Month: April 2023

Call for Proposals: Climate Crisis, Lyric Crisis?

Posted on by rebecca.kosick

Climate Crisis, Lyric Crisis?:

Contemporary Poetry and the Environment

 

‘Un-/

natural says the news. Also the body says it.’ Jorie Graham

 

‘I place my feet/

with care in such a world.’ William E. Stafford

 

‘Task: to be where I am.’ Tomas Tranströmer

 

What is the role of poetry in times of loss and unravelling? How do poets respond to environmental distress – and register the unnaturalness of the current weather – even as they continue to bear careful witness to their local landscapes and places? If ignorance about what is lost ‘undermines the reality of the world’, as Zbigniew Herbert put it, then how might poets affirm reality without also affirming negation?

We invite proposals that explore these and related questions. Any approach is welcome, although we are especially interested in presentations that offer close readings of contemporary poets. Papers can be anywhere between 15-20 minutes long, and we particularly welcome submissions from postgraduate students.

Further details:

This symposium will take place at the University of Bristol, from 1.30-7.30 on the 25th of May. The day will consist of academic papers, a poet’s panel featuring Hugh Dunkerley, Carrie Etter and Yvonne Reddick, and conclude with in person readings by Hugh Dunkerley and Yvonne Reddick and an online reading by Alycia Pirmohamed.

If you’d like to present a paper, please submit abstracts to William Wootten and Michael Malay at the following addresses: william.wootten@bristol.ac.uk & m.malay@bristol.ac.uk

April Events with the Bristol Poetry Institute

Posted on by rebecca.kosick
The Bristol Poetry Institute is involved with a number of events coming up this month. We hope you can join us. All are very welcome!
  • Price: Free
    Time: 18:00 – 19:00
    Join Samantha Walton, Jason Baskin and Cliff Williamson in this panel discussion, chaired by Madhu Krishnan, as they discuss poems of past and present and consider what it really means to ‘write the city’. This event will be BSL interpreted and live captioned. Presented in partnership with Bristol Ideas and Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival.
  • Annual Reading with Denise Riley (21 April)
    Price: Free
    Time: 18:00 – 19:00
    The Bristol Poetry Institute, with the support of the Department of English and School of Modern Languages, are very pleased to present British poet and philosopher Denise Riley as this year’s annual reader. The event will last one hour and comprise of a poetry reading and a question and answer session. A 20-minute book signing with the poet will follow the reading.
  • Watch Words: The Furnivals and Text (as) Art in the Long Sixties (22 April) 
    Price: £5 – £10
    Time: 10:00 – 18:00
    Taking John and Astrid Furnivals’ work as a point of inspiration, this conference will explore the intersection of text and art during the long sixties, considering connections to a range of contemporary cultural, political, economic, and technological concerns.
  • Multilingual Poetry Reading (23 April)
    Price: FreeTime: 15:45 – 16:45
    A special poetry reading featuring multilingual poets in Bristol. English text versions will be projected in the background. The showcase will be headlined by DL Williams, performing work from their collection Interdimensional Traveller, exploring British Sign Language and English. The event will be BSL interpreted. Presented in partnership with Lyra Bristol Poetry Festival.
  • Catalan Poetry Showcase (27 April)
    Price: Free
    Time: 18:00 – 19:00

    The Bristol Poetry Institute, in collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull and the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies, are pleased to invite you to a showcase of recent Catalan poetry. This one-hour event will feature bilingual readings with English translations of four Catalan poets, with the special collaboration of Dominic Jaeckle, writer and editor of Tenement Press.