Carl Tighe

Carl Tighe was born in Handsworth, Birmingham. His father had emigrated from Ireland just before World War II and his mother was English.[1]

He started writing poems and short stories as a teenager, and had some published in Ambit magazine; an influence was J G Ballard and this led to him applying to study English literature at Swansea University where he graduated in 1973. He completed an MA in 1974 and taught for a month in Poland. However permanent work eluded him and he subsequently held a variety of low-paid jobs, including gutting and cleaning fish, working as a Red Coat at Butlin's and lavatory attendant at a mental hospital to get him by. During this time he got an offer to teach English in Poland and went to Wrocław and Gdańsk for two years on local contracts, taking the train through West and East Germany. He returned to Wales and after two years teaching night-classes at the Mid-Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, he returned to Poland from 1980 to 1981, where he taught at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków for the British Council and helped monitor foreign radio for Solidarność. Upon returning to Britain he moved to Cardiff and began writing plays for community theatre in Wales, script-reading for the BBC and writing a book on the history and culture of Gdańsk on the Polish-German frontier. He left Wales in 1988 to teach for the extramural department at Manchester University, where he taught English and English for Academic Purposes.[2][3]

He began his PhD studies in 1989 and was awarded his doctorate in 1994 with a theses exploring the responses of Polish writers toward Communism. It was partly examined by Norman Davies.

His first full time post was as a lecturer in English at the University of Derby in 1998, where in 2000 he led the UK's first undergraduate degree in Creative Writing and in 2004 he became the first Professor of Creative Writing in the country.[4][5]

During his career Tighe carried out research into writing in Poland, where he lived for three years, America, and Hungary and presented at conferences as far afield as Italy, Wales and Turkey. A favourite retreat was Rhodes. Tighe's research interests were primarily centred in Central European Literature and comparative politics, but he also wrote upon areas as diverse as the works of Heinrich Boll, Gunter Grass, Bret Easton Ellis, Stanislav Lem and Franz Six. Much of this work appeared in the Journal of European Studies.

In December 2018 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters from the University of Manchester for his contribution to the understanding of Polish literature, history and culture.

Tighe died on 8 May 2020, from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, twelve days after his 70th birthday.[6]

By the late 1990s he had written numerous plays and books. He had written for BBC Radio 4, Ambit, and many of his essays had appeared in the Journal of European Studies. His first book of short stories Rejoice was shortlisted for the Irish Times fiction award and he won the All-London Drama Award, 1988 for his stage play A Whisper in the Wind.[7][8]

Though he had been writing for some time, publishing a novel eluded him. After sending his novel, based on his time in Poland, to countless publishers and getting continuous rejections Tighe did not think his novel would ever hit the shelves. He had almost lost hope but then a small independent press published the novel which went on to earn nominations and awards. The novel, Burning Worm, was shortlisted for Whitbread Award, 2002 and won the Authors' Club Award, 2002.[9][10]

Tighe has had several awards and nominations for his writing

• A Whisper in the Wind, All-London Drama Award, 1988
• Gdańsk Nominated for the Silver PEN Award, 1991
• Rejoice! Nominated for the David Higham Award, 1992
• Rejoice! Shortlisted for The Irish Times Fiction Prize, November 1993
• Pax: Variations, Winner of City Life Writer of the Year 2000 Award
• Burning Worm Short-listed for Whitbread Award, 2002
• Burning Worm Winner of Authors' Club Award, 2002

• Official website
• Tighe in Worldcat
• Tighe in Sage Journals
• Tighe in Encyclopedia.com