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Dr George Sandifer-Smith

Photograph of Dr George Sandifer-Smith, a white man with dark hair, beard and glasses, wearing a white shirt and knitted navy tie.

Profile summary

  • Regional Academic Staff
  • Staff Tutor in Creative Writing
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Arts & Humanities
  • English & Creative Writing
  • george.sandifer-smith

Professional biography

I am a Staff Tutor in Creative Writing with the Open University, having also worked as an Associate Lecturer in the field at the institution since September 2021. I have previously taught at Aberystwyth University and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

I was awarded in PhD in Creative Writing from Aberystwyth University in 2019, with a thesis titled 'The Stone Bell (Creative Writing Project) & Accompanying Critical Commentary', a novel set across the twentieth century in Pembrokeshire with an accompanying critical essay on temporality in the structure of the novel. I obtained my PGCE in Post-Compulsory Education & Training from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2019.

I have written two books of poetry, Empty Trains (published by Broken Sleep Books), a chapbook in response to the 2020 UK lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Nights Travel at the Right Speed (published by Infinity Books), a full collection interrogating the act of recollection and engaging with nostalgia.

Research interests

Following the publication of my chapbook Empty Trains, I am interested in unconventional creative reflections on global trauma, both in the domestic environment and liminal spaces. I would be interested in supervising PhD students working on both fiction and poetry that engages with this.

Impact and engagement

In 2023 I facilitated a workshop at the National Botanic Garden of Wales farm in association with Aberystwyth University's Centre for Creativity & Wellbeing and the Fathom Trust, as part of the Narratives of Personal Renewal project led by Phil Jones. This was covered in the March 2024 Public Health Network Cymru E-Bulletin: E-bulletin-Mar24-v1a-Eng.pdf (publichealthnetwork.cymru

I have collaborated with Overtone Productions and the University of Salford to produce a short story engaging with the work of green hydrogen engineers Dr Enass Abo-Hamed and Manjot Chana, as part of Inventive Podcast: Mixed Engineering Fact & Fiction, available to listen here: Inventive Podcast - Mixing Engineering Fact & Fiction (salford.ac.uk)

I appeared on the podcast Writers on Reading alongside fellow poet Mari Ellis Dunning, discussing our work with authors Sophie Buchaillard and Jonathan Macho: Episode 13 - George Sandifer-Smith and Mari Ellis Dunning, Empty Trains, Pearl & Bone by Writers_Reading | Mixcloud

I read at the launch of Anne-thology: Poems Re-Presenting Anne Shakespeare (featuring my poem 'A White & Open Orbit') at the Shakespeare Birthplace Institute as part of the Shakespeare Birthday Lecture 2023, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham. University of Birmingham and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday - University of Birmingham

External collaborations

I worked as Reviews Editor for Poetry Wales, the national poetry magazine of Wales, from 2022-2024, and was Guest Poetry Editor for the inaugural issue of the Abergavenny Small Press literary journal.