I joined the University of East Anglia (UEA) as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing in 2004 and was Professor of Creative Writing from 2011 until my retirement in 2023. Previously I was a long-standing tutor for the Arvon Foundation, and was for two years the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at UEA. Between 2004-07 I was convenor of the English Literature with Creative Writing BA . Between 2006-11 and again in 2022-23 I was convenor of the Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) MA, and between 2015-2020 I was the convenor of the MFA. I served for ten years as the Director of the Creative Writing programme, and taught and lectured at undergraduate and MA level, and supervised numerous PhD students to successful completion. For many years I edited our website newwriting.net. I attended many, many meetings.
Teaching