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Dr Jonathan Gibbs

Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing

School of Communication & Creativity Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries

Contact details

Address

Dr Jonathan Gibbs ALG07, College Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Jonathan Gibbs is a writer, critic and academic. He has published two novels, 'Randall, or the Painted Grape' (Galley Beggar Press, 2014) and 'The Large Door' (Boiler House Press, 2019). 'Randall' has been translated into French and Dutch, and was long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and shortlisted for the Figaro Prix du Livre de Voyage Urbain. His short stories have been anthologised in the Best British Short Stories 2014 and 2015. His story 'The Story I'm Thinking Of' was shortlisted for the inaugural White Review Prize 2014, and his story 'A Prolonged Kiss' was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2021.

In 2020 he wrote 'Spring Journal', a long poem about the Coronavirus lockdown, inspired by Louis MacNeice's 'Autumn Journal', written in the months before the declaration of the Second World War. The poem, originally composed in real time on Twitter, was published by CB Editions in December 2020.

He worked as a journalist for over 10 years before taking an MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction), for which he was awarded the Malcolm Bradbury Bursary, and a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing, bothat the University of East Anglia. The PhD thesis took the form of a novel, 'Randall or the Painted Grape', and a critical essay, ‘Beyond Ekphrasis: The Use and Function of Artworks in the Novels of Don DeLillo’.

After teaching as an Associate Tutor at UEA, Jonathan taught as a Lecturer in Creative Writing at St Mary's University, Twickenham, where he was Programme Director for the BA Creative and Professional Writing and the MA Creative Writing: First Novel.

He has been a judge on both the Manchester Fiction Prize and the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize.

He curates the online short fiction project A Personal Anthology (www.apersonalanthology.com) in which writers, critics and others pick and introduce a dozen favourite short stories. This has now been running for four years, and the archive now features nearly 2,000 short story recommendations picked by over 150 'guest editors'.

Employment

  • Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, City, University London, Sep 2020 – present
  • Programme Director, St Mary's University Twickenham London, Sep 2016 – Sep 2020

Publications

Publications by category

Books (3)

  • Gibbs, J. (2020). Spring Journal. London: CB Editions. ISBN 978-1-909585-37-9.
  • Gibbs, J. (2019). The Large Door. Norwich: Boiler House Press. ISBN 978-1-911343-54-7.
  • Gibbs, J. (2014). Randall. Gwasg y Bwthyn. ISBN 978-0-9571853-6-4.

Chapter

  • Gibbs, J. (2020). A Prolonged Kiss. In Lavin, J. (Ed.), The Lonely Crowd: Issue Twelve (pp. 245–257). The Lonely Press. ISBN 978-1-916498-74-7.

Professional activities

Media appearances (4)

  1. The Iris Murdoch podcast. (2020) The Iris Murdoch podcast.
  2. Man Booker Prize Podcast. (2019) Man Booker Prize Podcast (unknown).
  3. Backlisted Podcast. (2017) Brigid Brophy's 'The Snow Ball'.
  4. Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet. (2016) Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet (unknown).

Media appearances (3)

  1. Open Book: twins in recent fiction. Open Book, Radio 4. An 'essay segment' on depictions of twins in recent fiction.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w3lz
  2. Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award online event. An online event to celebrate the shortlisted entries for this prestigious international short story award. https://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/whats-on/125-the-sunday-times-audible-short-story-award?date=2021-07-01-19-00
  3. Spring Journal/Autumn Journal. Event held by the Irish Literary Society to discuss my poem Spring Journal in relation to Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal, featuring readings by novelists Michael Hughes and Lucy Caldwell. Event videoed and available to view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVKNpg_pLtI

Online articles (3)

  1. Through the crack in the wall. (2020). The Times Literary Supplement Extended review of MAIGRET AND MONSIEUR CHARLES
    The last Maigret, Translated by Ros Schwartz, 176pp. Penguin Classics. Paperback, £7.99.
  2. Capitalism consumes. (2021). Times Literary Supplement Review of THE PAINTER’S FRIEND by Howard Cunnell (Picador. £16.99)
  3. Brushes with poetry. (2021). Times Literary Supplement Review of PAINTING TIME by Maylis de Kerangal, Translated by Jessica Moore (MacLehose. £16.99)

Other (2)

  1. Judge, 2019 Manchester Fiction Prize, Manchester Writing Competition (Oct 2019 – Feb 2020).
  2. Judge, Galley Beggar Short Story Prize, Galley Beggar Press (Jun 2018 – Mar 2019).