Originally from Belfast, Elaine Canning is a public engagement specialist, writer and editor living in Swansea, South Wales. She holds an MA and PhD in Hispanic Studies from Queen’s University, Belfast and an MA in Creative Writing from Swansea University. She is currently Head of Special Projects at Swansea University, including the international Dylan Thomas Prize. As well as having written a monograph and papers on Spanish Golden-Age drama, she has published several short stories. Her debut novel, The Sandstone City, was published by Aderyn Press in 2022. She is also editor of Maggie O’Farrell: Contemporary Critical Perspectives (forthcoming, Bloomsbury, 2023). She is a member of the British Council Wales’ Advisory Committee and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Meet the team
Matthew Hughes is a Marketing Administrator for Special Projects at Swansea University. He joined the Cultural Institute in 2015 and set about integrating his skills in photography, creative design, and event management into projects ranging from the Dylan Thomas Prize, The Being Human Festival, and the Hay Festival. He has a keen interest in Welsh arts and culture and has promoted the works of many up-and-coming Welsh creatives throughout the years.
Among other previous creative projects, Matthew played a key role as curator of Dylan Thomas’s Swansea birthplace during the Dylan Thomas centenary celebrations in 2014 - extensively researching and recreating what the poet's bedroom resembled at the time that his first book '18 Poems' was published in 1934. In his spare time, Matthew can be found documenting the changing landscapes and people of west Wales through his photography.
Sidharth Damodar is the Marketing Administrator for DylanEd, and is an alumnus of Swansea University, having completed both his undergraduate and master's degrees within the very faculty he now works in. He joined at the end of 2021 and is very keen to develop his marketing and public relations skillset, fuelled by an innate love for poetry and literary arts. Having worked as a student ambassador, he has experience working at the Being Human Festival and the Scribblers Tour, amongst other cultural festivals.
Outside of work, he can be found grossly engaged in a variety of sports, with an especially passionate interest in Arsenal.
Sam Ward-Jones has worked for Swansea University for over four years, joining the Cultural Institute as a Marketing Administrator for Special Projects in January 2022. The newest member of the team, Sam brings over 25 years' administration experience to the role having worked in a variety of sectors including as a Sports PR and Marketing Executive for a topflight rugby club and as an Executive PA within the music industry. In recent years Sam successfully organised two large-scale charity events using her extensive event management, organisation, and project management skills. She now looks forward to implementing this experience working as part of the Cultural Institute team.