Mr Jonathan Macho
(he/him)
BA and MA (Cardiff)
Research Student/Graduate Tutor
Overview
My Full-time Creative Writing PhD began in October 2021. It will be my third qualification at Cardiff, following a First-Class Honours degree in English Literature in 2015 and a Masters in Creative Writing with Distinction in 2021, and I am excited to work with the department who have played such a big part in the development of my writing practice.
Under the supervision of Dr Abigail Parry and Dr Lisa El Refaie, I am attempting to recreate what I love about the medium of comics in a prose piece, demonstrating the versatility and vitality of both mediums in the process. My research touches on comics studies, remediation, social semiotics and experimental literature.
Within ENCAP, I am a PGR tutor working with first year students. I have a substantial number of creative publications to my name in a multitude of formats, and my PhD work has been featured in the Doctoral Academy's Images of Research exhibition two years consecutively (2021/22).
Research
My research interests include comics, animation, remediation, social semiotics and experimental literature. They heavily infomed my review of the film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) for the blog Fantasy Animation, which is my first academic publication, and a helpful starting point for anyone who would like to know more about my PhD work.
I have also reviewed several comics publications and interviewed numerous comics writers and artists along with my fellow PhD Sophie Buchaillard as part of our podcast Writers on Reading. A playlist of those interviews can be found here.
A list of creative writing publications follow.
Novel and Novella
- The Lucy Wilson Mysteries - The Serpent's Tongue (2020) Candy Jar Books
- The Lucy Wilson Mysteries - The Ballad of the Borad (2022) Candy Jar Books
Anthology Contributions
- To Hull and Back Short Story Anthologies (2015, 2016 and 2018)
- Lethbridge Stewart - The HAVOC Files 04 (2017) Candy Jar Books
- Cheval Anthologies 10, 12 and 13 (2017, 2018 and 2019) Parthian Books
- The Lucy Wilson Mysteries - Lockdown (2020) Candy Jar Books
- UNIT - Operation Wildcat and Other Stories (2022) Candy Jar Books
Literary Magazines
- 404 INK Issues 1, 3 and 4 (2016 and 2018)
Comics
- Dogbreath #38 (2019) Futurequake Press
- Black's Myth #4 (2021) Ahoy Comics
Digital Short Stories
- 'Never Touch' in Anthology One: Together and Apart (2020) Square Wheel Press
- 'Mushroom Gothic' in Murmurations (2021)
- 'Running Through the End of the World' for Full House Literary (2022)
Writing for Wales Arts Review
Teaching
I am currently a Graduate Tutor teaching seminars in the Year 1 English Literature modules Creative Reading (Autumn) and Creative Writing (Spring). I am completing my Associate Fellowship and have taught the Critical Reading and Writing Module previously.
Research themes
Specialisms
- Comics
- Remediation
- Short story
- Computer gaming and animation
- Children’s literature