Sarah Franklin
Senior Lecturer in Publishing
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Personal Profile
Sarah Franklin joined Oxford Brookes as an Associate Lecturer in 2010 and became Senior Lecturer in 2014. Prior to this, she worked for literary agents and publishing houses in the UK, the US, and Ireland. She has worked across fiction and non-fiction for the trade and academic markets, and her sales and marketing work has taken her from Alaska to Australia. She has worked on a freelance editorial basis with best-sellers to first time self-publishing authors and taught at the Oxford University Creative Writing summer school.
She is a judge for the Costa Short Story Award and the founder and host of Short Stories Aloud, a popular Oxford literary night in its eighth year.
Sarah has also published and writes regular book review columns and freelance articles for publications such as the Guardian, The Sunday Express, The Seattle Times, The Irish Times and Psychologies magazine.
Undergraduate Teaching
MJP4005: Storytelling as Experience: Connecting Brands with Audiences
Previous module teaching:
Publishing Principles and Practice, I & II
Sales and Marketing for Publishing
Postgraduate Teaching
PUBL7002: Fiction and Non-Fiction Publishing
PUBL7027: The Craft of Storytelling
PUBL7016: Sales and Marketing Management for Publishing (Distance Learning) - module leader
Previous module teaching:
Sales, Marketing and Consumer Insight
Research
Sarah Franklin teaches at both undergraduate and graduate level.Her focus is on fiction and non-fiction, and on storytelling across platforms for a variety of purposes. Her research interests include diversity and inclusivity in contemporary trade publishing, and the related role of language and audiences.
Sarah worked globally in trade publishing for many years, specialising in sales, marketing and PR. She is the author of two novels: Shelter (2017) and How To Belong (2020), both published by Bonnier Zaffre. She graduated in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge and obtained her PCTHE at Oxford Brookes University.
Sarah's research interests focus on diversity and inclusivity within contemporary trade publishing. This encompasses both the texts themselves and also the publishing industry, be that access as writer or publishing professional, and how the content finds an audience. Sarah was part of a working group at Oxford Brookes University which devised a protocol for ensuring optimum inclusivity at conferences.
Her current research projects include:
Researching and creating an 'inclusivity toolkit' and guidelines for potential dissemination and use within the UK publishing industry
Researching, alongside her third novel, issues of identity and class, particularly contemporary rural working class, in relation to the UK publishing industry
Membership of Professional Bodies
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of APE (Association of Publishing Education)
Member of NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education)
Books and other publications
Novels:
Shelter (2017)
How To Belong (2020)
Research Dissemination
Recent papers given:
How We Write: NAWE, York, November 8 - 10th 2019
Language is Power: what choosing our words can do to help improve diversity in publishing By The Book: Power Dynamics in Publishing. Florence, 26-27th June 2019
Writing across the disciplines: what can academic writing learn from the practice of fiction? Questioning the givens in academic writing across the disciplines: a theoretical and pedagogical approach. Oxford, 3rd May, 2019
Creating the Inclusive Employee: What academia can do to promote a diverse workplace. By The Book: Publishing in a changing media environment, Florence, 13-15th June 2018