Guardian journalist visits the English Department
Journalism workshop with Chitra Ramaswamy
This term, the English department arranged a series of visits from contemporary literary figures such as Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, Jim Carruth and writer Fiona Mozley. Last week, we were delighted to welcome journalist, writer and broadcaster Chitra Ramaswamy to St Columba’s.
Senior Years pupils and staff piled in to listen to Chitra talk about her life and work, how she became a journalist and then made the transition to writing non-fiction books. Pupils then took part in a journalism workshop.
As it turns out, Chitra and Mrs Brash were students at Glasgow University, studying at the same and on the same course. They reconnected after Mrs Brash read an article Chitra had written about Freshers’ Week (comparing her experiences in 1997 to 2019). Journalists' work is very much about onsite observation and the sensory experience so, for the article, Chitra shadowed 4 students, covering issues such as debt, politics, social media and clothing. As you would expect, she asked lots of questions and also riffled through the university’s archives.
According to Chitra, anyone can be a journalist – all you need to be good at is writing, researching and interviewing. Will any of our pupils be inspired to become journalists or writers following Chitra’s talk? Watch this space!
You can read the article that brought Chitra to St Columba’s here.