Alex Niven (born 18 February 1984,
Hexham, Northumberland
Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the adminis ...
) is an English writer, poet, editor, and former musician.
He is a also currently a Lecturer in English Literature at
Newcastle University and an editor at
Repeater Books
Repeater Books is a publishing imprint based in London, founded in 2014 by Tariq Goddard and Mark Fisher, formerly the founders of radical publishers Zero Books, along with Etan Ilfeld, Tamar Shlaim, Alex Niven and Matteo Mandarini.
Formation ...
.
Early life and education
Alex Niven was born in
Hexham, Northumberland
Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the adminis ...
.
Career
In 2006, Niven was a founding member of the indie band
Everything Everything
Everything Everything are an English art rock band from Manchester that formed in late 2007. Noted for their eclectic sound and complex, sociopolitical lyrics, the band have released six albums to date – 2010's '' Man Alive'', 2013's '' Arc'' ...
, with friends from
Queen Elizabeth High School and played guitar with the band between 2007 and 2009.
In 2009, he left the band to study for a doctorate
at
St John's College, Oxford and to pursue a writing career.
Formerly assistant editor at ''
New Left Review
The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal covering world politics, economy, and culture, which was established in 1960.
History Background
As part of the British "New Left" a number of new journals emerged to carry commentary on m ...
'' and editor-in-chief at
The Oxonian Review
''The Oxonian Review'' is a literary magazine produced by postgraduate students at the University of Oxford. Every fortnight during term time, an online edition is published featuring reviews and essays on current affairs and literature. It is t ...
, Niven wrote for
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
,
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
,
openDemocracy
openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...
,
Agenda
Agenda may refer to:
Information management
* Agenda (meeting), points to be discussed and acted upon, displayed as a list
* Political agenda, the set of goals of an ideological group
* Lotus Agenda, a DOS-based personal information manager
* Pers ...
,
The Cambridge Quarterly,
English Literary History,
Oxford Poetry
''Oxford Poetry'' is a literary magazine based in Oxford, England. It is currently edited by Luke Allan. The magazine is published by Partus Press.
Founded in 1910 by Basil Blackwell, its editors have included Dorothy L. Sayers, Aldous Huxley ...
,
Notes and Queries
''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...
,
The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
, 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
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 and is an independent registered charity. IPPR has offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Funding comes from ...
, Niki Seth-Smith described it as a "rebuttal to ... knee jerk reactions
bout folk cultureby way of careful historicisation and incisive cultural analysis",
while Joe Kennedy of
The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
described it as "one of 2011's most incisive polemics".
In 2014, his second book, a study of the
Oasis album ''
Definitely Maybe
''Definitely Maybe'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Oasis, released by Creation Records on 29 August 1994. Oasis booked Monnow Valley Studio near Rockfield in late 1993 to record the album and worked with producer Dave Batchel ...
'', was published in
Bloomsbury's
33⅓ series. The
Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
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".
LA Review of Books
The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
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".
In 2014, his first collection of poetry, ''The Last Tape'', was published, and his poem "The Beehive" provided the epigraph to
Owen Hatherley
Owen Hatherley (born 24 July 1981 in Southampton, England) is a British writer and journalist based in London who writes primarily on architecture, politics and culture.
Early life
Hatherley was born in Southampton in 1981, growing up in a 1930s ...
's 2012 architecture survey ''A New Kind of Bleak''.
In 2019, his third book was published: ''New Model Island: How to Build a Radical Culture beyond the idea of England''.
;Contributing articles
*'Covid-19 is helping the Tories redraw the political map of England', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 21 September 2020
References
External links
''The Fantastic Hope'' Blog from 2007-2017
Interview in Review 31 not dated.
''Guardian'' author page.Sukhdev Sandhu's interview-profile of Zero Books authors in ''The Guardian'' February 17, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niven, Alex
1984 births
Living people
British male writers
Writers from Hexham