Val Nolan
Writer. Joined LPP in 2021.
Val Nolan (Ph.D) lectures in genre fiction and creative writing at Aberystwyth University where he teaches modules on reading and writing science fiction, fantasy, and comics. His academic publications include ‘Nostalgia for Infinity: Hard Determinism and Hard Science in Alastair Reynolds’s Revelation Space Sequence’ in Science Fiction Studies (2019), ‘Break Free: Understanding, Reimagining, and Reclaiming Stories in Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory’ in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comic Books (2014), ‘Flann, Fantasy, and Science Fiction: O’Brien’s Surprising Synthesis’ in the Flann O’Brien Centenary Issue of Review of Contemporary Fiction (2011), and ‘If it was Just Th’ol Book…: A History of the John McGahern Banning Controversy’ in Irish Studies Review (2011).
He has contributed to Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction and to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, as well as writing book reviews for many years for the Irish Examiner.
He has also published short stories in anthologies and magazines such as Year’s Best Science Fiction, Best of British Science Fiction, BFS Horizons, Unidentified Funny Objects, and the ‘Futures’ page of Nature. His story ‘The Irish Astronaut’ was shortlisted for the Theodore Sturgeon Award (2014), and his anti-fascist novelette ‘Make America Great Again’ appeared in Interzone (2020). He conducted his doctoral research on contemporary Irish fiction at National University of Ireland, Galway, and he attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop in 2009.
Twitter: @VallescuraRule