
Dr Mimi Thebo
PhD (W.England), MA, BA
Current positions
Reader in Creative Writing
Department of English
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I write narratives for young teens - mainly about recovering from trauma and about our connection to a natural world that has been compromised and mediated by human activities. My stories are hopeful, but realistic and are centred on the life of the family. I have been nominated and short-listed for many literary prizes and was nominated for the Carnegie medal in both 2017 and 2018.
Reviews of my work have said:
'...captures an authentic teen voice...the writing is hauntingly beautiful.'
The Bookbag
'Empathetic, vivid and humane...'
Sunday Times
'A skilled storyteller...'
Publishers Weekly
'Not for the faint-hearted... expert rite-of-passage...'
The Observer
'...movingly explores the interconnectedness of our minds, bodies, spirituality and physical environment...'
BookTrust
I also write and research about Creative Writing pedagogy in the academy and am interested in how Creative Writing can work with other disciplines to express complex concepts or scenarios.
I would be interested in supervising/co supervising PhD research in Creative Writing, particularly work which tells stories towards a more just world - particularly towards climate justice - and considers questions of identity, authenticity and representation.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
The Climate Crisis: What Best Hope To Tell Now?
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
Authors, scientists and academics discover how to use storytelling to help people and communities prepare for the climate catastrophe.Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
22/02/2022 to 26/07/2022
Maths Poems
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
A collaboration between mathematicians and poets to explore how they express barely expressible concepts, and how they might learn forms of expression from each other.Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/02/2019 to 01/07/2019
Thesis supervisions
Sky Song: Cosmopolitanism and Authorial Identity in a Thai Writer’s YA Fiction
Supervisors
Sky Song: Cosmopolitanism and Authorial Identity in a Thai Writer’s YA Fiction
Supervisors
The Sound of Silencing
Supervisors
Translating three Old English elegies for a new audience
Supervisors
Heaven and Nature Sing
Supervisors
Critical element: Anthropomorphism, humour and technology in children’s literature in the age of environmental crisis
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
27/04/2026The Emptying
The Emptying
Talking Tigers: Concepts of Representational Ethics Applied to Non-Human Characters in Writing Children's Fiction
Leaf Journal
We Need to Teach About Lionel
Writing in Education
Whale Watching in Iceland
Literary Mama
Coyote Summer
Coyote Summer