Personal statement

I'm a nature writer and literary ecocritic. Cold Blood, my nature writing memoir about the British reptiles and amphibians, their meanings and my fascination with them dating from childhood, was published by Chatto and Windus in May 2014.

My nature writing has also been published in BBC Wildlife, Granta Online and Poetry Review. I received the BBC Wildlife Award for Nature Writing in 1990 and 1991, and the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors for 2012.

I direct MA Creative Writing and co-ordinate research and postgraduate studies in the School of Creative Industries, representing the school on the university Research, Scholarship and Consultancy Committee, co-ordinating REF preparation, advising the HOS on the allocation of research funds, and advising staff on all research matters.

I've supervised to successful completion seven PhDs in English Literature and Creative Writing.

"Cold Blood shows us how much is to be gained from studying nature. A book that persuades anyone to try sampling life at first-hand rather than at second is much to be welcomed."

Steve Jones, Sunday Telegraph

"As a memoir, Cold Blood has the feel of a minor classic. It is exquisite. As a piece of nature writing, it is also rich, subtle and shot through with quiet passion."

James McConnachie, Sunday Times

"In prose as effortless as a snake's progress, Richard Kerridge has written a wry, wise and refreshingly understated memoir."

Patrick Barkham, The Guardian

"Cold Blood casts an unexpected but beautiful love-light across ordinary England, and its uncaring reptiles and amphibians."

Tim Dee, The Observer

"Subtle and meditative, lyrical and passionate"

Gavin Francis

"Simply wonderful. The natural history book I have been waiting for"

Brett Westwood

"A mix of memoir, science writing and hymn to nature, this will propel Kerridge into the pantheon of great 21st-century nature writers. He tells the story of his fascination with reptiles and explains what it is to be cold blooded."

Patrick Neale, The Bookseller

"[A] perceptive memoir...Cold Blood is proof that an early infatuation with the natural world can lead to a lifetime of wonder"

Barbara Kiser, Nature

"Perceptive and original... Kerridge writes vividly of the natural world"

Gerard Henderson, Daily Express

"[A] perceptive memoir... Cold Blood is proof that an early infatuation with the natural world can lead to a lifetime of wonder"

Pete Dommett, BBC Wildlife

  • BA (Hons) University of Cambridge
  • MA University of Cambridge
  • PGCE University of Sussex

Professional memberships

  • Elected to the Executive Committee of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), December 2005. Stood by invitation for election to Vice-Presidency, 2007 (not elected).
  • Chair, ASLE-UK, 1999-2004. Treasurer.
  • Invited member, English Subject Centre Focus Group (Creative Writing).
  • Member, ESC/NAWE steering committee for A-Level Creative Writing, 2006.

Teaching specialisms

  • Ecocriticism, writing and environmentalism, nature writing
  • Contemporary novels and poetry
  • Writing and politics
  • Creative writing, especially prose fiction and nature writing
  • The writer and place
  • Practical criticism and close reading
  • Literary theory
  • Modernism and postmodernism

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce