Professor Katie Gramich

BA (Wales) MA (London) PhD (Alberta)

Emerita Professor

School of English, Communication and Philosophy

: gramichk@cardiff.ac.uk
: +44 (0)29 2087 5622
: 1.13, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

: Welsh speaking
: Available for postgraduate supervision

My research is in the area of English Literature.

I specialise in the literatures of Wales in comparative contexts. Much of my research has been concerned with the recuperation of neglected or forgotten women writers, and the incorporation of their work into a developing canon of modern Welsh writing. My doctoral work was on Caribbean poetry in English, Spanish, and French and, though I no longer teach in this area, I am still fascinated by comparison across languages and cultures, including between Welsh and English in Wales. Feminism is central to my work, but I have also drawn on post-colonial theory and, more recently, on theories of space and place. I am also interested in the theory and practice of literary translation, which I regard as a creative process in its own right.

Katie Gramich is originally from Ceredigion in West Wales and was educated at the Universities of Aberystwyth, King's College London, and Alberta. She has lived in Spain, Canada, England, and Wales, and has a good knowledge of German, Spanish, Italian and French, as well as her native Welsh and English.

She is interested in comparative, feminist, and gender studies. With Professor Claire Connolly at University College Cork and Dr Paul O'Leary at Aberystwyth University, she runs the Wales-Ireland Research Network.

2019

Gramich, K. 2019. Travel, translation and temperance: the origins of the Welsh novel. In: Evans, G. and Fulton, H. eds. The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Gramich, K. 2019. "You have a Welsh name, are you Welsh" he asked. " don't know," I replied":: Lynette Roberts and elective Welsh identity. In: McAvoy, S. ed. Locating Lynette Roberts: ‘Always Observant and Slightly Obscure'. Writing Wales in English Cardiff: University of Wales Press
Gramich, K. 2019. National transitions: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In: Plain, G. ed. British Literature in Transition, 1940-1960: Postwar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 85-100., (10.1017/9781316340530.006)

2017

Gramich, K. 2017. Internal empire. In: Hanson, C. and Watkins, S. eds. The History of British Women's Writing, 1945-1975: Volume Nine. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 176-191.
Gramich, K. Y. 2017. Llunio merched: cerddi ecffrastig gan feirdd benywaidd cyfoes. Y Traethodydd 2017(Jan), pp. 23-32.
Gramich, K. 2017. The works of Gwerful Mechain. Broadview Press.
Gramich, K. Y. 2017. Internal Empire. In: Watkins, S. and Hanson, C. eds. The History of British Women's Writing, vol IX 1945-1975., Vol. 9. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 176-191.

2016

Gramich, K. Y. 2016. Welsh poetry since 1945. In: Larrissy, E. ed. British Poetry, 1945-2010. Cambridge University, pp. 163-177.
Gramich, K. Y. 2016. Llwyfen Grin. Taliesin - Yr Academi Gymreig.

2015

Gramich, K. Y. 2015. Dwy Gymraes, Dwy Gymru: Hanes Bywyd a Gwaith Gwyneth Vaughan a Sara Maria Saunders, gan Rosanne Reeves; Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2014 [Book Review]. Llên Cymru 38(1), pp. 106-108.

2013

Gramich, K. Y. 2013. 'Still linked to those others': Landscape and language in post-war Welsh poetry. In: Alexander, N. and Cooper, D. eds. Poetry and Geography: Space and Place in Post-war Poetry. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 61-74.
Gramich, K. Y. 2013. Rediscovering Margiad Evans: marginality, gender and illness. Gender Studies in Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

2012

Gramich, K. Y. 2012. Caught in the triple net? Welsh, Scottish, and Irish women writers 1920-1945. In: Joannou, M. ed. The History of British Women’s Writing 1920-1945., Vol. 8. The History of British Women’s Writing London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 217-232.
Roberts, K. 2012. Feet in chains.Gramich, K. Y. Parthian.

2011

Gramich, K. Y. 2011. 'Every hill has its history, every region its romance’: Travellers’ constructions of Wales, 1844–1913. In: Colbert, B. ed. Travel Writing and Tourism in Britain and Ireland. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 135-151.
Gramich, K. Y. 2011. Elizabeth Mary Jones (Moelona). In: Matthew, H. C. G. and Harrison, B. eds. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (10.1093/ref:odnb/101144)
Gramich, K. Y. 2011. Kate Roberts. Writers of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Gramich, K. ed. 2011. Almanac: Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English. Cardigan: Parthian.

2010

Gramich, K. Y. ed. 2010. Mapping the Territory: Critical Approaches to Welsh Fiction in English. Cardigan: Parthian Books.
Gramich, K. Y. 2010. 'Those blue remembered hills': gender in twentieth-century Welsh border writing by men. In: Aaron, J., Altink, H. and Weedon, C. eds. Gendering Border Studies. Gender Studies in Wales Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 142-164.
Gramich, K. Y. 2010. Margiad Evans's Journal in Ireland. New Welsh Review 89, pp. 61-70.
Gramich, K. Y. 2010. Lost Boys, Lost Language: Leslie Norris and Welsh Bardic Traditions. Literature and Belief 29/30(1), pp. 49-64.
Gramich, K. Y. 2010. Afterword: translating Shakespeare. In: Malley, W. and Schwyzer, P. eds. Shakespeare and Wales: From the Marches to the Assembly. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 211-219.
Gramich, K. Y. ed. 2010. Almanac: Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English. Cardigan: Parthian Books.

2009

Gramich, K. and Connolly, C. 2009. Introduction: Special Issue: Irish and Welsh Writing. Irish Studies Review 17(1), pp. 1-4. (10.1080/09670880802658083)
Gramich, K. Y. 2009. Creating and Destroying 'The Man Who Does Not Exist': The Peasantry and Modernity in Welsh and Irish Writing. Irish Studies Review 17(1), pp. 19-30. (10.1080/09670880802658117)
Gramich, K. Y. 2009. Jarvis, Matthew: Welsh environments in contemporary poetry -160pp, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2008, Paperback, £16.00, ISBN 978-0708321522 [Book Review]. New Welsh Review 83, pp. 71-72.
Gramich, K. Y. 2009. Dilworth, Thomas: Reading David Jones - 256pp, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2008, Paperback, £20.00, ISBN:9780708320549 [Book Review]. The Times Literary Supplement 5530, pp. 26-27.
Owen, T. 2009. The London Kelt 1895-1914: performing Welshness, imagining Wales. In: Gramich, K. ed. Almanac: Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English., Vol. 13. Almanac Cardigan: Parthian Books, pp. 109-125.
Connolly, C. A. and Gramich, K. Y. 2009. Ireland and Wales. Irish Studies Review : special issue 17(2)
Gramich, K. ed. 2009. Almanac: The Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English. Vol. 13. Cardigan: Parthian.
Connolly, C. A. and Gramich, K. Y. 2009. Introduction. Irish Studies Review 17(1), pp. 1-4.
Gramich, K. Y. 2009. Cydymaith y Cymro cyffredin. Taliesin 137, pp. 137-139.

2008

Gramich, K. Y. ed. 2008. The captain’s wife. Dinas Powys: Honno Press.
Gramich, K. Y. ed. 2008. The heyday in the blood. Cardigan: Parthian Press.
Gramich, K. Y. ed. 2008. Almanac: The Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English. Cardigan: Parthian.

2007

Gramich, K. Y. 2007. Welsh women writers and war. In: Curtis, T. ed. Wales at War: Critical Essays on Literature and Art. Bridgend: Seren, pp. 122-141.
Gramich, K. Y. 2007. Twentieth-century women's writing in Wales: land, gender, belonging. Gender Studies in Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

2004

Gramich, K. Y. 2004. Extravagant and wheeling strangers: Dylan Thomas, Derek Walcott and the house of English literature. In: Daniel, W. and Alyce, v. R. eds. Beyond the Difference: Welsh Literature in Comparative Contexts. University of Wales Press, pp. 237-251.

2003

Gramich, K. Y. 2003. Mirror games: self and (m)other in the poetry of R.S. Thomas. In: Walford Davies, D. ed. Echoes to the Amen: Essays after R. S. Thomas. Achievement of R.S. Thomas Vol. 1. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 132-148.
Gramich, K. and Brennan, C. eds. 2003. Welsh women's poetry 1460-2001: an anthology.Gramich, K. and Brennan, C. Dinas Powys: Honno Press.

2001

Gramich, K. Y. 2001. Stripping off the 'civilized body': Lawrence nostalgie de la boue in Lady Chatterly's Lover. In: Poplawski, P. ed. Writing the Body in D.H. Lawrence: Essays on Language, Representation, and Sexuality. Contributions to the Study of World Literature Praeger Publishers, pp. 149-161.
Gramich, K. Y. 2001. Daughters of darkness: Dylan Thomas and the celebration of the female. In: Goodby, J. and Wigginton, C. eds. Dylan Thomas. New Casebooks Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 65-84.
Gramich, K. Y. 2001. The masquerade of gender in the stories of Rhys Davies. In: Meic, S. ed. Rhys Davies: Decoding the Hare. University of Wales Press, pp. 205-215.

1998

Gramich, K. and Hiscock, A. eds. 1998. Dangerous diversity: The changing faces of Wales: essays in honour of Tudor Bevan. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

1997

Gramich, K. 1997. Cymru or Wales? Explorations in a divided sensibility. In: Bassnett, S. ed. Studying British Cultures. New Accents London: Routledge, pp. 97-112.

Modules taught include 'Early Twentieth-Century Poetry', 'Modern Welsh Writing in English', and 'Modern and Contemporary Women's Poetry', on the BA in English Literature and 'Welsh Fiction' and 'A Journey into Travel Writing' on the MA in English Literature.

My research to date has focused on a) rediscovering neglected Welsh women writers and bringing their work back into the public domain and b) bringing comparative and feminist perspectives to bear on wide a range of twentieth-century literature.

Research interests

the literatures of Wales
twentieth-century poetry in the British Isles
women's writing
comparative literature
Modernism and marginality
travel writing
literary translation

Postgraduate students

I would welcome applications from potential postgraduate students interested in any of the above areas.

You are welcome to contact me in Welsh, if you wish / Mae croeso i chwi gysylltu â mi yn y Gymraeg, os dymunwch.

My current PGR students are Elinor Shepley (working on the representation of old age in Welsh fiction in English), Nathan Munday (working on the religious tradtion in Welsh poetry from Pantycelyn to David Jones) and Seth Armstrong-Twigg (working on an ecocritical analysis of mining literature from Wales).

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas:

the literatures of Wales - all periods, both languages
women's writing
literary translation
modern poetry in the British Isles
postcolonial and feminist approaches to modern literature

I am happy to supervise research written in Welsh or English; supervisions can be in either language (or both!)/Rwy'n hapus iawn i gyfarwyddo ymchwil yn y Gymraeg neu'r Saesneg; gall ein cyfarfodydd bod yn y naill iaith neu'r llall (neu yn y ddwy!)

Past projects

Lucy Thomas, 'The Fiction of Hilda Vaughan: Negotiating the Boundaries of Welsh Identity' (2008)

Stephen Hendon, 'Slaves of the Successful Century?: Ideas of Identity in Joseph Conrad and Alun Lewis' (2010)

Laura Wainwright, 'New Territories in Modernism: Anglophone Welsh Writing 1930-1949' (2010) Published by the University of Wales Press under the same title 2018.

Tomos Owen, 'London-Welsh Writing 1890-1915: Ernest Rhys, Arthur Machen, W. H. Davies and Caradoc Evans' (2011)

Elidir Jones, 'Nationalism and Welsh Writing in Comparative Contexts, 1925-1966' (2011)

Michelle Deiniger, 'Short Fiction by Women from Wales: A Neglected Tradition' (2013)

Catherine Phelps, '[Dis]solving Genres: Arguing the Case for Welsh Crime Fiction' (2013)

Emma Schofield, 'Independent Wales? The Impact of Devolution on Welsh Fiction in English' (2014)

Jihan Zakarriya Mahmoud, 'Decontruction of Different Forms of Apartheid in Edward Said, J. M. Coetzee, and Jabra Ibrahim Jabra' (2014)

(Co-supervisor 50%) Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, 'Newydd Gân a Luniodd i'w Genedl': Agweddau ar Geltigrwydd T. Gwynn Jones a W. B. Yeats, 1890-1925' (2014)

(Co-supervisor 50%) Lisa Sheppard, 'O'r Gymru 'Ddu' i'r Ddalen 'Wen': Darllen Amlddiwylliannedd ac Aralledd o'r Newydd yn Ffuglen Gyfoes De Cymru er 1990' (2015) Cyhoeddwyd gan Wasg Prifysgol Cymru yn 2018.

Peter Kerry Morgan, 'Impersonality and the Extinction of Self: A Comparison of the Poetry of Keith Douglas and Alun Lewis' (2015)

I have also acted as an active second supervisor for a number of PhD candidates in Creative Writing.