About Dr Claire Griffiths
Dr Claire Griffiths is Associate Head of Creative Writing at Northeastern University London, and Programme Lead for the institution’s online MA in Contemporary Creative Writing. Her teaching specialisms include flash fiction, prose fiction and 21st century anglophone literature.
She studied American Literature with Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, before continuing on to the institution’s renowned MA in Creative Writing: Prose. She was awarded a Humanities Scholarship for her Critical and Creative Writing PhD research and received her doctorate in 2016. She became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2018.
Previously, she has run the Creative Writing programme at the University for the Creative Arts, lectured on the University of Hull’s Creative Writing MA (Online), Brunel University’s Creative Writing BA, and on literature and creative writing modules for the University of East Anglia. She has also run adult learner or summer school courses in creative writing for Imperial College London, University of Westminster, and Ink@84 Bookshop in London.
Her professional experience includes authorship, journalism, publishing, events coordination, and bookselling.
claire.griffiths@nulondon.ac.uk
Qualifications
PhD Creative and Critical Writing (University of East Anglia)
MA Creative Writing: Prose – Distinction (University of East Anglia)
BA(Hons) American Literature with Creative Writing – First Class (University of East Anglia)
Dr Claire Griffiths's Research
Dr Griffiths is a practicing author of flash fiction, short and long-form fiction, and creative nonfiction. Her work has been published by established literary magazines, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and placed in international competitions, including the Bridport Short Story Prize, the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize, and the SmokeLong Quarterly Flash Fiction Award. Her forthcoming debut novel, Lagermuseum, is based on her PhD research into artworks produced by prisoners incarcerated in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Scholarly articles linked to this project have been published in Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History (Taylor Francis), and the book Trauma and Memory: the Holocaust in Contemporary Culture (Routledge).
Dr Griffiths’ primary research field is discourse analysis, specifically sites of enunciation, and the fusion of geographic and embodied scenography. She is currently developing a short-short story collection entitled Indy, which explores localised experiences of Scottish-English divides and discourses, as Scotland pushes both towards and against independence.
Selected Publications and Awards
‘Schooling’, Vestal Review (2022)
‘Intersection’, 101 Words; Shortlisted, Bridport Flash Fiction Prize (2022)
‘Man on a Bridge’, OUTSIDELEFT; Shortlisted, OUTSIDELEFT Short Story Competition (2022)
‘(Wutch)’, Fairlight Books (2022); Shortlisted, Bridport Short Story Prize (2021).
‘Balmedie’, Reflex Fiction Anthology: Volume 5; Shortlisted, Reflex Fiction Flash Fiction Competition (2021).
‘Touring the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum’, Trauma and Memory: the Holocaust in Contemporary Culture, Routledge (2021).
Lagermuseum, Shortlisted, Bridge Awards Emerging Writer Award (2020).
‘Homing Call’, Shortlisted, SmokeLong Quarterly Flash Fiction Award (2020).
‘Adulting’, Flash Fiction Magazine (2019).
‘Kirabiti’, Litro Magazine; Longlisted, Bath Short Story Award (2019).
‘Encountering Auschwitz’, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History Vol. 25/1-2, Taylor Francis (2019).
‘Táta and Máma and Me’, Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology: Vol. 7, Tangent; Second Place, Bristol Short Story Prize (2014).
‘The Painter and the Dybbuk’, BBC Radio 4, The Time Being, Sweet Talk Productions (2014).
University of East Anglia, Faculty of Arts and Humanities PhD Scholarship (2010).
In-progress
Lagermuseum (novel)
Indy (short story/flash fiction collection)
Dr Claire Griffiths's Teaching
Writing for today’s readers and engagement with contemporary literary issues are at the forefront of Dr Griffiths’ teaching practice. She specialises in the craft of writing prose fiction (flash fiction, short fiction, novels), with secondary specialisms in contemporary literature and the writing of creative nonfiction.
She teaches on the MA in Contemporary Creative Writing, and the undergraduate courses ‘Introduction to Creative Writing’, ‘The Writer’s Craft’, and ‘Final Year Project and Publishing Horizons’. She also supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation projects. She is available for PhD supervision and interested in long and short form fiction projects with a contemporary focus.
Selected Teaching History
Imperial College London: ‘Short Story Writing’ (adult learner course).
University of Hull: ‘The Writer’s Craft’, ‘Writing From Life’, ‘Short Story Writing’, ‘The Writer’s Portfolio’ (MA modules).
Brunel University: ‘Writing Modern Fiction’, ‘Creative Practice’ (BA modules).
University for the Creative Arts: ‘Developing the Writer’s Voice’, ‘Writing Into The Landscape’, ‘Journalism and Media Dissertation’, ‘Creative Writing Final Year Project’, ‘Writers In Real Life’ (BA modules).
University of East Anglia: ‘The Gothic’, ‘Creative Writing Dissertation’, ‘Introduction to Creative Writing’, ‘Creative Writing: Prose’, ‘Adaptation and Experimental Literature’, ‘Reading Texts’, ‘Literature and History II’ (BA modules).