Alexander Cothren
Lecturer
College of Business, Creative Arts, Law and Social Sciences
Alex Cothren is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Flinders University. He is a winner of the Carmel Bird, William van Dyke, Griffith Review Emerging Voices and Peter Carey Awards for short fiction. His short story collection, Playing Nice Was Getting Me Nowhere, was short-listed for an Aurealis Award. His research focuses include climate fiction, humour and satire, and arts for wellbeing. His research has been published in Q1 journals including New Writing, TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, and Journal of Australian Studies and he has co-authored two reports on arts and health: Telling the Story of Arts and Health in South Australia (2022) and What Does an Arts and Health Organisation Do? (2024). Alex is a firm believer in the power of the arts to change lives.
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor of Journalism
BA Hons (Creative Writing)
PhD (Creative Writing)
FICTION AWARDS
- 2025, Aurealis Award: Best Collection (Shortlisted)
- 2023, Griffith Review Emerging Voices (Winner)
- 2021, Speculate Prize (Shortlisted)
- 2021, William Van Dyke Short Story Prize (U.S.) (Winner)
- 2019, Peter Carey Short Story Award (Winner)
- 2013, Carmel Bird Award (Winner)
ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIPS, AWARDS AND GRANTS
- 2023, Arts and Health Alliance Research Grant, Arts and Health Alliance, Flinders University
- 2023, Assemblage Research Grant Scheme, Flinders University
- 2023, Casual Teaching Award
- 2022, College Research Grant Scheme, Flinders University
- 2022, Assemblage Centre for Creative Arts Next Level Research Grant, Flinders University
- 2021, Assemblage Centre for Creative Arts Research Grant, Flinders University
- 2021, APR Internship, Adelaide Fringe
- 2020, Australasian Humour Studies Network Scholarship
- 2020, CHASS Student Success Sub-Committee
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Alex teaches the Creative Writing topics CRWR1001: Writing Across Genres, CRWR1003: Creative Writing Pathways, CRWR2001: Editing and the Industry, and the Honours topic CREA7100: Understanding Research Methods. He is the Course Coordinator (with Sean Williams) of the Bachelor of Creative Writing. He is a committee member of the Assemblage Centre for Creative Arts Research.
- Creative writing, satire, humour, arts for wellbeing
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
South Australia | Northern Territory
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