University of Glamorgan

Prof Philip Gross

Professor in Creative Writing
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Tel +44 (0)1443 654195
Room: FH101

Qualifications

B.A. (Hons), Sussex

Dip. Lib. (with Distinction), North London

D.Litt. (University of Glamorgan), 2007

About

My teaching is in creative writing (especially writing for young people and poetry), with special interest in deepening the writing workshop experience, in mapping the creative process and making it available for reflection, and in using collaborative work to free up creativity and release us from the narrowness of simple self-expression. (The best thing that a poem or story can do for its writer is surprise them.)

Announced as the winner of the prestigious TS Eliot poetry prize for 'The Water Table’, 18th January 2010.

Research

Writing poetry (for adults and young people).

Writing novels for older young people.
Current project: No Man’s Kingdom, novel set in the year 1656.

Cross-arts collaborations (writing with visual arts, music, dance).

Writing for radio (short stories, poetry for radio)

Selected Publications

Poetry:

The Water Table. Bloodaxe Books, 2009 – winner of the T S Eliot Prize
I Spy Pinhole Eye (with photographs by Simon Denison). Cinnamon Press, 2009
The Egg of Zero. Bloodaxe Books, 2006.
The Abstract Garden (with engravings by Peter Reddick) Limited edition from The Old Stile Press, 2006
Mappa Mundi, Bloodaxe, 2003.
Changes of Address: Poems 1980–1998. Bloodaxe, 2001.

Poetry for young people:

Off Road To Everywhere. Salt. forthcoming 2010.
Scratch City. Faber, 1995.
The All-Nite Café. Faber 1993.
Manifold Manor. Faber, 1989.

Novels for young people:

The Storm Garden. Oxford University Press, 2006.
The Lastling. Oxford University Press, 2003.
Going For Stone. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Psylicon Beach. Scholastic, 1998.
The Song of Gail and Fludd. Faber, 1991.

Creative Writing Pedagogy:

Small Worlds, in Donnelly, D. (ed), Does the Writing Workshop Still Work? 2010
Giving Houseroom to our Waifs and Strays: Questions for the Writing Workshop and the Writing Self, in Creative Writing: Teaching Theory & Practice (1:2) 2010
Through The Eye Of The Pinhole: An Experiment In Looking, in Writing in Education, (49), 18-23 2009
The Tale of Silly and Boring: Matters Arising from a Simple Storytelling Game, in Butt, M. (ed), Story: The Heart of the Matter, 2007
Taken As Read? Creative Writers and the Trouble with Reading, in New Writing (2:2) 2005.

Professional Memberships

Higher Education Academy (previously ILTHE)

Society of Authors

National Association of Writers in Education

Poetry Society

External representation

External examiner:
University of Sussex, MA Creative Writing and Professional Development
Oxford University, Master of Studies in Creative Writing
Professorial Fellowship: University of Wales Aberystwyth