Val Nolan

I am currently I am a lecturer in Creative Writing in the Department of English at Aberystwyth University in Wales.

I hold a Ph.D. from National University of Ireland, Galway (my research focused on representations of history in contemporary Irish literature), where I taught post-war/contemporary literature and creative writing for almost ten years.  I also hold an MA from NUIG and a BA from University College Cork. In 2009 I attend the Clarion Writers’ Workshop at University of California, San Diego, where I studied Creative Writing Theory and Practice.

Recent academic publications include articles in Irish Studies Review, Review of Contemporary Fiction, ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, and Nordic Irish Studies. I have also contributed to books such as Godly Heretics: Essays on Alternative Christianity in Literature and Popular Culture (McFarland, 2013) and The Multiple Worlds of Fringe: Essays on the J.J. Abrams Science Fiction Series  (McFarland, 2014)

In addition to my academic work and publications, I am also a creative writer. My stories have appeared in Interzone, Electric Velocipede, Cosmos, the ‘Futures’ page of the science journal Nature, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy (Volume 8) as well as the Year’s Best Science Fiction (Volume 31). Other writing has appeared in The Daily Telegraph (first place in the Telegraph/OxTravels writing contest 2011), the Irish Times (flash fiction series), the RTÉ Guide (first place in the Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2011) and in publications such as The Stinging Fly, Southword, Crannóg, Fusion, ROPES, and Revival. My story ‘The Irish Astronaut’ was shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (2014).

Finally, I have long contributed to the public discussion of literature and new writing by contributing criticism, articles, and interviews to the national press.
Address: Galway, Ireland