The QuietManDave Prize is supported through the generosity of family and friends of Dave.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I managed Carol Ann Duffy’s WRITE Where We Are NOW project, which brought together poets from around the world to write new poems during the crisis. Our poets were invited to write directly about the pandemic or about the personal situation they found themselves in during lockdown. The collection features poems written from the earliest stages of the pandemic up until 30th June 2020, presented in date order and with a note about where it was written. They remain online as a permanent creative, historical and sociological record of extraordinary and challenging times. By the end of 2020, the website featured 657 poems by 208 poets and had received over 174,000 views with media reach in excess of 3 million. 

I have coordinated various events series, taking place at the University, online on digital platforms, and in partnership with cultural venues around the city, featuring our staff, students, alumni and guest authors, celebrating and sharing the work of emerging and established national and international stars of literature. These include “Writers at Manchester Met” at the University, “Manchester Writing” at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, “Carol Ann Duffy & Friends” at the Royal Exchange Theatre and “The People’s Poetry Lectures” at the former Palace Hotel. 

Postgraduate teaching

Programme Leader: MFA/MA in Creative Writing. 

Unit Leader for Level 7/Masters unit: The Industry.

Subject areas

English

Creative Writing

Media appearances or involvement

I am the Marketing & Communications Lead for the Department of English, managing all department social media channels and coordinating publicity in liasion with central external relations teams.