Professor Richard Gwyn

Biography

I began my academic career as a linguist, and my first academic publications were in the semiotics of illness and interpersonal sociolinguistics. At the same time I was publishing poetry, and in 2003 I transferred from the 'Language and Communication' section of the School to 'English Literature.' Since then I have published two further poetry collections, two anthologies of poetry, three novels, many articles and stories, and a memoir, The Vagabond's Breakfast, which won a Wales Book of the Year Award in 2012. My most recent novel is The Blue Tent (2019).

I also work as a translator from Spanish, and have published a major anthology of Latin American Poetry, The Other Tiger (2016) which included poems by 97 poets from 16 countries. Edith Grossman wrote that 'this is a book that belongs in every library . . . the translations are beautiful and to the point.' I have also published collections of poetry by the Argentine poets Joaquín O. Giannuzzi and Jorge Fondebrider. My most recent book of translation is a selection of poems by the Colombian Darío Jaramillo, titled Impossible Loves (2019).

Publications

Teaching

I teach on the MA in Creative Writing and on a range of Undergraduate modules. 

In recent years I have specialised in teaching modules in (a) narrative nonfiction; (b) general fiction; (c) microfiction and the prose poem. 

I have supervised a wide range of PhD students over the past fifteen years.

Research interests

• narrative nonfiction/memoir
• the novel, especially experimental and hybrid forms
• fiction set in Wales
• microfiction and the prose poem
• translation theory and practice 
• contemporary Hispanic American and Iberian literatures
• history and cultures of the Mediterranean

Supervision

I currently supervise or co-supervise six PhD students in Creative and Critical Writing.

I will consider applications from outstanding candidates wishing to carry out research in creative and critical writing, specializing in non-fiction, fiction or hybrid genres. I especially welcome innovative proposals that overlap with my own research interests, specifically:

• Narrative nonfiction & memoir
• Short fiction & the mixed genre novel
• Fiction set in Wales
• The prose poem
• Borges & Hispanic American literature
• Translation studies

Past projects

Supervisor for Seosamh McGrath - Beneath The Look: A Life In Care: a memoir and critical review (awarded 2021)

Supervisor for Julia Rose Lewis - What is lost without discourse between philosophy of science and poetry? Poetry and critical commentary (awarded 2020);

Supervisor for Christina Thatcher - More than you were: Writing the Death of an Addict, a combined study (interviews and literary analysis) into bereavement through addiction, and a collection of poems (awarded 2020)

Supervisor for Christie Collins - Call Me Daughter: A Collection of Poems and a Critical Examination of Southern Ambivalence and the Adult-Child Voice in Contemporary Southern Poetry (awarded 2020)

Supervisor for Julie Primon - Like A River Towards the Sea: A novel and critical commentary (awarded 2020)

Supervisor for Susan Morgan - Modest Venus: Experiments in Seeing, a creative-critical study of the representation of women's bodies in medical science and classical art (awarded 2018)

Supervisor for Dan Anthony  - The Myth and its Registration, an examination of intellectual property and trademarking, and a novel, The Pumpkin Season (awarded 2018)

Supervisor for João Morais - The Gwerin and the Cracach, a critical examination on the themes of identity, class, masculinity and language, and a novel, Kilroy F****n Jones (awarded 2017)

Supervisor for Robert Walton - Root and Branch, a novel and critical commentray on the representation of masculinities in the novels of contemporary Welsh women writers in English (awarded 2017)

Supervisor for Peter Gyngell - The Enigmas of Borges and The Enigma of Borges (awarded 2012)

Supervisor for Holly Howitt-Dring - Subversive genres: The Novella and Microfiction (awarded 2008)