Initiatives
Engagé·e ! Un projet zine collaboratif
Engagé·e ! a réuni des étudiant·es de français du King's College London et de l'Université de Durham autour d'une réflexion créative et interuniversitaire sur ce que signifie être engagé·e dans le monde d'aujourd'hui. A travers la création et à l'échange de zines réalisés à la main, les étudiant·es ont exploré des questions de justice sociale et environnementale, d'inégalités et d'avenirs collectifs, en utilisant le français comme langue d'expression critique et créative.
Mobilisant l'écriture créative, le collage et la narration visuelle, les participant·es ont réagi aux contributions de leurs pairs dans le cadre d'un dialogue continu entre les deux institutions. Le projet a favorisé le développement de l'esprit critique, la collaboration et l'imagination créative, tout en offrant un espace bienveillant où les étudiant·es pouvaient exprimer leurs préoccupations, leurs espoirs et leurs visions d'un monde plus juste.
Mené entre janvier et mars 2026, Engagé·e ! a mis à l'honneur une pratique créative lente, tactile et profondément humaine, aboutissant à un zine collectif riche et vivant qui témoigne de la richesse de l'apprentissage collaboratif.
Le e-flipbook
Module Design
The module Creative Writing in French was launched in 2016-17 at the University of St Andrews, under the coordination of Elise Hugueny-Léger, co-taught with David Evans, Elodie Laügt and Odile Rimbert. This module offers an innovative approach to French language and literary creation for learners of French. Through weekly writing workshops and peer feedback, students are able to experiment with different literary genres (poetry, fiction, non-fiction), constraints derived from the Ouplipo, and a range writing techniques – writing from photographs, paintings, from memories, from the observation of daily life, reading and performing their texts, and engaging in collaborative writing. Over the past few years, students have been rewriting fairy tales, developing their language skills by crafting sonnets, inventing characters, working on the all-important incipit of their stories, developing their own projects and creative voices, and broadening their linguistic range. They have commented on the challenges and benefits of writing in a second language, on the dynamics of writing workshops and giving feedback to other participants, and on the process of finding inspiration within constraints. This module was awarded a University Teaching Excellence Award from the University of St Andrews and was shortlisted for a Times Higher Education award in the 'Excellence and Innovation in the Arts' category. Over the past few years, students on the module have had the chance to work with writers in residence (including Emmanuelle Pireyre, Laurence Tardieu and Samira Sedira), to go on writing retreats and take part in national creative writing competitions. An overview of texts and activities produced on this module is available here. The module is currently taught by David Evans, Elise Hugueny-Léger, Elodie Laügt & Pauline Souleau.
In 2024-25, the French Department at St Andrews launched the option of Creative Writing Dissertations (Long or Short) which is offered to final-year students who have taken the module 'Creative Writing in French' as a pre-requisite: over the course of one or two semesters, students taking this module work on an original, individual writing project in French under the guidance of a supervisor. Genres include poetry, fiction, script-writing and life-writing. The portfolio of assessed work includes an original creative piece and a reflective essay on the writing process.
At Durham University's Centre for Foreign Language Study, Géraldine Crahay, Cynthia Tavars and Anna Johnston launched an Initiation to Creative Writing in French module in 2024-25, a one of its kind module in a language centre in the UK. The module was open to non-specialist students with an A-Level or equivalent in French and aimed to support language acquisition through the medium of creative writing. This is consistent with the addition of creative writing in the Companion Volume of the CEFR and builds on research that shows that creative writing tasks enable grammatical and lexical acquisition while also experimenting with language play and norm shifting, alongside the development of further transferable skills such as communication, intercultural communication, empathy and metacognition. Linguistically, the module enabled students to develop all four skills - reading, writing, speaking and listening - via a variety of tasks. Culturally, it enabled students to explore past and present themes relevant to the French-speaking world, as well as to produce a variety of productions linked to the latter, and to their own disciplines.