Matthew Jarvis

I am a Research Associate of Swansea University's Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales, an Associate Member of Aberystwyth University’s David Jones Centre, and a full member of the Welsh Academy.

At Aberystwyth, I have previously worked as part of the research team on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Devolved Voices: Welsh Poetry in English since 1997, led by Professor Peter Barry.

Since September 2007, I have also been Anthony Dyson Fellow in Poetry at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

I am Year 1 tutor (2018-19 academic year), and also serve on the Research Environment Group committee in the Department.

My scholarly work is mainly concerned with Wales Studies, with a primary focus on post-1960s Welsh poetry in English. Within this context, I am particularly interested in environmental approaches to literature and in ideas about the poetic construction of space and place.

I am co-Chair of the Association for Welsh Writing in English and lead editor of the International Journal of Welsh Writing in English. I am Chair of the Poetry Wales Committee. I serve on the Advisory Body of the National Library of Wales, the Advisory Board of Modernist Network Cymru, the Editorial Board of the journal Literary Geographies, and was formerly a member of the English-Language Grants Panel of the Welsh Books Council.

I have produced research on the sector-wide health of Wales Studies for the Learned Society of Wales, and am a former winner of the M. Wynn Thomas Prize.

I have written the monographs Welsh Environments in Contemporary Poetry (University of Wales Press, 2008) and Ruth Bidgood (University of Wales Press, 2012). I have also written a pamphlet, over two dozen essays/articles, and fifty reviews (mainly of contemporary poetry).

Recently, I have concentrated on editorial work: I have edited the volumes Devolutionary Readings: English-Language Poetry and Contemporary Wales (Peter Lang, 2017) and Wired to the Dynamo: Poetry and Prose in Honour of John Barnie (Cinnamon, 2018); I have co-edited special issues of two academic journals (published in 2014 and 2015); and, since March 2014, I have led the editorial team of the International Journal of Welsh Writing in English (University of Wales Press).

For full details of my scholarly publications, reviews, speaking engagements, and current projects, please see my personal website.

My teaching interests lie in the areas of twentieth-century and contemporary literatures, Welsh writing in English, and literary theory.