Dr Ashley Chantler
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Dr Ashley Chantler is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Programme Leader of MA Creative Writing: Writing and Publishing Fiction. He has research and teaching expertise in English Literature, Creative Writing, editing, and publishing. He is founding co-director of the International Flash Fiction Association, co-editor of Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine and Flash: The International Short-Short Story Press, and founding director of the University's creative-writing hub Pandora's Box.
Teaching and Supervision
• Contemporary literature. • Twentieth-century literature. • Writing, editing and publishing poetry. • Writing, editing and publishing flash fiction and novellas-in-flash. • Writing, editing and publishing short stories, novellas and novels. Dr Chantler is principal supervisor of two creative writing PhDs: a flash-fiction collection and a novella-in-flash.
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Dr Chantler’s research interests are focused on twentieth-century and contemporary literature, including Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, modernism, Harold Pinter, flash fiction, and textual editing. He is author of Heart of Darkness (2008). His work on Ford Madox Ford includes essays on Ford’s poetry and co-edited volumes for Ashgate, Rodopi, and Edinburgh University Press. Other co-edited volumes include: Translation Practices: Through Language to Culture (2009); Studying English Literature (2010); and Literature and Authenticity, 1780–1900 (2011). He was the founder and general editor of Continuum’s Character Studies series, with monographs ranging from Hamlet and Twelfth Night to Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Dr Chantler’s work for the International Flash Fiction Association includes co-editing flash-fiction collections and anthologies and reviewing new publications. He is editor of An Anatomy of Chester: A Collection of Short-Short Stories (2007) and Gaps: A Record of Dementia (2024); and author of ‘Notes Towards the Definition of the Short-Short Story’ (2009) and ‘Why Flash Fiction?’. His creative writing includes In Praise of Paving (poetry collection; 2003), Nana and Grape (illustrated poem for children; 2004), and the novella He Is the Fire (2013). His flash fictions and poems have appeared in a range of online and print publications.