Ballarat Spoken Word

Ballarat Spoken Word welcomes Lewis Allan as our feature poet for December.

Dr. Lewis Allan is a gothic horror author from Bacchus Marsh, with a PhD in creative writing and gothic literature. He previously taught creative and autobiographical writing at La Trobe University, and continues to work in both the education and entertainment/arts sectors. His short story ‘Thou Art’ was published in the Shades of Sentience speculative fiction anthology, and he has been a prolific contributor to publications such as The Force (journal of the Australian Star Wars fan club) and Overdrive Music Magazine.

Lewis has been a writer for as long as he can remember, and considers being a storyteller a core part of his identity. Like many of us, he wrote a great deal of angsty teenage poetry, and today writes slightly better poetry. His writing however is typically of a longer form, and his proudest creation is a trilogy of contemporary, Melbourne-based gothic horror novels. The first of the trilogy, Alamandael (Al-ah-man-day-el) was completed as the creative component of his PhD. He has now finished book two, Aiwassel (Eye-wass-el) and has finished a first draft of the third, Alexandrael (Al-ex-an-dray-el).

While Lewis attempts to write across a variety of genres, it all inevitably becomes horror in the end. His major influences are Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Anne Rice, Clive Barker and Sergei Lukyanenko.