James Christopher O'Sullivan (born May 1986) is an Irish writer, publisher, editor, and academic from Cork city. He is a university lecturer, the founding editor of

New Binary Press New Binary Press was an independent publishing house founded in 2012 in Cork city, Ireland. In a Tweet dated 19 January 2021, the New Binary Press announced that it had ceased operations. It published print books and electronic literature, speciali ...

, and the writer of three collections of poetry.

Career

Academia

O'Sullivan is involved in the study of Digital Humanities, and has an interest in computer-assisted text analysis and new media studies. He has held faculty positions at institutions such as

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

and the University of Sheffield. As of 2017, he was a lecturer at University College Cork, part of the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called ''university college, constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under t ...

. In 2019 he published ''Towards a Digital Poetics: Electronic Literature & Literary Games'' ( Palgrave Macmillan 2019). He has edited several academic volumes, including ''Reading Modernism with Machines'' ( Palgrave Macmillan 2016). He contributed to ''The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature'' edited by

Joseph Tabbi Joseph Tabbi (May 4, 1960) is a US literary scholar and theorist, notable for his contributions to the fields of American literature and electronic literature. He was the first scholar granted access to the archives of the reclusive novelist Willia ...

which received the 2018 N. Katherine Hayles Award for Criticism from the Electronic Literature Organization. He was shortlisted for the Fortier Prize for Digital Humanities research in 2014. O'Sullivan has published scholarly papers and essays in a number of peer-reviewed academic journals and books, including ''

Digital Scholarship in the Humanities ''Digital Scholarship in the Humanities'' is a peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified m ...

'' ( Oxford University Press), '' Leonardo'' ( The MIT Press), '' Digital Humanities Quarterly'', the '' International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing'' (

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

), ''Digital Studies/Le Champ Numérique'', and ''Literary Studies in the Digital Age'' (

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

). His various uses of stylometry to analyse the work of James Patterson have garnered media attention, including being cited by Anthony Lane in '' The New Yorker''. O'Sullivan has contributed to a number of digital resources, including Zebrapedia, a project seeking to transcribe the entirety of

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

's '' Exegesis.'' He chaired the 2019 Electronic Literature Organization Conference & Media Arts Festival, the first time the annual gathering of new media scholars and practitioners was hosted in Ireland. He is former Associate Director of the

Digital Humanities Summer Institute The Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) is an annual digital humanities training program held in June at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. DHSI now attracts over 600 participants for two weeks of courses, forum discuss ...

at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. In 2018, O'Sullivan publicly criticised Irish universities for focusing too much on commercially oriented "skills" to the detriment of critical thinking. He has also claimed that many Irish academics are working class.

Publishing

O'Sullivan founded

in 2012, a publishing house dedicated to the publication of both print and

electronic literature Electronic literature or digital literature is a genre of literature encompassing works created exclusively on and for digital devices, such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. A work of electronic literature can be defined as "a constr ...

. New Binary Press has published the works of authors such as

Nick Montfort Nick Montfort is a poet and professor of digital media at MIT, where he directs a lab called The Trope Tank. He also holds a part-time position at the University of Bergen where he leads a node on computational narrative systems at the Center fo ...

and

Karl Parkinson Karl Parkinson is an Irish author based in Dublin. He has published three collections of poetry, a novel, and a short story collection. Writing career Parkinson has published three collections of poetry, ''Litany of the City'' (Wurmpress 2013) ...

. Successes for the publishing house have include Graham Allen's ''The One That Got Away'' which was shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Award 2015, while ''

Unexplained Fevers ''Unexplained Fevers'' is a book of poetry that was written by Jeannine Hall Gailey Jeannine Hall Gailey (born April 30, 1973) is an American poet. She has published five books of poetry and two books of non-fiction. Her work focuses on pop cul ...

'' by Jeannine Hall Gailey came second in the 2014 Science Fiction Poetry Association's Elgin Award. In early 2017, in an interview with ''Books Ireland'' magazine, O'Sullivan said that New Binary Press was operating at a loss, though he seemed confident of the press' future, claiming that "the value of dissonance outweighs that of cents". He has been vocal on the economic realities facing independent publishing houses, as well as an advocate of the role they play in the development of literary communities. In the same article, O'Sullivan outlined his belief that Irish writing can come from many perspectives, and is simply "literature that is embedded in the very soul of our island". Despite his profile as a digital publisher and scholar, O'Sullivan believes that print books have far greater "material and cultural importance" than digital formats, describing Kindle and iTunes as a "dangerous axis of power". As a publisher, O'Sullivan has been critical of major literary competitions, particularly those which he deems to be under the influence of their commercial sponsors. He has called for "improved transparency" and "the removal of commercial influences" from literary competitions, arguing that "small publishers can't take risks on large entry fees if there is any doubt in their mind over how decisions are being made".

Writing

O'Sullivan's first collection of poetry, ''Kneeling on the Redwood Floor'', was released by Lapwing Publications in 2011, a work which the author himself did not rate very highly. In 2014, Alba Publishing released his second collection, ''Groundwork'', followed in 2017 by ''Courting Katie'', published by Salmon Poetry. Reviewing ''Courting Katie'',

Dedalus Dedalus may refer to: * Dedalus (band), an Italian jazz-rock band * Dedalus Books, a British publishing company * Dedalus Diggle, a ''Harry Potter'' character * Dedalus (medical software company), a provider of healthcare information systems, fine ...

poet Matthew Geden describes O'Sullivan as a "vibrant voice" that offers "timely reminders to look closer at the world around us". Writing in '' Poetry Ireland Review'', Jessica Traynor likens O'Sullivan to a "latter-day Kavanagh" who "breathes life into deserted streets and grey city corners". O'Sullivan's poetry has been published in a number of journals, magazines and periodicals, including ''The SHOp'', ''Cyphers'', ''Southword'', and ''Crannóg''. In 2016, O'Sullivan was placed third in the

Gregory O'Donoghue Gregory O'Donoghue (1951–2005) was an Irish poet. Gregory O’Donoghue was born in Cork in 1951, son of the poet and playwright Robert O’Donoghue. He studied English literature at University College Cork under Sean Lucy and John Montague and ...

International Poetry Prize. He has twice been shortlisted for the Fish Poetry Prize, as well as the Fish Short Story Prize. He received a High Commendation in

Munster Literature Centre The Munster Literature Centre is a non-profit arts organisation based in Cork city, Ireland. It was founded in 1993 to support the promotion and development of literature in the Munster region. Amongst its activities, the Munster Literature Centre ...

Fool for Poetry 2014 International Chapbook Competition and 2013 Charles Macklin Poetry Prize. O'Sullivan has contributed features and opinion pieces to a number of regional and national periodicals in Ireland and internationally, including '' The Guardian'', the '' LA Review of Books'', '' The Irish Times'', and Cork '' Evening Echo''.

Personal

O'Sullivan was born and raised in Cork city, Ireland, a place for which he has often expressed great affection, and featured in his work. He is the grandson of the performer Billa O'Connell. O'Sullivan attended

Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh is an Irish boys' secondary school founded under the patronage of the Presentation Brothers. It is located in Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland. History Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh is a non-fee-paying, Catholic, all-boys ...

, though did not enjoy his time at school. He is a graduate of Cork Institute of Technology, University College Cork, and University College Dublin. In 2016, O'Sullivan is a supporter of the Cork Film Festival. He has been highly critical of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OSullivan, James 1986 births 21st-century Irish male writers Academics of University College Cork Irish male short story writers 21st-century Irish short story writers Living people 21st-century Irish poets Irish male poets Academics of the University of Sheffield