Dr Harry Whitehead
BA (Sussex), MSc (London), MA (London), PhD (Lancaster), FHEA
Lecturer in Creative Writing
Research interests
Harry Whitehead is a novelist who teaches creative writing and the history of the novel. He is Deputy Director of The Centre for New Writing, on the Literary Leicester Committee, and chairs the School of English Student Staff Committtee. He is a panel member of the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA A Level English Forum, and has been REF External Advisor at Bath Spa University.
His first novel, The Cannibal Spirit, is a work of literary historical fiction set among the First Peoples of Canada at the turn of the twentieth century, and is published by Penguin Canada. It has been described as 'powerful, brave, ambitious' (The Globe and Mail), 'a thriller with a Joseph Conradian plot' (The Walrus), 'a unique work, compelling, complex, thought-provoking and impressive' (Quill and Quire).
Otherwise, he has published short fiction in a variety of contemporary genres, and papers in the fields of creative writing pedagogy, anthropology and history; memory, nostalgia and identity; Native North American & Canadian history and ethnography; and psychoanalysis.
Before moving into academia, he worked for many years in film and TV production.
Current research
Currently, Harry is conducting research into psychogeography, 'non-places' and liminality for his latest novel, which will be titled Nowhere.
He is also conducting research into creative writing pedagogical theory, and to the current, inexorable global spread of the subject, and its implications for creative innovation.
More generally, he is interested in all forms of creative writing practice and theory, especially in its application to wider pedagogic practices in higher education.
Postgraduate supervision
Harry supervises creative writing PhDs. He welcomes experienced writers interested in pushing the limits of their writing in imaginative genres including prose fiction, narrative non-fiction, writing for the screen and graphic novels.
With an academic background in both creative writing and anthropology, he is interested particularly (but not exclusively) in colonial, postcolonial and cross-cultural writing. He also welcomes writers of contemporary innovative fiction that pushes the boundaries of publishing norms.
Teaching
- MA Modern Lit. & Creative Writing Module: Writing Fiction
- MA English Studies Module: Cities of Words
- 1st Yr U/G Module: An Introduction to Writing Creatively
- 1st Yr U/G Module: A Literary Genre: the Novel
- 3rd Yr U/G Special Subject Module: Writing Prose Fiction
- 3rd Yr U/G Special Subject Module: Understanding Screenplays
Administration
- School of English Library Representative
- Chair, Student Staff Committee
- Learning and Teaching Committee
- Literary Leicester Festival Committee
- Deputy Director, the Centre for New Writing
Recent publications
Novel
The Cannibal Spirit (Toronto: Penguin, 2011)
Some Short Fiction
'Ringtone', in London Lies, edited by Cherry Potts (London: Arachne Press, 2012)
‘Dust’, in The Storyteller Magazine Vol 14, Issue 2, 2008.
‘Black Amex and Chop’, at Whimperbang Vol. 10, 2007.
Papers
'Nomadic Emergence: Creative Writing Theory and Practice-Led research,' in New Ideas for the Writing Arts: Practice, Culture Literature, edited by Graeme Harper. Cambridge: CSP 2013.
‘Yearning for Authenticity on the Northwest Coast of Canada’, in Memory Studies, July 2010.
‘Quest for Quesalid: Myth-Making and Rationality in the Initiation of a Shaman’, in The Apothecary’s Chest: Magic, Art and Medication, edited by Georganta et.al. Cambridge: CSP, 2009.
Next Leicester Exchanges live debate: Was Richard III a good king or murderous tyrant?
