Leeds students celebrate first self-run edition of Tenter Hook with live performances

Tenter Hook, the University of Leeds’ annual anthology showcasing students’ creative writing, celebrated its launch event last Friday with live performances.

For the first time, the seventh edition of the magazine has been created by students undertaking a creative writing module run by JR Carpenter, a lecturer in performance writing, and Sarah Perry, a creative writing lecturer.

The students involved in the magazine’s production were divided into three teams: Events, editorial, and publicity/promotion.

Throughout this term, they have been working to devise the theme for the magazine, craft and promote a call for submissions, make the cover design and run a launch event.

Their hard work culminated in a moving and diverse performance in the Workshop Theatre on Friday 9th May as friends, family, writers and lecturers came together to celebrate not only the materialising of the event, but the exceptional writing submitted by students.

Student writers reading at the event

Normally, Tenter Hook submissions are reserved for students on the creative writing course at Leeds. However, the promotional team felt strongly about expanding the callout to all students at the university for this issue.

They argued that creativity knows no boundaries, and that storytelling emerges across all disciplines. The students felt that writing can only be enriched by expanding the parameters of who is considered a writer.

This decision was reflected in the theme chosen: Time and Space. Demanding perspectives that reach beyond traditional literary circles, the call for submissions said: “When you hear ‘time and space,’ you might think of rocket ships and stars, but here at Tenter Hook we’re looking for writing that can encompass so much more than that.

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“From astronomy or dreams to mealtimes or migration, time and space have meanings and connotations stretching as wide as your imagination.”

The callout was certainly successful, as the writing spanned from philosophical notions of mortality, perceptions of the body, cultural identity and personal growth during young adulthood.

Students working on promoting the launch event

Ffion, 20, read her poem ‘We Are All Visitors Here’. She told The Leeds Tab it was written “as a homage to both bodily and temporal experiences of living on Earth”.

This sentiment was portrayed through the lifespan of a star, drawing connections between space and human mortality.

Speaking about her motivations to write the piece, the final year student said she has always dreamed of being published: “This is my first time, and now, having this feeling, it’s so surreal, and I just want to keep going.

“On my first day of uni I had no idea if I wanted to publish and I was afraid of even sharing my own work, and on the last day, I read my own poem in Tenter Hook. It’s very full circle.”

She added: “My motivation to write also stems from my parents. They always wanted to go to university and never got the chance, so I hope they find some sense of belonging in my writing, which I’m doing through their support!”

The front and back cover of Tenter Hook 2025, designed by Leeds students

Jasmine’s poem, Bookmark, explored the passing of time throughout her degree. Anchoring the theme was a bookmark she had been given by a teacher she was close to, and she told The Leeds Tab it took her “back to a time when she was a completely different person to who [she] is now”.

Milly, 22, was on the publicity team for Tenter Hook and had been involved in promotion of the event. She was thrilled to see the team’s hard work come together: “I’m so amazed by how many people came because we’ve been working on this for so long. The turnout was amazing. Everyone was very supportive.”

The final-year student added: “It was so beautiful and so lovely to hear the writers actually read it out loud, rather than just reading it yourself. It always adds depth.”

Speaking about the event, Sarah, a published author and one of the module’s convenors, said: “I think the exciting thing about student magazines is that for many of these writers, it will be their first time published, and in 10 or 15 years when they’re looking back at the beginning of exciting careers as writers, this will have been the beginning.

“And that is beautiful, and what a gift for us all to have that chance to hear them today.”

You can read this year’s edition, as well as previous issues of Tenter Hook, here.