Matthew De Abaitua
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Email
mjdeab@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 872853
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Location
5NW.4.17, Colchester Campus
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Academic support hours
I am currently not teaching as I am head of department.
Profile
Biography
I welcome PhD proposals in Creative Writing in prose fiction. I'm particularly interested in science fiction and literary fiction novels.
Qualifications
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MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.
Appointments
University of Essex
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Director of Education, Literature Film and Theatre Studies (LiFTS), University of Essex (1/9/2020 - 1/7/2022)
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Head of Department, Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, University of Essex (1/7/2022 - present)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Artificial Intelligence narratives
Writing and studying narratives that connect to AI and climate change
Climate fiction
I am currently working on fictions and experimental narratives based on the concept of the Climate Artist.
Speculative autofiction
Combining memoir and speculative fiction to create a form called speculative autofiction.
Current research
The Climate Artist
A completed science fiction novel exploring epigenetics and climate change.
Artificial Imagination
Combining neuroscientific insight into the imagination with novelistic practice to create a novel and a proposed documentary series.
Conferences and presentations
The Climate Artist
Invited presentation, Organic Systems: Science Fiction & Ecology Today, London, United Kingdom, 2/5/2019
Artificial Imagination: strange tools and the novel
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, AISB, Falmouth, United Kingdom, 18/4/2019
Artificial Imagination: Dreams and Delusions of AI
Invited presentation, Dot York, 4/10/2018
The Climate Artist
Invited presentation, Not I, Jerwood, London, United Kingdom, 15/9/2018
Class matters
Invited presentation, Greenwich Book Festival, Book Festival, London, United Kingdom, 16/6/2018
Author Confidential
Invited presentation, Stoke Newington Literary Festival, Stoke Newington Literary Festival, London, United Kingdom, 2/6/2018
AI Narratives:
Invited presentation, How do we talk about AI? workshop, London, United Kingdom, 3/5/2018
Life, the Universe and Everything: Science Fictional Responses to the Epistemological Question
Invited presentation, Eastercon, Eastercon, London, United Kingdom, 31/3/2018
The Future of Cities
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Eastercon, Eastercon, London, United Kingdom, 30/3/2018
'How to Teach Genre' with Dr Celia Brayfield at English Shared Futures, 2017.
2017
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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The Beginning of a Novel (LT346)
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Understanding and Writing Science Fiction (LT367)
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Independent Creative Writing Project (LT832)
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Writing the Novel (LT908)
Current supervision
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Creative Writing
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 29/3/2023
Degree subject: Creative Writing
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 17/2/2023
Degree subject: Creative Writing
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 24/1/2020
Publications
Journal articles (2)
De Abaitua, M., (2017). The Fourfold Library (6): Alan Moore and Ian Gibson, The Ballad of Halo Jones. Foundation: the international review of science fiction (128)
De Abaitua, M., (2016). Short Story: The University of the Sun. New Scientist (3104)
Books (4)
De Abaitua, M., (2019). Self & I: A memoir of literary ambition. Eye Books. 9781785630798
De Abaitua, M., (2016). The Destructives. Angry Robot. 9780857664747
De Abaitua, M., (2015). If Then. Angry Robot. 9780857664716
De Abaitua, M., (2011). Alan Moore interview
Book chapters (1)
De Abaitua, M., (2022). Sordid Novels and Preposterous Masculine Fictions: Introduction to Rose Macaulay's What Not. In: What Not. MIT Press. 9780262544306
Media (1)
De Abaitua, M., The Dolittle Machine. Audio
Contact
Academic support hours:
I am currently not teaching as I am head of department.
