About

Creative Writing theory and practice.

Teaching responsibilities

Core Modules, Focus on Narration, Focus on Short Fiction, Focus On Genre Fiction, Writing and Representation. PhD  Supervisor.

Professional interests

Hawthornden Fellow, Senior Fellow of the HEA, Advisor/ex-Committee Member The Arvon Literature Foundation, Member of NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education). On the Editorial Board for Short Fiction in Theory & Practice.

Research interests

• History and development of narrative writing including early writing systems, narrative  patterns, structural development and methods
• Interest in Irish writing & history with especial attention to the role of women and writing from the Irish diaspora/Irish in Britain/Second generation identity
• Iconographies/Image/ early cinema/graphic novels.

Recent publications

Most recent academic & relevant publications

• Chapter; ‘Dragging the Corpse; Landscape & Memory’   Creative Writing & Education ed. G Harper, Channel View Publications, Bristol, Spring 2015
• Fiction:‘Combustible World’  ( Fictional  narrative  about the impact of the Troubles set in 1970’s Belfast , based on real events but questioning the role of  the narrator and of memory) The Warwick Review, vol VII, no.4 ed M.Hulse, University of Warwick, Oxford University Press, Jan 2014
• Article:‘Primo Levi as storyteller; the uses of fiction, creative non-fiction and the hard to classify in `Levi’s narrative of the Holocaust’ in Short Fiction in Theory & Practice, vol3, no.1, ed. A. Cox, Intellect Books, Bristol, Summer 2013
• ‘This Time and Now: Identity and Belonging in the Irish Diaspora: The Irish in Britain and Second Generational Silence.’  Chapter in Land & Identity. Theory, Memory & Practice. Rodophi, 2012. ISBN-13. 978-9042034600
• ‘The Lure of Gravity: Primo Levi In Liverpool ’ (creative non-fiction) in Spilling Ink: Collection of Fiction, Non-Fiction & Prose Poetry. Vol I,Unbound Press, Glasgow, 2011 ISBN 978-0-9568519-0-1
• ‘Amongst Barbarians: Ovid, the Classics and Creative Writing’  in International Journal for the Practice & Theory of Creative Writing. Vol.7, No.3, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, Philadelphia, USA, Autumn 2010.  ISSN 1479-0726
• ‘Writing Marathons. Introducing  Creative Spaces.’ Article in Writing In Education, NAWE Journal, No 51, Summer  2010
• ‘Joan of Arc, Ringo Starr & Me’  Shortlisted for Creative Non-fiction prize, in Loose
• Leaves Anthology, Vol I,Unbound Press, Glasgow, November, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9558360-9-1.