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Professor Graham Mort

Professor of Creative Writing and Transcultural Literature

Degree: BA hons, English Language & Literature, Liverpool PhD, Creative Writing, Glamorgan

Associated research centres and groups: Centre for the Advanced Study of Contemporary Performance Practice, Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research

Personal website

Current Teaching

MA in Creative Writing

PhD supervision in Creative Writing

Research Interests

A former freelance writer, Graham Mort has worked as a poetry specialist, educational writer, editor, and tutor in a wide range of settings throughout the UK and overseas. Once Director of Studies for the Open College of the Arts, he is a Distance Learning and eLearning specialist. He is director of the PhD programme in Creative Writing at Lancaster and convenes the distance learning MA with Lee Horsley, designing new eLearning postgraduate programmes.

Graham was project leader of the British Council/Lancaster University African writers mentoring scheme, Crossing Borders (2001-2006). He was then the consultant and designer of a new British Council/Lancaster University project in Africa, Radiophonics (2006-2009), which developed new writing for radio in partnership with Nigerian and Ugandan FM stations. African research projects have has taken him to Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, S. Africa, Zimbabwe and Nigeria in recent years. He was the UK adviser for, the Beyond Borders pan-African literature festival in Uganda in October 2005, an event hosted by the British Council and involving writers from the UK and 17 African countries. Graham has won Lancaster University 'Community' and 'Communications and Media' staff prizes for his work in Africa.

Graham is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College. His research interests include contemporary fiction and poetry, eLearning, literature development project design, emergent African writing and narratives of diaspora. He was a co-applicant on the ongoing Moving Manchester research project, which received an AHRC award of £365,000 to research the writings of migrant communities in Greater Manchester since 1960. Graham is director of the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research which hosts the Tran-Scriptions seminar series on writing, location and culture, linking academic research to readings by contemporary writers - these will take place throughout 2009-10.

Graham's first collection of poems, A Country on Fire, won a major Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors; Circular Breathing, was a Poetry Book Society recommendation. A new collection of poems, Visibility: New & Selected Poems, was published by Seren in 2007. He has also written short fiction and radio drama for BBC Radio 4 and performed his work at literature festivals and venues throughout the UK and overseas. He was winner of the Bridport International Short Story Prize, 2007; a collection of his short fiction, 'Touch', was published by Seren in March 2010.

Published Works

Poetry: A Country On Fire, Littlewood Press, 1986; A Halifax Cider Jar, Yorkshire Art Circus, 1987; Into The Ashes, Littlewood Press, 1988; Sky Burial, Dangaroo Press, 1989; Snow From The North, Dangaroo Press, 1992; Circular Breathing, Dangaroo Press, 1997; A Night On The Lash, Seren, 2004; Visibility, new and selected poems, Seren, 2007.

Short Fiction: Touch, short fiction, Seren, 2010.

Radio Drama: 'Flymowing' (poem) BBC Radio 3, 1997, 'The Red Field' (long poem) BBC Radio 4,1997, The Life Of The Bee (dramatic adaptation), BBC Radio 4, 1999, Cuba Libre at the Café España (afternoon play) BBC Radio 4, 2002.

Educational Coursebooks: Starting To Write, Open College of The Arts, 1990, The Experience Of Poetry, Open College of the Arts, 1991, Storylines, Open College of the Arts, 1992.

Reviews, articles and academic papers have appeared in a wide range of literary journals.

Recent and Current PhD Supervision

Raymond Robinson, Electricity, novel, published by Picador; PhD awarded 2006

George Green, novel, Hound, published by Bantam Press, (with Prof. Simon Bainbridge); PhD awarded 2006

Martin Goodman, novel, Ectopia (with Dr. Lee Horsley); PhD awarded 2007

Rebecca Irvine, novel, Moving (with Dr Lee Horsley)

Rhiannon Hoosan, poetry, The Ox On Your Tongue

Muli Amaye, fiction

Geraldine Green, poetry

Tariq Mehmood Ali, novel, (with Prof. Lynne Pearce)

Rajiv Balasubramanyam, fiction & narrative theory, (with Prof. Lynne Pearce and Dr. Robert Crawshaw)

Sarah Dobbs, novel, Killing Daniel

Jenny Makumbi, fiction

Angela Barry, fiction

Barbara Scoichet, novel, Bug Juice

Links

Guardian Review of Visibility: 'New & Selected Poems'

Graham's homepage

Graham's Books and Poetry Gallery

Graham's Entry on the UK Contemporary Writers Website

Crossing Borders African Writing Project

Radiophonics African Writing Project

Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research

Potential Doctoral Proposals

Composition in fiction and poetry, especially with transcultural emphasis

Career details

Freelance writer and artist in education 1986-2002

Course Leader in Creative Writing, Open College of the Arts 1990-1999

Director of Studies, Open College of the Arts 1999-2000

Project Leader for British Council African writing development projects 2001 -

Lecturer in Creative Writing, Lancaster University, 2002 -

Other Interests and Hobbies

Cricket, tennis, hill walking, photography, blues guitar.

Associated Keywords: African Literature, Creative writing, E-learning, Emergent African writing, Literature development projects, Literatures of migration and diaspora, Pedgagogy of creative writing, Poetry, Poetry installations, Transcultural writing, Writing fiction, Writing for radio, Writing poetry

View all research activities, ePrints, news and events associated with Graham Mort.

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