Sunny Singh, award-winning writer and senior lecturer in Creative Writing and English Literature at The Cass, has been promoted to the title of Professor.
Date: 07 May 2020
Internationally acclaimed, critically renowned novelist Sunny Singh, who is senior lecturer in Creative Writing and English Literature at The Cass, has been appointed as Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts.
The promotion comes after Professor Singh’s extensive research, publication and pedagogy. In her 15 years at London Met, Professor Singh has been actively involved with issues of literature, culture and inclusion, in both Higher Education and wider society. In addition to publishing literary fiction and non-fiction as well as academic writing on issues of representation, inclusion and equality in culture, Professor Singh is also the Founder and Director of The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour.
Professor Singh said: "I am absolutely delighted to take up my new role as Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts. Issues of inclusion, equality and justice are close to my heart and have always been the foundation of my research, publishing and teaching practice. I am very excited that London Met has provided me with an even greater opportunity to further develop social justice based, inclusive education in the Humanities and the Arts."
Twitter was quick to congratulate Professor Singh on her achievement. Fellow writers Malorie Blackman, author of the popular Noughts & Crosses series, and Hallie Rubenhold, historian and bestselling author of The Five, were amongst those to felicitate her.
The impact of Professor Singh’s work is wide-reaching. Many of her students have gone to become writers and artists in their own right, such as Lil Chase, Warsan Shire, Matilda Ibini, and Emily Critchley.
Emily Critchley said: “As a working author, Sunny’s up-to-date knowledge of the publishing industry and processes helped prepare me for my publishing journey. Sunny’s lectures allowed me to consider where my writing fitted into the bigger scheme of contemporary literature, why we write and why my own stories mattered.”
“Sunny was an incredibly interesting and caring tutor,” said Lil Chase. “I left London Met to start a career as a fiction editor, and I am now a published author with 13 books under my belt – thank you, Sunny!”
Professor Heidi Mirza, Professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths University, said: “Sunny is one of our most important and treasured postcolonial public intellectuals in Britain. Her academic research and writing on gender, race, ethnicity and culture transgresses disciplinary boundaries, bringing together the arts, humanities, history and social sciences in new creative and exploratory ways.”
Soraya Chemaly, writer and Director of Women's Media Center Speech Project, said: “Sunny Singh’s rigorous, engaging commentary provides much needed intellectual and ethical clarity in public debate. She synthesizes history, principles, ideas, and theories with much-needed and sophisticated understandings of difficult issues and in ways that challenge her considerable audience to pursue ideas deeply and thoughtfully.”
