BOOKS
The Unteachable, Anti-Oedipus Press, forthcoming 2026; Situations, forthcoming; Educated People, Punctum Books, forthcoming 2026; Jonathan Martin, Equus Press, 2025; Midden Hill, Schism2, 2025; The Faces of Pluto, Stalking Horse Press, 2024; Black Vellum, Schism2, 2023; The Wake and the Manuscript, Anti-Oedipus Press, 2022; Plague Theatre, Equus Press, 2022; Burton’s Anatomy, Schism Neuronics, 2022; The Reading Room, Schism Neuronics, 2021; The Reaches, Schism Neuronics, 2021; The Sick List, Boiler House Press, 2021; Wretch, Schism Neuronics, 2020; Cynicism, MIT Press, 2020; The Cynical Educator, Mayfly Books, 2017; with Roy Goddard Education and Philosophy: An Introduction, SAGE, 2017; Benign Violence: Education in and beyond the Age of Reason, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
BOOKS IN TRANSLATION
Wretch published as Ruin in Spanish translation by Ediciones Vestigio (Bogotá, Colombia) in 2023 (tr. Ramiro Sanchiz).
Cynicism published in Japanese translation (シニシズム) by Newton Press (Tokyo, Japan) in 2021 (tr. Masamichi Ueno), and in Chinese translation (犬儒主义) by The Commercial Press in 2023 (tr. Ni Jianqing). Also available in Farsi.
Black Vellum forthcoming in Turkish via Epona Akademi, translation by Emre Ağanoğlu.
ACADEMIC PAPERS
‘Immediate Obsolescence: Bataille, excess and AI’ Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, 32(5), forthcoming 2027. [pre-publication version here]
‘Gordinalia: an extract from Situations‘ CounterText, forthcoming.
‘AI and Error Writing’ CounterText 11(3), forthcoming. [pre-publication version here]
‘Towards an Experimental Education Criticism: eleven notes in place of a manifesto‘ CounterText, 10(3), 325-346, 2024.
‘Decapitation theory and university management: some notes towards the derangement of academic life‘ ephemera, published online. [and featured on L’Étranger #492, Radio Panik, 10 Nov 2024]
‘Roland Barthes and The Death of the Teacher‘ Oxford Review of Education, 51(1), 26-50, 2025.
‘Barthes, anti-intellectualism, and the academy‘ ephemera, published online.
‘Bataille and the Poverty of Academic Form‘ Studies in Philosophy and Education, 43(2), 127-140, 2024
‘The Death of Thought: Reading Bataille in the ruins of a university‘ Research in Education, 119(1), 65-78, 2024.
with Sarah Spencer ‘Regimes of Motherhood: Social class, the word gap, and the optimisation of mothers’ talk’ The Sociological Review, 70(6), 1181–1198, 2022.
with Emile Bojesen ‘Bartleby is Dead: Inverting common readings of Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener‘ Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, 24(5), 61-72, 2019.
‘The Culture of Education: Ancient Cynicism and ‘the scandal of the truth” Materiali Foucaultiani. 7(13-14), 75-92, 2018.
with Emile Bojesen ‘The Economic Problem of Masochism in Education’ Confero: Essays on Education, Philosophy and Politics 6(1), 55-85, 2018.
‘Beckett and the plight of the educator’ Other Education. 7(2), 88-96, 2018.
‘The End of Education: Nietzsche, Foucault, Genealogy’ Philosophical Inquiry in Education. 25(1), 47-65, 2018.
‘Awaiting Education: Friedrich Nietzsche on the Future of Our Educational Institutions’ Philosophical Inquiry in Education. 24(2), 197-210, 2017.
‘Education, Mastery and the Marquis de Sade’ Other Education, 5(2), 39-55, 2016.
‘Out of weakness: the ‘educational good’ in late antiquity’ Pedagogy, Culture & Society 24(2), 239-254, 2016.
‘The Cynical Educator‘ Other Education 4(1), 4-15, 2015. Translated into Spanish by Fernanda Soler-Urzúa, and published as: ‘El educador cínico‘ La Revista Filosofía 31, 152-182, 2024.
with Roy Goddard ‘The domestication of Foucault: government, critique, war’ History of the Human Sciences 27(5), 26-53, 2014.
‘The Examined Life: On the Formation of Souls and Schooling‘ American Educational Research Journal 50(2), 216-250, 2013.
‘Cultivating the myopic learner: the shared project of high and low-stakes assessment‘ British Journal of Sociology of Education 33(5), 641-659, 2012.
‘Life without the ‘x’ factor – meritocracy past and present’ Power and Education 4(1), 4-19, 2012.
‘Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy: a Philosophical Critique‘ British Journal of Educational Studies 59(4), 367-382, 2011.
‘The idea of a world university: can Foucauldian research offer a vision of educational futures?’ Pedagogy, Culture & Society 19(3), 367-383, 2011.
‘The Foucauldian Peacekeeper: on the dispersion of power and the futility of change’ Power and Education 1(2), 226-237, 2009.
INVITED READINGS (FICTION)
Creative Criticism, Lancaster University, 24 May 2025; CounterText, University of Wroclaw, 25 Jan 2025; Prague Microfestival, Oct 2024; CounterText, University of Naples, 21 June 2024; Bonjour, Glasgow, 3 Nov 2023; Prague Microfestival, Oct 2023; The Errant Castle Symposium, Lancaster University, 29 April 2022; Centre for Poetry & Poetics, University of Sheffield, 7 March 2023; Small Publishers Fair, Conway Hall, London, 28 Oct 2022.
SHORT FICTIONS/EXPERIMENTAL WORKS
‘Hey Google, play a fire’ w. Parham Ghalamdar, PMF Dissolution Exhibition Oct-Nov 2025; ‘Procto Nation‘ Displacements, 11 October 2025; ‘Selling Our (human-ities)‘ Displacements, 14 August 2025; ‘Emote Con Likert‘ Displacements, 23 July 2025; ‘Likert the New Fash‘ Displacements, 17 June 2025; ‘Jonathan Martin (extract)‘ Equus Press, 9 May 2025; ‘Hostius Quadra and his mirrors‘ Futch Journal, 22 March 2024; ‘Plague Theatre (extract)‘Anthology of the 15th Prague Microfestival, Oct 2023; ‘The man in the burrow’ Cephalophore #2, April 2023; ‘The Visit‘, Minor Literature[s], 28 March 2023; ‘Black Vellum (excerpt)‘, Minor Literature[s], 31 Jan 2023; ‘A Visitor to a Museum‘ Psycho Holosuite, 23 September 2022; ‘Burton’s Anatomy (excerpt)‘ Minor Literature[s], 11 Feb 2022; ‘Instructions for the Encounter‘ In Edia Connole & Gary J. Shipley (eds) Acéphale & Autobiographical Philosophy in the 21st Century. Schism Press, 24 June 2021; ‘Damflask‘ Minor Literature[s], 12 May 2021; ‘Reducido‘ [trans. Ramiro Sanchiz] In Contaminación Futura: Volumen 2. MIG21 Editora, 2021; ‘The Great Ask‘ 3:AM Magazine, 5 January 2021; ‘Principles of Abject Criticism‘ The Educator, 2020; ‘The word is done‘ on Sentences from a book by Ansgar Allen & Emile Bojesen, Hoopoe Industries, 6 November 2020; ‘Brass head‘ SURFACES.cx, 28 October 2020; ‘Driftworks series‘ Minor Literature[s], 2020 ‘Island‘ 22 October; ‘Mountain‘ 15 October; ‘Foam‘ 8 October; ‘Cordite‘ Driftworks, Minor Literature[s], 1 October 2020; ‘Vapour‘ 24 September 2020.’Crossbow‘ 27 August; ‘Collapse‘ 20 August; ‘Terraqueous‘ 6 August; ‘Lamplighters‘ 30 July; ‘The garden‘ 9 July}; ‘Minimal Arrangements‘ Seiren Quarterly, 11 September 2020; ‘64720 AU‘ SELFFUCK, 26 August 2020; ‘A Distended Crust‘ Invert/Extant, 21 July 2020; ‘The sun with flies‘ Stone of Madness Press, July 2020; ‘The draw of it‘ Queen Mob’s Teahouse, 22 April 2020; ‘Three days‘ Berfrois, 20 April 2020; ‘On Concrete‘ on Concrete by Vomir/Emile Bojesen, Hoopoe Industries, 17 April 2020; ‘Whereas I wear grey trousers’ In C. Patracchini (ed) Felt: Aesthetics of Grey. ZenoPress, 2018; ‘G_____’ Queen Mob’s TeaHouse, 24 April 2018; ‘G_____’ ZenoPress Online Magazine, 30 January 2018.”A Visitor to a Museum‘ Psycho Holosuite, 23 September 2022; ‘Burton’s Anatomy (excerpt)‘ Minor Literature[s], 11 Feb 2022; ‘Instructions for the Encounter‘ In Edia Connole & Gary J. Shipley (eds) Acéphale & Autobiographical Philosophy in the 21st Century. Schism Press, 24 June 2021; ‘Damflask‘ Minor Literature[s], 12 May 2021; ‘Reducido‘ [trans. Ramiro Sanchiz] In Contaminación Futura: Volumen 2. MIG21 Editora, 2021; ‘The Great Ask‘ 3:AM Magazine, 5 January 2021; ‘The word is done‘ on Sentences from a book by Ansgar Allen & Emile Bojesen, Hoopoe Industries, 6 November 2020; ‘Brass head‘ SURFACES.cx, 28 October 2020; ‘Driftworks series‘ Minor Literature[s], 2020 {‘Island‘ 22 October; ‘Mountain‘ 15 October; ‘Foam‘ 8 October; ‘Cordite‘ Driftworks, Minor Literature[s], 1 October 2020; ‘Vapour‘ 24 September 2020.’Crossbow‘ 27 August; ‘Collapse‘ 20 August; ‘Terraqueous‘ 6 August; ‘Lamplighters‘ 30 July; ‘The garden‘ 9 July}; ‘Minimal Arrangements‘ Seiren Quarterly, 11 September 2020; ‘64720 AU‘ SELFFUCK, 26 August 2020; ‘A Distended Crust‘ Invert/Extant, 21 July 2020; ‘The sun with flies‘ Stone of Madness Press, July 2020; ‘The draw of it‘ Queen Mob’s Teahouse, 22 April 2020; ‘Three days‘ Berfrois, 20 April 2020; ‘On Concrete‘ on Concrete by Vomir/Emile Bojesen, Hoopoe Industries, 17 April 2020; ‘Whereas I wear grey trousers’ In C. Patracchini (ed) Felt: Aesthetics of Grey. ZenoPress, 2018; ‘G_____’ Queen Mob’s TeaHouse, 24 April 2018; ‘G_____’ ZenoPress Online Magazine, 30 January 2018.
FILM
‘Likert the New Fash‘ (June 2025); ‘The Contemporary University in its Pelagic Setting‘ (May 2025); ‘Midden Hill | out 1 May‘ (April 2025); ‘Deep Grain Sheep‘ (January 2024); ‘A Book in the Shape of an Orb‘ (January 2024); ‘Each Valley its Own Idea‘ (December 2023); ‘Teaching Ignorance by Emile Bojesen‘ (December 2023); ‘PLAGUE THEATRE published one year ago tomorrow‘ (March 2023); ‘BLACK VELLUM out soon at Schism Press‘ Jan 2023; ‘The Pig Farm | Extract‘ June 2022 (& Vimeo); ‘WRETCH published nearly 2 years ago today‘ May 2022; ‘bone bite snare by Michael Mc Aloran | out now at Erratum Press‘ April 2022; ‘bone bite snare by Michael Mc Aloran | a peek inside the book‘ April 2022; ‘Plague Theatre: Out now‘ March 2022; ‘Last Days of Pompeii by Steve Hanson | out now at Erratum Press‘ March 2022; ‘Affirmations EP by f.eks‘ March 2022; ‘Erratum Reprints coming soon‘ March 2022; ‘Erratum readying for 2022‘ March 2022; ‘The more feculent part‘ January 2022; ‘Deschooling Society by Emile Bojesen‘ Vimeo, November 2021 (& YouTube); ‘The Reading Room | Launch video‘ November 2021; ‘Ice | The Reaches‘ July 2021; ‘The Sick List Launch | Intro Video‘ June 2021; ‘Trailer for Effects by f.eks‘ March 2021; ‘WRETCH a short film‘ May 2020; ‘Trailer for WRETCH‘ March 2020.
SOUND-WRITING
‘Plinth‘ Hoopoe Industries, 17 March 2021; ‘Sentences from a book‘ Ansgar Allen & Emile Bojesen, Hoopoe Industries, 6 November 2020. [Pre-mastered version released on youtube.com, privately December 2018 – made public May 2020.]; ‘Driftworks’ (words by Ansgar Allen, sound by Emile Bojesen), Hoopoe Industries/Minor Literature[s], 2020.
COVER DESIGN
‘Traumnovelle‘, ‘the absurd fade‘, and ‘Zipf Maneuvers‘, Erratum Press, 2025; ‘Today Yesterday After My Death‘, ‘retrocede‘, ‘Homo Catastrophicus‘, ‘Last Days of Pompeii: Vols 1 & 2′, ‘LRD‘ and ‘The Poets‘, Erratum Press 2024; ‘The Chief of Birds‘, ‘Lord of Chaos’, and ‘If I Had Not Seen Their Sleeping Faces‘ Erratum Press, 2023; ‘Black Vellum‘ Schism2, 2023; ‘The Prodigious Earth‘, ‘Morant‘, ‘bone bite snare‘ and ‘Last Days of Pompeii: Vol.1′ Erratum Press, 2022; Erratum Reprints series covers 2022; ‘Burton’s Anatomy‘ Schism Neuronics, 2022; ‘The Reading Room‘ Schism Neuronics, 2021; ‘Deschooling Society‘ by Emile Bojesen, Hoopoe Industries, 25 October 2021; ‘The Reaches‘ Schism Neuronics, 2021 / ‘Ice‘ by Emile Bojesen at Geräschmanufaktur, 16 June 2021; ‘Effects‘ by f.eks, Hoopoe Industries, 22 March 2021; ‘Plinth‘ Hoopoe Industries, 17 March 2021; ‘Sentences from a book‘ Hoopoe Industries, 2020; ‘Wretch‘ Schism Neuronics, 2020; ‘Driftworks‘ Hoopoe Industries, 2020.
PODCASTS/INTERVIEWS
GlobalBernard interview [advance view on Displacements], 2026.
Author interview by Spyridon St. Kogkas, Thrausma.com, 19 June 2025.
Author interview by S.D. Stewart, Heavy Feather Review, 18 February 2025.
Interviewed for ‘When we talk about cynicism, what are we talking about?‘ Southern Weekly, 21 May 2023.
Author interview by Lochlan Bloom and Jaimie Batchan, Minor Literature[s], 21 March 2023.
Interviewed for ‘Americans’ distrust in institutions and one another is fueling cynicism. Is it all bad?‘ USA Today, 27 July 2022.
Interviewed for ‘New Sheffield-based press hopes to infiltrate literature with “calculated acts of cultural barbarism”‘ Now Then, 20 May 2022.
Interview with Mike Corrao on Full Stop Podcast #16, 25 Feb 2022, 39 min 11 sec in (also online here).
Author interview by David Vichnar and Narmin Ismiyeva at Equus Press, 4 Feb 2022.
Interviewed for ‘Is this the end of American optimism?’ Vox, 29 Oct 2020.
Interviewed on ‘Start the Week: Classics and class‘, BBC Radio 4, 25 May 2020.
Author interview together with Roy Goddard for Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain blog, 2019
‘Provocation: by reforming assessment, do we conceal power relations in the university?‘ Confronting Assessment, University of Sheffield, 1 March 2017.
‘CHC Episode 7: The Examined Life‘ CHILDHOOD: History and Critique, Society for the history of childhood and youth, 23 February 2015.
ARTICLES/BLOGS
‘Experiments & Estrangements‘ EducationMatters, 6 Nov 2024.
‘How to live like a Cynic‘ Psyche, 6 December 2023.
‘A Study in Failure: Thomas Bernhard’s bleak novels force us to confront the futility of intellectual life’ New Humanist, November 2021.
‘Five books by Thomas Bernhard‘ and ‘Six Questions for Ansgar Allen‘ beyondcriticism.net, February 2021.
‘Dogs and philosophers: Ancient cynicism was a radical, transgressive philosophy. Can it be reclaimed for the 21st century?’ New Humanist, November 2020. Posted online as: ‘What can we learn from ancient cynicism’, 28 December 2020.
with Emile Bojesen ‘The Noble Critic of Online Education: Agamben and Techno-Fascism‘ Berfrois, 1 June 2020.
‘Medieval Sickness and Modern Education‘ Medium, 24 March 2020.
‘Extinction Rebellion and European Nihilism‘ Berfrois, 24 October 2019.
‘The school that helped make Milo Yiannopoulos‘ Berfrois, 8 May 2018.
‘Toby Young: what is ‘progressive eugenics’ and what does it have to do with meritocracy?‘ The Conversation, 5 January 2018. Translated into Estonian by Marek Laane. ‘Ansgar Allen: mis on «progressiivne eugeenika» ja kuidas see seondub meritokraatiaga?‘ Postimees: Arvamus, 20 January 2018.
‘After Freshers’ Flu: The University Sickness‘ huffingtonpost.co.uk, 25 September 2017.
‘The redemptive impulse: rethinking our relation to education‘ ihuman.group.shef.ac.uk, 20 September 2017.
with Emile Bojesen ‘Taking a Position Against Grammar Schools‘ huffingtonpost.co.uk 18 April 2017.
‘The Suckitude of the U.K. Christmas Commercial‘ ozy.com, 22 December 2016.
‘All Roll Over and None Fall Out‘ thesociologicalreview.com/blog 24 August 2016.
with Emile Bojesen ‘Schools like prisons, prisons like schools’ openDemocracy, 12 February 2016.
‘On Leaving Teaching‘ celebyouth.org 5 June 2015.
‘Forcing a smile: the plight of today’s educator‘ Discover Society, 1 February 2015. Issue 17
‘The objects of research‘ Times Higher Education, 6 November 2014.
‘In praise of the economically illiterate academic’ openDemocracy, 4 April 2014.
‘Academic writing – why bother?‘ openDemocracy, 5 March 2014.
‘Forget Meritocracy‘ Research Intelligence. Issue 120, Spring 2013, 27-8.
‘Foucault, disciplinary power and the dangerous remainder‘ socialtheoryapplied.com 7 April 2013.
‘Foucault and the World University: Ansgar Allen Responds‘ socialtheoryapplied.com 4 February 2013.
‘The solitary academic: a dying breed‘ openDemocracy, 14 February 2013.
‘The heart of British schools and Gove’s ‘dark place’‘ openDemocracy, 3 September 2012.
‘The British public elects their Jesus‘ openDemocracy, 26 July 2012.
“You never will be a rock star“: Britain, social mobility and the exploitation of hope’ openDemocracy, 11 November 2011.
EDITORIALS / GUEST EDITORSHIPS
Co-editor Cinema & Education Special Issue, Research in Education, forthcoming.
Guest Editor, Education Policy Analysis Archives, forthcoming.
‘Editorial. Radicalism, Education and Political Practice’ Power and Education, 5 (3), 262-267, 2013.
CHAPTERS
‘Ancient Schools and the Challenge of Cynicism’ In Avi Mintz (ed) A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity (500BCE-500CE). London: Bloomsbury, 2021.
‘Entwicklungspsychologie’ In: Krönig, Franz Kasper (ed) Kritisches Glossar Kindheitspädagogik. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 2018.
‘Psychology and Education: Unquestionable Goods’ In. T. Williams, T. Billington, D. Goodley. & T. Corcoran (eds) Critical Educational Psychology. Wiley, 2016.
‘The Idea of a World University’. In M. Murphy (ed) Social Theory and Educational Research, volume 4: Governance and Management: Performativity, audit cultures and accountability. pp. 23-38. London: Sage, 2013.
with Anderson, K., Bristol, L., Downs, Y., O´Neill, D., Watts, R. & Wu, Q. (2009) ‘Resisting the Unethical in Formalised Ethics: Perspectives and Experiences’. In Satterthwaite, Piper, Sikes (eds) Power in the Academy, 135-152. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Ltd, 2009.
REFERENCE
‘Leadership’ In M. Cheeseman, F. Collignon & J. Miller (eds) Dictionary of Neoliberal Terms: Volume Five. Spirit Duplicator, forthcoming.
‘Strategy’ In M. Cheeseman, F. Collignon & J. Miller (eds) Dictionary of Neoliberal Terms: Volume Four. Spirit Duplicator, 2020.
‘Schooling‘ In. E. Burman & D. Cook (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Children and Childhood Studies: Volume 4. SAGE, 2020.
‘Education’ In M. Cheeseman, F. Collignon & J. Miller (eds) Dictionary of Neoliberal Terms: Volume Two. Spirit Duplicator, 2019.
‘Meritocracy‘ In M. Peters (Ed) Encyclopaedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, 2016.
‘Michel Foucault’. In D. Phillips (ed) Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy. SAGE, 2014.
‘Using Foucault in educational research‘ British Educational Research Association on-line resource, 2012. Translated into Greek by Antonis Galanopoulos: ‘Χρησιμοποιώντας τον Φουκώ στην εκπαιδευτική έρευνα‘, http://afterhistory.blogspot.com, 2013.
REVIEWS
‘It’s Tough at the Top‘ PESGB reviews, 23 October 2025.
‘The Periplus of Spur Tank Road‘ Erratum Reviews, 25 May 2025.
‘Skinship‘ Erratum Reviews, 17 February 2025.
‘ANIZAR‘ Erratum Reviews, 28 December 2024.
‘The Weather in Fritz Bemelmans Park‘ Erratum Reviews, 18 November 2024.
‘History of Shit‘ Minor Literature[s], 3 September 2024.
‘Performances for the End of Time‘ Heavy Feather Review, 13 January 2023.
‘Forms of Education: Rethinking Educational Experience Against and Outside the Humanist Legacy‘ Discourse, 44(3), 168-172, 2023.
‘Gentleman Overboard‘ Full Stop, 18 May 2022.
‘Books to Purge with: on Thomas Bernhard’s The Cheap Eaters’ New Humanist, November 2021. Posted online 20 January 2022.
‘Raising Free People‘ Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 30(4), 613-6, 2022.
‘Rituals Performed in the Absence of Ganymede‘ Full Stop, 20 May 2021.
‘Terminal Park‘ Full Stop, 18 January 2021.
‘Nihilism‘ Full Stop, 14 November 2019.
‘The Experience of Education in Anglo-Saxon Literature‘ British Journal of Educational Studies, 67(3), 411-413, 2019.
‘Against Meritocracy: Culture, power and myths of mobility‘ British Journal of Educational Studies, 66(2), 284-285, 2018.
‘Happiness, Hope and Despair: Rethinking the Role of Education‘ Policy Futures in Education, 15(6), 803-804, 2017.
‘Against Value in the Arts and Education‘ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(10), 1045-1046, 2017.
‘Book Review: A Companion to Foucault‘ Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, 2015.
‘Ideas of Education: philosophy and politics from Plato to Dewey‘ British Journal of Educational Studies 62(3), 355-357, 2014.
‘Meritocratic education and social worthlessness‘ British Journal of Educational Studies 62(2), 225-226, 2014.
‘Confucius, the Analects and Western Education‘ British Educational Research Journal 40(5), 908-909, 2014.
‘The Cambridge Introduction to Michel Foucault‘ Power and Education 1(3), 358-360, 2010.
‘Why Foucault? New directions in educational research‘ Pedagogy, Culture & Society 16(3), 315 – 320, 2008.
MISC
‘A Public Holistic Response to ‘Toward a Digital Cynicism.’ Public Philosophy
Journal, 5(2), 10-11, 2023
Ansgar Allen 