The Gold Room is a collection of poetry and prose from the Creative Writing doctoral students at Goldsmiths, University of London. It contains memoir and novel extracts, short stories and poems by best-selling and award-winning authors as well as exciting new literary talent. Subjects range widely - sperm donation, literary envy, the wonder of prunes, and the best strategies for eating your husband. From a seduction of Gilgamesh to a Suffragette plot, from the objects in an attic to a disturbing love affair, from teenage mental breakdown to the fridges of ghosts - this is writing that is prepared to live dangerously, and to challenge expectations. The anthology is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary writing.
'It's an excellent showcase - the first of many, I hope, ' Blake Morrison, author of And When Did You Last See Your Father? The anthology contains the following pieces:
An introduction by Blake Morrison
An extract from Catherine Coldstream's memoir The Effects of Turpentine and Other Spirits, which focuses upon her childhood, her difficult journey to adulthood, and the lasting influence of her relationship with her father, the painter William Coldstream.
An extract from Clare F Davis's memoir, Little Black Oz, which focuses upon how her relationship with her father, Dennis, changes over the decades as Clare learns to deal with his uncaring attitude towards her mentally ill mother.
Extract from Anna Derrig's memoir, her teenage son visits the school that asked him to leave weeks earlier.
Six poems by Rebecca Farmer which explore themes of dying, grief and ghosts in surprising, haunting lyrical verse.
A short story by Francis Gilbert narrated by a young woman who watches in horror as her best friend is seduced by a lecherous poet at a literary party.
A poem by Catherine Humble about the beginning of a love affair in New York.
A short story by Giovanna Iozzi which could be described as "literary sci-fi Gothic" a young woman is persuaded to have monitoring device inserted in an intimate place.
An extract from a historical novel by Sonia Lambert where a suffragette smuggles herself into a high society function with shocking consequences.
Incantatory and mesmeric poems by Jenny Lewis, drawing upon the Epic of Gilgamesh for their inspiration.
A short story by Andrea Mason where a relationship is interrogated through objects.
A novel extract by Jennifer Nadel in which a teenage girl is seduced by an older man.
Poems by Katrina Naomi where family relationships, feminism and the ironies of power are explored with subtle lyricism.
A short story by Yoanna Pak which is about a teenage Korean girl's quest to commit suicide.
Poems by Jocelyn where love, desire, domesticity and the Devil are conjured up in surprising, thought-provoking verse.
A short story by Sophie Ward in which a child teaches his parents to cope with loss.
Poems by Susan Watson which explore literary criticism and the act of reading.
An extract from Natalie Young's best-selling novel about a woman who eats her husband.
About the Author: Catherine Coldstream is a teacher, memoirist and musician. She has written both about her own spiritual journey, as a former contemplative nun, and about her father's influential life and work.
Clare F Davis is a broadsheet journalist and is writing about the seizures she suffers from in a memoir.
Anna Derrig, who has worked as a journalist, teacher and campaigner, is writing a memoir about life with her son, who has a diagnosis of Asperger's, he doesn't accept.
Rebecca Farmer is a poet who has published a pamphlet Not Really.
Francis Gilbert is a teacher and author of many books, including the best-selling I'm A Teacher Get Me Out Of Here .
Catherine Humble is an academic, writer and editor. She is currently writing a book on Raymond Carver.
Giovanna Iozzi is a writer and journalist, who won the Pat Kavanagh Award for her short stories.
Sonia Lambert is the author of Three Mothers and now writing historical fiction.
Jenny Lewis is a poet who has published three collections of poetry and is now working upon a new version of Gilgamesh.
Andrea Mason is an artist and writer and runs Literary Kitchen and the Literary Kitchen Festival.
Jennifer Nadel is a qualified barrister, journalist, political activist and author of a novel, Pretty Thing .
Katrina Naomi is a poet who has published widely in various literary magazines and has published Hooligans, which contains poems inspired by the suffragettes.
Jocelyn Page has published her poetry widely; her debut pamphlet of poems is smithereens .
Yoanna Pak is writing a novel about a Korean Vietnam war veteran.
Sophie Ward is an actor and writer. Her book A Marriage Proposal was published by the Guardian in 2014.
Susan Watson writes poetry and lyric essays which respond to the work of Virginia Woolf and other writers.
Natalie Young is a full-time writer living and writing in London. Her first novel, We all ran into the sunlight , was published in 2011. Her second was the best-selling Season to Taste. She is at work on her third.
