Fraser Grace, acclaimed playwright, is to return to the University of Birmingham as co-ordinator of its postgraduate Playwriting Studies course, of which he is an alumnus. An award-winning writer, Grace currently directs the Writing Drama course at Anglia Ruskin University and is an associate writer with Menagerie Theatre.

Joint winner of the John Whiting Award for Breakfast with Mugabe with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Fraser’s newest play, Kalashnikov, in the woods by the lake, begins its national tour on 6 October. This brand new darkly comic drama explores the man behind the Kalashnikov assault rifle in eight distinct parts set in a fairytale Russian landscape.

Of his appointment, Fraser Grace said: “I am delighted to be joining the University of Birmingham and the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts to head up such a well-respected and influential course. The Masters in Playwriting Studies is a unique opportunity for playwrights to examine their craft with academic rigour and practical application.”

Head of the School of English, Drama and American Studies, Professor Susan Hunston, said of the appointment of Fraser Grace: “We are delighted to welcome playwright Fraser Grace to a strong and growing team of creative practitioners in the School of English, Drama and American Studies.

“Fraser is a prolific and successful dramatist, and as a graduate of the Playwriting degree at Birmingham is well placed to appreciate its unique profile within the profession. His appointment further strengthens the practice-based postgraduate work in our Department of Drama and Theatre Arts and across the School.”

Fraser Grace will take up his new post as co-ordinator of the Playwriting Studies course this month.

For further information, please contact Amy Cory, University of Birmingham Press Office via 0121 414 6029 or a.cory@bham.ac.uk.