Author joins the University as new Writer in Residence

A published author is joining University of Wolverhampton’s School of Humanities as its new Writer in Residence. 

Carmel Doohan, from the West Midlands, has taken up a four-month residency in the University’s School of Humanities, where she will work alongside students studying for degrees in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature, to help boost their creative learning.  

Carmel said: “I am very excited to join the team at Wolverhampton. I am helping to edit an anthology of work by writers from Ukraine and West Midlands and will be producing a piece of creative non-fiction in response to the project. I am also delivering creative writing masterclasses and offering tutorials to students and researchers.” 

Bas Groes, Professor of English Literature at the University, said: “We are delighted to welcome Carmel to the Humanities team, bringing real-world expertise inside the classroom to inspire our literary students. “Carmel will be supporting our Creative and Professional Writing students as well as also helping with recruitment activities. She will also be writing a 3,000-word piece of creative non-fiction for a new book that the School of Humanities is working on with 10 Ukrainian writers and with 10 writers from the West Midlands.” 

Carmel’s novel, Seesaw was published by CB editions in 2021 (Book of the Week in The Scotsman; Book of the Month for Republic of Consciousness). She has a degree in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University, an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and was awarded a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2019.  

Her thesis Constellating the Real was a philosophical exploration of New Materialisms, looking at the impact of epigenetics, data processing and affect theory on literary realism. Since completing her doctorate her research has focused on ‘training data poetics,’ exploring how predictive and algorithmic data processing has impacted the stream-of-consciousness in contemporary autofiction and the first-person novel.  

Her current research takes place alongside her second novel, which focuses on England’s industrial and post-industrial histories. Set across repurposed industrial sites near where she lives in the Derbyshire Dales, the multi-generational novel uses the layered, contradictory histories of these sites to unpack competing English ideologies. 

Carmel has taught at English Literature at the University of Glasgow, Creative Writing at SUISS/University of Edinburgh, and Creative Nonfiction and Autofiction at Bishopsgate Institute in London.  

Anyone interested in courses being offered in the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences should check out the website or register for one of our forthcoming Open Days.     

ENDS