Thursday 18 July 2019

Tutoring for the Poetry School


Narrow Road, Deep North

This October I'll be running an online course for The Poetry School.

The following blog gives an in-depth overview of the themes and intentions behind the course and my impetus for wanting to run it.

In short, n/Northernness seems to be gaining gravitas in both cultural and political circles, so it seems timely to interrogate the many trajectories we might take when embracing (or, indeed, refuting) its manifestations and idiosyncrasies.  Tracing ideas of a/the n/North from every direction, I'll guide you, via writing exercises, close reading, feedback and conversation, to complete a short portfolio of poems which engage with your own northern land- and mindscapes.

If you've an interest in poetry and place and want to spend ten weeks (five fortnightly sessions) discussing and writing about 'the North', do sign up. Concessions and bursaries are available through the Poetry School, including a 30% discount to participants under 30.

Details

Dates:October 2nd - December 11th
Fee: £105.00

Wednesday 8 May 2019

Rich Seams: Poetry Podcasts

L-R: John Challis, Andrew McMillan, Degna Stone, Jake Morris-Campbell

Last autumn, I was invited over to Durham Town Hall to participate in a live podcast discussion with marras John Challis and Degna Stone. Curated by Andrew McMillan and commissioned by New Writing North's chief executive, Claire Malcolm, the recording forms part of a series investigating poetry in the (hazily defined) top half of the country.

Episode two has now gone live and can be streamed, beamed and downloaded --->here<---

Do listen to the first episode (and subsequent editions) as there's already some fascinating overlaps, repetitions and thematic concerns beginning to emerge as Andrew delves into the denes, burrows through the burns and channels through the chares, unpacking, unshackling and uprooting what, if anything, might be meant when our poetry fasers are set to 'up'.

In other good news: I passed my Ph.D. viva a fortnight ago and am now working my way through some minor corrections. More on that sometime soon, hopefully...

As for the matter at hand, if you liked my musings on poetry from County Durham (+ bad stottie cake reference) and want to take part yourself in shaping this amorphous discussion of what it means to be a poet connected to the/a n/North, do keep your eyes peeled for news of an online Poetry School course I'll be running from September called 'Narrow Road, Deep North'.

Wednesday 13 February 2019

On Submitting my PhD


Yesterday I submitted my PhD – a practice-led doctoral thesis in Creative Writing – to Newcastle University. The result of three and a half years of work, I began the research project formally in September 2015, first plotting it in the winter of 2014.

The Poets’ Hyem is an exploration of what it means to generate poetic placemaking in England’s North-East. A critical exegesis analyses four postwar poets, making a case for International Regionalism as a hallmark of modern poetry written about the area since the mid-twentieth century. The second – and majority – component of the thesis, Errata Slip for a Northern Town, is the manuscript for my first full-length collection of poetry, which I hope to have published as a book in the near future.



I’m hopeful that at viva, in the spring, it will make a sufficiently original contribution to knowledge and not require major amendments. From my current vantage (which, I admit, may be coloured by the glow of having handed in), the thesis makes for a robust addition to discourses surrounding place and poetry, and has the potential to catalyse  further work — either by myself, in a post-doc capacity, or by other researchers interested in regionalism and writing belonging to Bernicia.

Submitting a PhD comes with a kaleidoscope of emotions. I feel relieved to have finally handed the thing in, for it to (temporarily) not be of concern, but I also feel pretty melancholic. This is probably compounded by the anti-climatic nature of actually submitting the documents: I took two soft-bound copies and a USB stick to a centralised drop-off point at the university and was given a receipt. Quite a clinical, formulaic transaction, really. No bells or whistles, no banners and balloons.

I sat for a while afterwards in the Town Mouse and had a few pints. Did I feel less burdened or more, having jettisoned this significant portion of my adult life? I don’t really know yet, to be honest. I do think that my work is intelligent, nuanced and of doctoral standard. I have faith in my poems: they read well as a cohesive whole. Insofar as I have contributed to discourse, I feel that my critical argument – what I am calling a polyparochial poetics – is in keeping with the zeitgeist. In short, I think the PhD will set me up well and has value beyond Newcastle University and the North-East of England.

But I’m also not naïve enough to think there won’t be rough patches ahead. Notwithstanding the elephant in the room (the ‘B’ word), a PhD is by no means a golden ticket to a career in academia. If being part of a DTP (Doctoral Training Partnership) has shown me anything, it’s that there are hundreds, thousands, of highly talented ECRs (Early Career Researchers) out there, all vying for a limited pool of fellowships, lectureships and post-doctoral positions.

So, significant groundwork has been laid, but what gets built on it remains to be seen. I will write again after the viva, hopefully in late April, but for the time being I’m going to let all of this compost through my brain and work out where it might take me next.