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Graham Allen (writer)

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This image shows Graham Allen standing at a podium in the Cork City Libraries, reading at the launch of his first collection of poetry, The One That Got Away.
Graham Allen at launch of his first collection of poetry, The One That Got Away (New Binary Press 2014).

Graham Allen (born 23 December 1963)[1] is a writer and academic from Cork city, Ireland. He is the author of two collections of poetry, The Madhouse System (2016)[2][3] and The One That Got Away (2014).[4][5] He is a former recipient of the Listowel Single Poem Prize, awarded each year at Listowel Writers' Week.[6] As a literary critic, he has published numerous books, including Harold Bloom: Towards a Poetics of Conflict (1994), Intertextuality (2000), and Roland Barthes (2003).[7][8]

Scholarship

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Allen is Professor of Literature at University College Cork.[7][8] His book for Routledge's New Critical Idiom series, Intertextuality (2000), had a second edition in 2011 and eight re-prints since first publication.[7] In 2008, he published a book on Frankenstein and a monograph on Mary Shelley.[7] He published a monograph on Harold Bloom, Harold Bloom: Towards a Poetics of Conflict (1994), and later co-edited the Salt Companion to Harold Bloom (2007). Two of his books, Intertextuality (2000) and Roland Barthes (2003), have been translated into Indonesian Japanese, Korean, and Persian.[7][8]

Creative writing

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Allen has had two collections of poetry published by New Binary Press, The Madhouse System (2016)[2][3] and The One That Got Away (2014).[4][5] His poetry tends to deal with social and political injustices.[9] Both of his collections have been positively reviewed.[9][10][11][12][13][14] Reviewing Allen's work in Southword journal, Roisin Kelly writes: "These are the words we need to hear in times like these. I am glad that Allen has seen fit to tell us what we are in danger of forgetting."[13] His elegy to David Bowie, included in The Madhouse System, was selected by RTÉ, Ireland's national broadcaster, as their poem of the week in December 2016.[15]

Allen's first collection of poetry, The One That Got Away, was shortlisted for the 2015 Shine/Strong Award,[16][17] while the manuscript was nominated for Salt Publishing's Crashaw Prize[18][5] and the Munster Literature Centre's Fool For Poetry Prize.[19]

His poetry has appeared in literary journals like Southword, The Stinging Fly, Poetry Ireland Review, and The Rialto.[20][8] He was the winner of the Listowel Single Poem Prize in 2010.[21]

In 2016, Allen was included in a special issue of the Poetry Ireland Review entitled, The Rising Generation. Edited by Vona Groarke, the issue consisted of a selection of poets considered to be the new voices of literary Ireland.[22] His ‘’Bright Star: Elegy for David Bowie’’ was RTE Poem of the Week in December 2016.[citation needed]

Allen is the author of Holes, a work of digital poetry.[23] Holes is a ten syllable one line per day poem which began on 23 December 2006.[24][25] Also published by New Binary Press, the work has drawn the attention and elicited a positive response from scholars and critics.[26][27] In 2017, Holes released a limited edition print edition of the poem's first decade of lines.[28][29]

In 2017, Allen co-edited The Elysian: Creative Responses (New Binary Press) with fellow Irish author Billy Ramsell, an anthology of works inspired by The Elysian building in Cork city.[30][31] The anthology features a number of prominent figures, including Cónal Creedon, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Frank McDonald, Madeleine D'Arcy, E. R. Murray, and Patrick Cotter.[31]

Personal life

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Allen went to Barking Abbey School[citation needed] and then studied at St David's College, Lampeter, the University of Wales, receiving his degree in English in 1985. He obtained his MA and PhD at the University of Sheffield.[7] He tutored at Sheffield and at the University of Cambridge and later was a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Dundee (1990 to 1995).[7] He has been at the University College Cork since 1995, where he is now Professor of Literature.[7][32]

References

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  1. ^ "Allen, Graham, 1963-". id.loc.gov. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b Allen, Graham (1 January 2016). The Madhouse System. ISBN 9780993580314. OCLC 973223139.
  3. ^ a b "Book Launch: The Madhouse System & The Blocks". triskelartscentre.ie. 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2017.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ a b Allen, Graham (1 January 2014). The One That Got Away. ISBN 9780957466197. OCLC 869852320.
  5. ^ a b c "2014 Festival Fringe Events". Cork Spring Poetry Festival. 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  6. ^ Lynch, Michael (2010). Winners Anthology. Listowel, Co. Kerry: Listowel Writers' Week. pp. 53–54.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Research Profiles: Graham Allen". ucc.ie. University College Cork. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d "Graham Allen Biography". ELMCIP. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  9. ^ a b Hooker, Eleanor (2017). "Beauty in Broken Things". The Stinging Fly. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  10. ^ Geden, Matthew (2014). "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: Matthew Geden reviews Graham Allen's début poetry collection". Southword Journal. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  11. ^ Horgan, Joseph (2017). "Review of The Madhouse System". Books Ireland: 46–47.
  12. ^ O'Leary, Joanne (2015). "The One That Got Away / Liffey Swim". The Stinging Fly. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  13. ^ a b Kelly, Roisin (2017). "Wolves and the Madhouse: Roisin Kelly reviews new collections by Daragh Breen & Graham Allen". Southword Journal. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  14. ^ "Down in Albion". Tailwinds Press. 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Poem of the Week: An Elegy for David Bowie". RTE.ie. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  16. ^ "Graham Allen shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Award". newbinarypress.com. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  17. ^ "Poetry Award Nomination for Prof Graham Allen". UCC.ie. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  18. ^ "Graham Allen". Penduline Press. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  19. ^ "Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition". www.munsterlit.ie. Retrieved 14 May 2017.[permanent dead link]
  20. ^ "Over the Edge's March open reading". Galway Independent. 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ "Graham Allen". Munster Literature Centre. Retrieved 14 January 2017.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ "Graham Allen features in the new Poetry Ireland Review no 118 Edited by Vona Groarke, entitled The Rising Generation". Department of English, University College Cork. 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  23. ^ "I have no elders and no juniors". The Bogman’s Cannon. 26 August 2015. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  24. ^ "Holes: Decade I". New Binary Press. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  25. ^ Allen, Graham; O'Sullivan, James (2016). "Collapsing Generation and Reception: Holes as Electronic Literary Impermanence". Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures (15): 1. doi:10.20415/hyp/015.e01. hdl:10468/4268.
  26. ^ "Holes, by Graham Allen". holesbygrahamallen.org. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  27. ^ Karhio, Anne (2017). "The End of Landscape: Holes by Graham Allen". Electronic Book Review.[permanent dead link]
  28. ^ "Holes by Graham Allen, Decade I". newbinarypress.com. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  29. ^ "Towers & Holes: Cork's Literary Voices - Granary Theatre". Granary Theatre. Retrieved 3 January 2018.[permanent dead link]
  30. ^ Brennan, Marjorie (2 January 2018). "Tower of inspiration for Cork writers". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 3 January 2018.[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ a b "OUT NOW! The Elysian: Creative Responses". newbinarypress.com. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  32. ^ "Poetry from a professor". Cork Independent. 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2017.[permanent dead link]