Alex Niven Explained

Alex Niven (born 18 February 1984, Hexham, Northumberland) is an English writer, poet, editor, and former musician.[1]

He is also currently a Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University[2] and an editor at Repeater Books.[3]

Early life and education

Alex Niven was born in Hexham, Northumberland.

Career

In 2006, Niven was a founding member of the indie band Everything Everything, with friends from Queen Elizabeth High School and played guitar with the band between 2007 and 2009.[4] In 2009, he left the band to study for a doctorate[5] at St John's College, Oxford and to pursue a writing career.

Formerly assistant editor at New Left Review[6] and editor-in-chief at The Oxonian Review, Niven wrote for The Guardian, The Independent, openDemocracy, Agenda, The Cambridge Quarterly, English Literary History, Oxford Poetry, Notes and Queries, The Quietus, a number of collective blogs, in addition to his own blog The Fantastic Hope (2007-2017).

Work

In 2011, Niven's first work of criticism, Folk Opposition, was published by Zero Books. The book attempted to reclaim a variety of folk culture motifs for the political left, and excoriated the "Green Tory" zeitgeist that had accompanied the ascendancy of David Cameron's Conservative Party in Britain in 2009-10. Writing in the journal of the Institute for Public Policy Research, Niki Seth-Smith described it as a "rebuttal to ... knee jerk reactions [about folk culture] by way of careful historicisation and incisive cultural analysis",[7] while Joe Kennedy of The Quietus described it as "one of 2011's most incisive polemics".[8]

In 2014, his second book, a study of the Oasis album Definitely Maybe, was published in Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series.[9] The Times Literary Supplement praised its "convincing modulation between a discussion of the post-Thatcher north-west England that informed Oasis's early lyrics, and the finer points of pentatonic and mixolydian melody governing Noel Gallagher's early songwriting".[10] LA Review of Books reviewer Rhian E. Jones judged the book a success, concluding that "Niven displays a thorough appreciation of what made Oasis good while remaining aware of their shortcomings".[11]

In 2014, his first collection of poetry, The Last Tape, was published, and his poem "The Beehive" provided the epigraph to Owen Hatherley's 2012 architecture survey A New Kind of Bleak.[12]

In 2019, his third book was published: New Model Island: How to Build a Radical Culture beyond the idea of England.[13]

Contributing articles

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Farrell. William. Folk Opposition (interview and profile/caricature of Alex Niven). 30 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121019172251/http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/folk_opposition. 19 October 2012. dead.
  2. Web site: Staff Profile - English Literature, Language and Linguistics - Newcastle University. www.ncl.ac.uk. 2017-08-18.
  3. News: Team. 2014-11-25. Repeater Books. 2017-10-03. en-GB. https://web.archive.org/web/20171003182331/http://repeaterbooks.com/team/. 2017-10-03. dead.
  4. News: Everything Everything's sounding great for Tynedale band. https://archive.today/20130420154553/http://haltwhistle.journallive.co.uk/2009/05/everything-everythings-soundin.html. dead. April 20, 2013. 25 October 2012. The Journal (Newcastle). 19 May 2009.
  5. Web site: Cutterham. Tom. Politics beyond Dalston: An Interview with Alex Niven. Review 31. 13 April 2013.
  6. Web site: About . newleftreview.org . . 17 December 2014 .
  7. Seth-Smith. Niki. Review of Alex Niven's Folk Opposition. PPR (Public Policy Research). 16 May 2012. 19. 1. 78.
  8. Web site: Kennedy. Joe. Big Society, Little Hope: False Folk Culture in 2011. The Quietus. 25 October 2012.
  9. Web site: Aphex Twin, Oasis, Bjork, J Dilla headline new series of 33 1/3 books. FACT Magazine. 26 October 2012.
  10. Charlton. Joe. Oasis' Definitely Maybe. Times Literary Supplement. July 18, 2014. 27.
  11. Web site: Jones. Rhian E.. Living Fast: Revisiting Oasis' Definitely Maybe. lareviewofbooks.org. 17 December 2014.
  12. Book: Hatherley, Owen . A New Kind of Bleak . 2012 . Verso . London . 9781844678570 . (epigraph page).
  13. News: Michael J. Brooks . 2019-12-19 . Not Looking For A New England: Alex Niven's New Model Island . en-us . The Quietus . 2020-05-23.
  14. Web site: Covid-19 is helping the Tories redraw the political map of England Alex Niven . . 28 September 2020 . en . 21 September 2020.