Dr Jonathan Ellis

School of English

Reader in American Literature

Jonathan Ellis 2025 Staff Photo
Profile picture of Jonathan Ellis 2025 Staff Photo
j.s.ellis@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 8465

Full contact details

Dr Jonathan Ellis
School of English
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

I completed my PhD at the University of Hull, having previously taken a BA in English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford. I joined the School of English at Sheffield in 2005, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2010 and a Reader in 2015.

Research interests

Most of my research has been on the twentieth-century poet, Elizabeth Bishop. My first book, Art and Memory in the Work of Elizabeth Bishop, was published in 2006. I have since co-edited two books with Professor Angus Cleghorn, The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Bishop in 2014 and Elizabeth Bishop in Context in 2021. Reading Elizabeth Bishop: An Edinburgh Companion, was published in 2019.

I have co-organised several international conferences on Elizabeth Bishop’s work, in Sheffield (2015), Paris (2018), Oxford (2022), and Glasgow (2023). As part of the Bishop conference in Sheffield, I commissioned Charlotte Hodes and Deryn Rees-Jones to create a poem-film based on Bishop’s poem, “Questions of Travel.” The film premiered at the Site Gallery and was shortlisted for an AHRC Research in Film Award. I am on the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed journal, Bishop—Lowell Studies.

In addition to scholarship on Bishop, I have published articles on Amy Clampitt, Paul Muldoon, and Sylvia Plath, among others. An abiding interest in film is represented by recent publications on Guillermo del Toro, Barbara Hammer, and Lynne Ramsay, and a collection of essays, co-edited with Dr Ana María Sánchez-Arce, titled Remembering Annie Hall (Bloomsbury, 2023). 

Much of my recent research is on twentieth-century letter writing. In 2008 I was awarded a British Academy Research Development Award to fund this work. The BARDA award supported the organisation of a series of public lectures on letter writing by epistolary scholars and writers. Speakers included Anne Fadiman, Hermione Lee, Edna Longley, Hugh Haughton, Angela Leighton, Paul Muldoon, and Frances Wilson. An edited collection of essays inspired by this series, Letter Writing Among Poets: From William Wordsworth to Elizabeth Bishop, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2015. I have recently finished a book on Letters for Oxford University Press.

In 2023, Professor Susan Rosenbaum and I co-curated the first exhibition of Bishop’s picture postcards at the Vassar College Special Collections Library. The exhibition attracted widespread acclaim, featuring in The New York Review of BooksThe Paris Review, and The Times Literary Supplement. In Spring 2025, the exhibition travelled to Key West, Florida, to celebrate the reopening of the Elizabeth Bishop House on White Street. 

Professor Rosenbaum and I have recently been awarded an AHRC Catalyst Award to broaden the focus of this research to consider Bishop’s creation of and engagement with visual art more generally. We are curating further exhibitions of Bishop’s postcards at the Sorbonne (2026) and Sheffield (2027), editing a trade book of Bishop’s Postcards for Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and completing a scholarly edition, provisionally titled An Art of Looks: Elizabeth Bishop and Visual Culture, for Harvard University Press. 

In addition to my academic work, I have published non-fiction writing in The Letters PageThe Manchester ReviewPloughshares, and The Tangerine. During lockdown, I also edited a cluster of essays on Taylor Swift’s album, evermore, for the journal Post45. The cluster contains essays by several colleagues and graduates of the School of English.   

Publications

Books

  • Ellis J & Rosenbuam S (2023) Elizabeth Bishop's Postcards. Poughkeepsie, New York: Vassar College Libraries. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cleghorn A & Ellis J (2021) Elizabeth Bishop in Context. Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) READING ELIZABETH BISHOP: AN EDINBURGH COMPANION. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2006) Art and Memory in the Work of Elizabeth Bishop. Ashgate Pub Co. RIS download Bibtex download

Edited books

  • Ellis J & Sanchez-Arce AM (Ed.) (2023) “Don't look back”: The relationship between Richard Linklater's Before… trilogy and Annie Hall. London: Bloomsbury. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • (Ed.) (2023) Remembering Annie Hall.. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (Ed.) (2019) READING ELIZABETH BISHOP An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (Ed.) (2015) Letter Writing Among Poets: From William Wordsworth to Elizabeth Bishop. Edinburgh University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cleghorn A & Ellis J (Ed.) (2014) The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Bishop. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

  • Ellis J (2023) Elizabeth Bishop's Eczema. Ploughshares. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J & Sánchez-Arce AM (2023) Introduction: After the fall. Remembering Annie Hall, 1-17. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2022) Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing. Bishop–Lowell Studies, 2, 130-137. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2021) The Poet’s Mistake by Erica McAlpine.. Bishop–Lowell Studies, 1(1), 129-132. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2021) Katherine Mansfield's Meringues. The Modernist Review(30). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2020) Under the influence: Elizabeth Bishop’s England and Frances Leviston’s Louisiana. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 18(2). View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) ‘For a Child of 1918’: Elizabeth Bishop at Seven Years Old. The Manchester Review(22). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) INTRODUCTION: INCOMPATIBLE BISHOPS?. Reading Elizabeth Bishop: An Edinburgh Companion, 1-15. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2018) Elizabeth Bishop in the Present Tense: On Barbara Hammer's Welcome to this HOuse. Another Gaze(2), 52-56. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2018) More Questions than Answers. PN Review(238), 60-61. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2018) Haunting Me. The Tangerine, 4, 48-58. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2015) Poetry Ireland Review. Poetry Ireland Review(115), 124-127. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2012) "Can I go? Is it over?”: Endgames in Woody Allen’s Cinema. Post Script, 31(2), 23-33. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2012) Sylvia Plath and the mythology of women readers. JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES, 21(3), 338-339. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2011) FIRE SEASON Field notes from a wilderness lookout. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5666), 31-31. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2011) Loving Larkin. Poetry Ireland Review, 103, 89-99. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2011) The Art of Anime: Freeze Frames and Moving Pictures in Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 2(1), 21-34. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2011) Aubade and elegy: Elizabeth bishop's love poems. English, 60(229), 161-179. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2010) Exchanging Recipes. Poetry Ireland Review, 100, 116-124. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2010) The Art of Anime: Freeze-Frames and Moving Pictures in Miyazaki Hayao's Kiki's Delivery Service. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 2(1), 21-34. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2009) Between the Butterfly and the Caterpillar. Poetry Ireland Review, 97, 109-114. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2008) Elizabeth Bishop's Bone Key Poems. PN Review, 34(3), 37-40. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2007) The 'quiet girl'. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5461), 24-24. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2007) The 'post-birthday world'. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5431), 21-21. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2006) Beware of God. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5364), 21-21. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J & Hirabayashi M (2005) In Dreams Begins Responsibility: An Interview with Haruki Murakami. GEORGIA REVIEW, 548-567. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2003) From maps to monuments: Elizabeth Bishop's shoreline poems. MOSAIC, 36(4), 103-119. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2003) Elizabeth Bishop and the Spanish Civil War. Journal of Modern Literature, 27(1/2), 137-148. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2000) Amy Clampitt's Music. Thumbscrew(16), 78-83. RIS download Bibtex download

Chapters

  • Ellis J & Sanchez-Arce AM (2024) Introduction: after the fall In Ellis J & Sanchez-Arce AM (Ed.), Remembering Annie Hall (pp. 1-17). Bloomsbury RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2022) Plath as Punch Line, BLOOMSBURY HANDBOOK TO SYLVIA PLATH (pp. 17-29). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2021) Criticism and Reviews, ELIZABETH BISHOP IN CONTEXT (pp. 384-394). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cleghorn A & Ellis J (2021) ELIZABETH BISHOP IN CONTEXT Introduction, ELIZABETH BISHOP IN CONTEXT (pp. 1-+). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) Plath and the American Poetry Scene, Sylvia Plath in Context (pp. 12-21). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) Elizabeth Bishop in Ireland: From Seamus Heaney to Colm Toibin In Ellis J (Ed.), Reading Elizabeth Bishop An Edinburgh Companion (pp. 307-320). Edinburgh Companions to Litera RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) Introduction: Incompatible Bishops? In Ellis J (Ed.), Reading Elizabeth Bishop An Edinburgh Companion (pp. 1-15). Edinburgh Companions to Litera RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2019) INTRODUCTION: INCOMPATIBLE BISHOPS?, READING ELIZABETH BISHOP (pp. 1-15). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2016) North and South: Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar In Dobson J & Rayner J (Ed.), Mapping Cinematic Norths: International Interpretations in Film and Television (pp. 113-129). Peter Lang RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2015) Last letters: Keats, Bishop and Hughes, Letter Writing Among Poets: From William Wordsworth to Elizabeth Bishop (pp. 231-245). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2015) Introduction: ‘For what is a letter?’, Letter Writing Among Poets Edinburgh University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cleghorn A & Ellis J (2014) Introduction: North and South, CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO ELIZABETH BISHOP (pp. 1-+). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2012) Alice in Wonderland: The Authoring and Editing of Elizabeth Bishop's Uncollected Poems In Cleghorn A, Hicok B & Travisano T (Ed.), Elizabeth Bishop in the Twenty-First Century University of Virginia Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis, J & Sanchez-Arce AM (2012) The Unquiet Dead: Memories of the Spanish Civil War in Guillermo del Toro’s Cinema In Sinha A & McSweeney T (Ed.), Millennial Cinema (pp. 173-191). Columbia University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2012) Michael Donaghy, British Writers Supplement XIX (pp. 55-70). Gale RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2012) Reading Bishop Reading Darwin, Science in Modern Poetry: New Directions (pp. 181-193). Liverpool University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2011) Ekphrastic Poetry: In and Out of the Museum In Martiny E (Ed.), A Companion to Poetic Genre Wiley-Blackwell RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2011) Mailed into space: On Sylvia Plath's Letters In Bayley S & Brain T (Ed.), Representing Sylvia Plath (pp. 13-31). Cambridge Univ Pr RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2011) Between us: Letters and Poems of Stevenson and Bishop In Leighton A (Ed.), Voyages Over Voices: Critical Essays on Anne Stevenson (pp. 28-54). Liverpool Univ Pr RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2007) Absence as Influence: Samuel Beckett and Paul Muldoon In Feldman M & Nixon M (Ed.), Beckett's literary legacies (pp. 40-57). Cambridge Scholars Publishing RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2006) Boating through Venice: Cultural Translation in Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion In Macedo AG (Ed.), Identity And Cultural Translation: Writing Across the Borders of Englishness (pp. 237-246). Peter Lang Pub Inc RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2003) Elizabeth Bishop: North & South In Roberts N (Ed.), A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry (pp. 457-468). Wiley-Blackwell RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis JS (2002) The Snow Queen: Elizabeth Bishop and Nova Scotia In Anderson LR & Shapcott J (Ed.), Elizabeth Bishop (pp. 63-86). Bloodaxe Books Ltd RIS download Bibtex download

Book reviews

  • Ellis J (2017) On Elizabeth Bishop. PN Review(238), 60-61. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2017) 300 ARGUMENTS. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5961), 33-33. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ellis J (2016) HOTEL. TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT(5894), 30-30. RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

I welcome applications from potential PhD students in all areas of my research interests, particularly American and British poetry of the modern and contemporary periods and the art of letter writing and its relationship to other literary genres. I have also supervised Creative Writing projects. I am currently supervising two PhD students, one on Sylvia Plath and the other on Chloé Zhao's Transnational Cinema.

In the past few years, I have successfully supervised PhD projects on Elizabeth Bishop, John Burnside, William Burroughs, Cold War fiction, Ted Hughes, twentieth-century letter writing, film adaptation, film noir, and the influence of Annie Hall on contemporary cinema.

Teaching activities

I teach in all areas of my research, particularly American fiction, film and poetry. Courses I have taught at Sheffield include modules on Romantic and Victorian Poetry, Contemporary Literature, Twentieth-Century American Poetry and Road Movies. Since 2005 I have taught an MA course on Letter-Writing in the Twentieth-Century.