Dr Lucy Burns
Liverpool Screen School
Faculty of Arts Professional and Social Studies
Email: L.A.Burns@ljmu.ac.uk
Lucy Burns joined LJMU as a Senior Lecturer in Prose in 2024. She has previously taught at Teesside University and the University of Manchester, and has worked in editorial roles at Manchester University Press and The Manchester Review.
Her first book, Larger than an Orange, was published by Chatto & Windus in 2021. It was named a 2021 Sunday Times Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the 2022 Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award.
Lucy is currently working on a creative non-fiction book about the US liberal arts college, Black Mountain College, and a novel about alien abduction.
Degrees
2019, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, PhD English Literature and American Studies
2013, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, MA Post-1900 Literatures, Theories, and Cultures
2012, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, BA (Hons) English Literature
Academic appointments
Senior Lecturer in Prose, Liverpool John Moores University, 2024 - present
Lecturer in Creative Writing, Teesside University, 2022 - 2024
Lecturer in English Literature, University of Manchester, 2019 - 2019
Journal article
Burns L. 2021. Why I wrote a book about the untold reality of abortion Harper's Bazaar, Publisher Url
Burns L. 2020. “Creative Writing […] has a place in the curriculum”: Robert Wunsch at Black Mountain College, 1933-43 Journal of Black Mountain College Studies, 11 Publisher Url Public Url
Burns L, Whalley C. 2018. Positions of Cuteness in Post-Internet Poetry Publisher Url
Books (authored)
Burns L. 2021. Larger Than an Orange Chatto & Windus 9781784744410
Internet publication
Burns L. 2021. Writing that changed the way I think about abortion Publisher Url
Book review
Burns L. 2017. Four pamphlets from If a Leaf Falls press The Manchester Review, Publisher Url
Burns L, Coles C. 2017. Penguin Modern Poets One: If I'm Scared We Can't Win The Manchester Review, Publisher Url
Burns L. 2017. Rachael Allen & Marie Jacotey, 'Nights of Poor Sleep' The Manchester Review, Publisher Url
Burns L. Jonathan Creasy, 'The Black Mountain Letters: Poems & Essays' PN Review, 43 Publisher Url
Other invited event:
University of Oxford, https://oclw.web.ox.ac.uk/event/public-lecture-lucy-burns-writing-abortion-reflections-on-larger-than-an-orange, Public Lecture: Writing Abortion: Reflections on "Larger than an Orange". 2025
University of Oxford, https://oclw.web.ox.ac.uk/event/masterclass-writing-shame-nazel-gazing-subversion-and-subterfuge, Writing Masterclass: Writing Shame: Navel Gazing, Subversion, and Subterfuge. 2025
School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Law, Teesside University, Departmental talk, 'It's All Currency': Sam Riviere and the writing workshop. 2022
Birkbeck, University of London, Invited talk, Black Mountain Pedagogy: Anni Albers and Charles Olson. 2019
School of Arts, Languages, and Cultures, University of Manchester, Departmental talk, Claudia Rankine and the racial imaginary. 2019
University of Sheffield, Invited talk, Hilda Morley and M.C. Richards. 2019
John Rylands Research Institute, Invited talk, Charles Olson and Henry Murray: The Poet and the Personologist. 2018
School of Arts, Languages, and Cultures, University of Manchester, Departmental talk, Black Mountain College in the Program Era. 2018
Conference presentation:
Oral presentation, University of Manchester, NCRM Innovation Forum: Creative Writing and Social Science Research, Private language: Some approaches to writing about abortion. 2024
Oral presentation, John Rylands Research Institute, Poetry's Institutions? Careers and the Modern Poet, On Black Mountain: The rise and fall of interdisciplinary institutions. 2023
Oral presentation, University of East Anglia, Futures for Creative Writing, Sam Riviere and the writing programme. 2021
Oral presentation, King's College London, The European and British Association for American Studies Conference, M.C. Richards's pedagogies. 2018
Oral presentation, John Rylands Research Institute, Archival Afterlives: Post-war Poetry in English, Reading Olson's Archive: The Olson-Murray Correspondence. 2017
Oral presentation, University of North Carolina, Asheville, ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 8, Charles Olson and Henry Murray: Projective Verse and the Projective Test. 2016
Oral presentation, Goldsmiths, University of London, The Place for Poetry, Internet Poetry and Cuteness: Steve Roggenbuck, Cassandra Gillig, Harry Burke, Sam Riviere. 2015
Oral presentation, University of Manchester, Contemporary British and Irish Poetry Conference, Sam Riviere and 81 Austerities. 2013
Media Coverage:
'The four best young writers today – but who will win our prize?,' The Sunday Times 2023
'Reviewed in Short: Lucy Burns,' New Statesman 2021
'It’s not just the right who can admit feeling uncomfortable about ending a pregnancy,' The Guardian 2021
'20 best biography and memoir books 2021,' The Sunday Times 2021
'Larger Than an Orange by Lucy Burns review — a poignant account of an abortion,' The Sunday Times 2021
'Lucy Burns breaks taboo on abortion with a book of ‘pure anger and hatred’', The Sunday Times 2021
'Book Review: Larger than an Orange by Lucy Burns,' The Week 2021
Conference organisation:
Co-organiser, Poetry's Institutions? Careers and the Modern Poet, John Rylands Research Institute. 2023
Panel co-organiser, Creative Writing and Poetry: The Changing Contexts of Poetry in England, English: Shared Futures. 2022
Panel co-organiser, Redefining Black Mountain Poetry: Before and After Olson, The European and British Association for American Studies Conference. 2018
Other Professional Activity:
Public reading, Waterstones Piccadilly. 2023
Public reading, The Portico Library. 2021
Teaching qualification:
Fellow, Advance HE. 2019
Associate Fellow, Advance HE. 2016