CHRIS LLOYD

ABOUT

Dr Christopher Lloyd is a writer, academic, and podcaster. He is an Associate Professor of Learning and Teaching at the University of Hertfordshire; the producer and host of Books Up Close (the podcast and YouTube channel); producer of Diversifying and Decolonising the University podcast; author/editor of four academic books; author of a poetry pamphlet and numerous poems, short stories, and essays.

Chris is also the Co-Editor of the Seaford Review poetry magazine, and the Vice-Chair of the British Association for American Studies. Chris is available to lead sessions for your workplace on queer studies, contemporary literature and culture, diversification initiatives, and decolonisation.

BOOKS UP CLOSE

I am the creator and host of the Books Up Close YouTube channel and podcast. You can find both below. On YT I review things I’m reading. On the podcast, I close read part of an author’s work with the writer themselves, and then talk about their creative practice.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

PODCAST

ACADEMIC WRITING

I’m the author of two monographs on contemporary culture from the US South, as well as co-editor of two volumes (on pedagogy and the millennial novel). Click images below for more info. I’m working on a third book about queerness and non/humans in US literature.

I have also published articles, book chapters, and scholarly introductions on various aspects of US literature and culture; memory studies; and pedagogy.

JOURNAL ARTICLES on: defences and decolonisation; Sally Mann’s Hold Still; Garth Greenwell’s What Belongs to You; Keith Morris Washington’s lynching paintings; Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior; Kathryn Stockett’s The Help; Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild.

BOOK CHAPTERS on: race in the UK American Studies classroom; Jesmyn Ward’s Sign, Unburied, Sing; dis/comfort in teaching; call-and-response in Black literature and music; Marilynne Robinson’s Home; Mississippi novels about flooding; Jordan Peele’s Get Out; Colson Whitehead; Lena Dunham’s Girls; Southern gothic; Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun and Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke.

REVIEWS of: Richard Scott and Oluwaseun Olayiwola; Justin Torres; Lauren Groff; Jacqueline Rose; Mark Rifkin; Ben Knights; Ashely Clark; Vincent Woodard, and others.

CREATIVE WRITING

I have published two poetry pamphlets (one a micro-chapbook), and a range of other work linked below.

POEMS in: The Cambridge Review of Books, Dyddiau Du Press, Propel, Queerlings, The Poetry Lighthouse, annie journal, bath magg, And Other Poems, Dust Poetry Magazine, Action, Spectacle, PERVERSE, Lighthouse Literary Journal, &Change, Fourteen Poems, Kissing Dynamite, The Cardiff Review, Homology, FEED, pøst, Windows Facing Windows Review, Impossible Archetype, Stone of Madness, Visual Verse, –algia, 14 Magazine.

SHORT STORIES in: Barnstorm Journal, Morning Fruit Journal, Olit, Fruit Journal.

ESSAYS in: Kith Books, Roi Fainéant, The Conversation.

DIVERSIFYING AND DECOLONISING THE UNIVERSITY

OTHER EXPERIENCE

  • Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy
  • Reviews Editor and Co-editor of European Journal of American Culture (2016-21, 2021-25)
  • Programme Leader of MA: Literature and Culture (2020-24)
  • Invited speaker at (among others): University of Cantabria, University of Westminster, Greater London Authority, University of St. Andrews, Northumbria University, Bedford College.
  • Guest on:
    • How to Date Men podcast
    • Mary Anne Hobbs’ Radio 6 Music show
    • Off Cuts: Celebrating Cult Film and TV podcast
  • Literary salon leader: Flare London LGBT Film Festival (2015)

HIRE ME

I have led workshops for hundreds of people on topics such as:

  • Diversifying and decolonizing education, work, heritage, and methodologies
  • Workplace inclusion
  • LGBTQ+ inclusion and awareness
  • Contemporary literature and diversifying your reading lists