Dr Patrick Wright

Professional biography

I am a writer, poet, and researcher. My BA (First-class honours) was in Art History from the Manchester Metropolitan University, and I have two MAs (Distinctions) in English Studies and Creative Writing from the University of Manchester.

My first PhD was also awarded by the University of Manchester, in English Studies, and I have a second PhD from the Open University in Creative Writing.

I am interested in twentieth-century and contemporary British and American poetry, prose poetry, ekphrasis, hybrid literary forms, and how Creative Writing and English Literature intertwine.

I have two poetry collections, Full Sight of Her (Eyewear, 2020), nominated for the John Pollard Prize, and Exit Strategy (Broken Sleep, 2025). I also have a pamphlet, Nullaby (Eyewear, 2017). 

My poems have been widely anthologised and appeared in Magma, Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, The North, and The London Magazine. I have also been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. 

I am an Associate Lecturer and Honorary Associate at the Open University. I teach Arts and Humanities subjects, with dual-disciplinary expertise in English Literature and Creative Writing.

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have been nominated twice for a FASS AL Award for Exceptional Teaching.

Before joining the Open University, I worked at Manchester Metropolitan University in the Manchester School of Art, where I taught and coordinated several modules, assisted with the development of new programmes of study, and was a member of university committees and groups.

Research interests

My first PhD, in English Studies at the University of Manchester, focused on the idea of the sacred and developed a psychoanalytic reading of female devotional literature (Rapturous Visions: Mysticism, the sublime, and the discourse of sacrifice). This was funded by the AHRC and supervised by Professor Terry Eagleton.

My second PhD, in Creative Writing at the Open University (Exit Strategy: Ekphrasis through the lens of the abstract and the formless), was supervised by Jane Yeh and Professor Siobhan Campbell. This comprised a poetry collection and a commentary, on my recent ekphrastic practice and experiments with poetic form.

My research proposes a new mode of ekphrasis (ex-phrasis) and exploding form in poetry. This can be seen in Ekphrastic Approaches in Twenty-First-Century Poetry: Writing Out, ed. Oz Hardwick and Amina Alyal (Routledge, 2026), and complements my chapter on the ekphrastic prose poem, in Prose Poetry in Theory and Practice. ed. Anne Caldwell and Oz Hardwick (Routledge, 2022). Another area of interest is critical theory, especially psychoanalysis and Julia Kristeva's work on the body and desire in language, subjectivity, and the limits of representation. This includes how grief, depression, and trauma can find expression in the literary text. Related to these concerns is my ongoing study of the therapeutic effects of creative writing.   

My forthcoming book, Beyond Ekphrasis: Dynamic Interactions Between the Poet and the Image, is practice-led and focuses on developments in ekphrasis over the last two decades. 

I have published articles on Ted Hughes, Wilfred Owen, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Seamus Heaney, Michael Symmons Roberts, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

Research groups

I am an active member of the following research groups: 

Contemporary Cultures of Writing (https://www5.open.ac.uk/arts/research/contemporary-cultures-of-writing/)

Open Ecologies (https://fass.open.ac.uk/research/groups/open-ecologies)

Creative Interactions (https://fass.open.ac.uk/research/groups/creative-interactions)

Health and the Arts (https://fass.open.ac.uk/research/groups/health-and-arts)

Gender and Otherness in the Humanities (https://fass.open.ac.uk/research/centres/goth)

Digital Humanities (https://www5.open.ac.uk/arts/research/digital-humanities/?nocache=65aff686647cf)

Open Thanatology (https://wels.open.ac.uk/research/open-thanatology)

Teaching interests

I teach the following modules:

A111: Discovering the Arts and Humanities

A112: Cultures

A215: Creative Writing

A233: Telling Stories: The Novel and Beyond

A335: Literature in Transition

A363: Advanced Creative Writing

Impact and engagement

I am a creative writing tutor. This has included poetry workshops in partnership with the University of Cambridge, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Museum, the Poetry School, Imagine Festival, Bloomsbury Festival, City Lit, and Lancashire Libraries. I am also an editor and mentor to creative writers working towards poetry collections and other projects. 

My approach to ekphrasis is considered innovative and influential by poets including Helen Mort and Tamar Yoseloff. My contribution to developments in prose poetry and ekphrasis is recognised by Paul Hetherington and Cassandra Atherton.

I have articles in Axon, Writing in Practice, Humanities MDPI, Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net, Angelaki, Mystics Quarterly, Brief Encounters, and The Conversation.

I also write for OpenLearn:

Mastering our fear of death with the Jack-o'-lantern: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/mastering-our-fear-death-the-jack-o-lantern

The healing power of nature writing: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/the-healing-power-nature-writing

External collaborations

I am serving on the NAWE Higher Education Committee and Writing in Practice Editorial Board (2025-2028)

Papers presented at the following conferences: National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE), Great Writing, AHRC doctoral training partnership, Cambridge, CHASE Creative Writing Residency, and Contemporary Cultures of Writing

Senior Fellowship, Advance HE (2024-present) 

Reviewer for Literary Studies and Creative Writing, Bloomsbury Publishing (2023-present)

Funded by the AHRC for MA and PhD, University of Manchester (2002-2007)

Funded by the Henry Plummer Postgraduate Scholarship, University of Manchester (2003-2004)

International links

I have poems published in magazines and journals such as Meniscus, The Marrow, Nimrod, Poetry Ireland Review, Belfast Review, Southword, Poetry Salzburg, Berlin Lit, Madrid Review, Columbia Journal, The Dodge, West Trade Review, The Waxed Lemon, The Four Faced Liar, Abridged, Untethered, and The Worcester Review.