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Tim Heald,
author, journalist, public speaker.
on the campus
Tim Heald has undertaken many tours
for the British Council. These include
speaking at an Agatha Christie Seminar at the University of Mexico, lecturing to
sixth forms in Cyprus and, with Simon Brett, broadcasting to Romania during that
country's first democratic post-Ceausescu election campaign. He always
felt slightly frustrated by these experiences because
they were too brief. A single evening was all very well but no substitute
for a full term or semester.
One day in Sydney, visiting Jim
Potts, then head of the British Council in Australia he was given a letter from
Dr. David Daintree, principal of Jane Franklin Hall in the University of
Tasmania, appealing for a Visiting Fellow from the U.K. Tim applied and was
accepted.
In 1999 Daintree wrote:
"As a Visiting Fellow Mr. Heald proved to be absolutely first-rate. We were so impressed by him during his first
visit in October to November 1997 that we invited him to come again and he is,
as I write, about to depart from Jane at the end of a three month stay. I have extended an invitation to him to return again next
year."
He concluded, "I recommend Mr.
Heald very highly indeed. He will prove a useful and charming addition to the
staff of any organisation lucky enough to obtain his services."
Lucy Frost, Professor of English and
Head of School at the University of Tasmania wrote,
"In 1997 Tim Heald came to the University of Tasmania as a Fellow at Jane Franklin Hall, and immediately became
a significant figure in the cultural life of this community. He was invited to
participate in the statewide Writers' Festival, and he set up a series of weekly meetings with students of creative
writing who were given the rare opportunity to talk with a crime writer as he worked on his novel.
"We were so impressed by Mr. Heald and his ability to communicate with a
wide range of people that the School invited him to become an Honorary Research
Associate in 1999, and to participate directly in the university teaching by
conducting the creative writing unit we offer for credit in the summer session. This he did
brilliantly, and the students were all very enthusiastic about his teaching. We
have invited him to teach the same unit in next summer's session.
"As an international journalist, Mr. Heald's expertise has been of
inestimable value during the period when we have been setting up a new major in
Journalism and Media Studies. He has acted as a consultant on this project, and
has lectured the students in the new first-year journalism unit.
"Mr. Heald's range and depth of experience as a biographer, novelist and
journalist makes him a valuable contributor to any writing or academic program.
His intelligence, breadth of knowledge, charm and reliability ensure that he
will do well whatever he undertakes. He is an outstanding ambassador for British culture, and
I recommend him strongly for any role associated with writing or teaching."
From March to June 2001 Tim was
Writer-in-Residence at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. Claire Woods, Professor of Communication and Writing, wrote:
"The impact of the visit by a writer with the reputation and experience of
Tim Heald was tangible in terms of student and public response. The creative
work of the contemporary writer - a writer across a wide range of forms and in
many media - is reflected in Tim Heald's range of publication and experience. It is
unusual for someone to work so successfully across such a wide range of genres.
Because he works at the cutting edge of journalism, creative fiction and
non-fiction, he offered his particular expertise to students, to academic staff, other writers and readers
to which they would not otherwise have had access. We were grateful for his
commitment to our students and to the community, and for his enthusiasm for all
the events and classes in which he participated.
"We welcomed the opportunity to have Tim Heald work with students and staff
at the University through classes, seminars and public and community events. We
will welcome a return visit."
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