Poetry Centre
Source: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/hss/centres/poetry-centre Parent: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/research-centres
Director(s): Dr Niall Munro
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About us
Research impact
Leadership
Membership
Projects
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About us Research impact Leadership Membership Projects
About us
The Poetry Centre, which is based within the School of Education, Humanities and Languages at Oxford Brookes University, was launched in 1998 and hosts an exciting annual programme of events.\ \ These have included conferences and research seminars, workshops (including a special workshop for military veterans), exhibitions, poetry readings, and community projects. The Centre has a podcast, in which poets are interviewed about their work, and also acts as a base for the research being done into poetry in the School, as well as supporting teaching and learning.
The Poetry Centre is home to ignitionpress, an award-winning poetry pamphlet press with an international outlook which publishes original, arresting poetry from emerging poets.
Part of
Related courses
- Creative Writing (MA / PGDip / PGCert)
- English (PhD / MA by Research)
- English Literature (BA (Hons))
- English Literature with Creative Writing (BA (Hons))
- English Literature (with Foundation Year) (BA (Hons))
Research impact
Based in the School of Education, Humanities and Languages, the Poetry Centre has a highly active research culture. A number of academics within the school listed below work on poetry (in addition to other kinds of writing), and their work spans the ages: from the 1500s to the present day. The Membership section below has links to each researcher's individual page where you can learn about their work and interests.
In REF2021 (the national assessment of research across the country), the Poetry Centre was submitted as a case study to demonstrate the impact that academic work can have on public life. You can read more about this work (exploring war poetry and the commemoration of war) elsewhere on the Oxford Brookes website.
Other colleagues and former colleagues associated with the Centre also contributed case studies. You can read about Professor Simon Kövesi's work about bringing the work of the working class poet John Clare to different audiences, and the project associated with the research of Professor Alex Goody and Dr Eric White that allows marginalised young people the chance to express themselves through technology and art.\ \ These case studies contributed to English's success in REF2021, when it was placed 6th in the country for research excellence (out of 92 universities).
Leadership
Dr Niall Munro
Senior Lecturer in American Literature & Director of the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre
Membership
Staff members Collaborators
- Staff
- Collaborators
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Staff
| Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Claire Cox | Poetry Centre Development Manager | c.cox@brookes.ac.uk |
| Professor Katharine Craik | Director of Research and Professor in Early Modern Literature (1500-1750), Think Human Festival Director | kcraik@brookes.ac.uk |
| Professor Alex Goody | Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture | agoody@brookes.ac.uk |
| Dr Andrea Macrae | Associate Professor of Narrative | andrea.macrae@brookes.ac.uk |
| Dr Dinah Roe | Associate Professor and Research Lead for English, Creative Writing and Modern Languages, Reader in 19th Century Literature | d.roe@brookes.ac.uk |
| Dr Eric White | Associate Professor in American Literature | ewhite@brookes.ac.uk |
Projects
Active projects Completed projects
- Active projects
- Completed projects
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Active projects
| Project title and description | Investigator(s) | Funder(s) | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poetry Centre Interns The Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre runs an internship programme to encourage undergraduate students to become more involved in the Centre's wide and exciting range of activities. | Dr Niall Munro | From: September 2014 | |
| Black History Month competition For Black History Month 2023, the Poetry Centre is delighted to be running a special poetry competition inspired by the national Black History Month theme: 'celebrating our Black sisters'. | From: August 2023 |
Weekly Poem
The Weekly Poem initiative sends a free contemporary poem, published by an independent press, to your inbox every week! Click on the links to the right to sign up or to look through past Weekly Poems – running all the way back to 2007.
The presses participating in the initiative during the 2021–22 academic year are: Candlestick Press, Nine Arches Press, Bloodaxe Books, Bad Betty Press, tall-lighthouse, ignitionpress, and Seren Books.
We hope you will enjoy reading the poems and that you will be encouraged to support these presses by visiting their websites, signing up to their mailing lists, and buying their books.
Podcasts
The Poetry Centre Podcast focuses on the work of one poet or features discussion about poetry with poets and academics. Scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the link for the audio you would like to hear, or click on the Apple Podcasts link on the right in order to subscribe to the podcast series. You can also find us via other podcast providers like Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Literary Oxford
The city of Oxford is a hive of literary activity, with a long history of fostering some of the worlds most famous creative minds.
Regular literary events
- Catweazle - a warm, welcoming open-mic night often involving poetry and story telling, held at East Oxford Community Centre every Thursday night. Over 20 years old now!
- Hammer and Tongue - a night of performance poetry, with headlining acts and a poetry slam, held at various venues around Oxford.
- Georges Jamboree - a night of live music, comedy and performance poetry held on the first Monday of the month at the Jam Factory.
- Hear the word - a regular night (thats been going for 10 years now) for the performance of poetry, writing and songs open to all local writers, held at The Gardeners Arms, Plantation Road, Jericho.
- Short Stories Aloud - short, often original creative work, read or performed by actors.
Venues hosting regular literary events
- North Wall Arts Centre – a theatre and exhibition space which occasionally features performance poetry and storytelling.
- The Story Museum – a treasure trove of creativity, tucked away in central Oxford, devoted to childrens fiction. Hosts with regular literary events, including author lectures.
- Modern Art Oxford – the Basement Gigs at this venue often include nights of performance poetry, multimodal literary performances, storytelling and more.
- Blackwells – the Broad Street branch of this bookselling chain occasionally includes evenings of live performance poetry and spoken word within its literary event schedule.
- Pegasus Theatre – a lively theatre on Magdalen Road hosting a variety of plays.
- The Dukes Cut – a pub in central Oxford hosting poetry nights featuring the work of the Oxford University Poetry Society. You can find more details of Oxford (University) Poetry Societys activities here.
- Burton Taylor Studio – a small theatre near Gloucester Green offering innovative new plays.
Reading groups
- Blackwells– a few different kinds of reading groups run regularly at Blackwells on Broad Street.
- Short Stories Reading Group – short stories reading group at Joe Perks.
Writers groups
- Oxwords Oxford
- Jericho Poets
- Oxford Creative Writers
- Freehand- a writers group that meets monthly in Oxford.
- Stanza 2- a poetry writing group made up of members of the Poetry Society.
- Back Room Poets
- Oxford Poetry Society - the Oxford University poetry society, which runs frequent events and readings with local and internationally-renowned poets. The society can also be found on Facebook.
Literary and creative festivals
Oxfords literary heritage
- The Inklings – a group of writers, led by Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, who met and shared their work at various places in Oxford, not least the pub The Eagle and Child.
- Alice day – a day of events to celebrate Lewis Carrolls Alice!
- The Bodleian Library – one of Europes oldest and most beautiful libraries.
Resources
Weekly Poem publishers
The following publishers all generously contribute poems to this years weekly poem initiative:
- Arc Publications : from Todmorden in Lancashire, Arc publishes contemporary poetry from the UK and abroad, specialising in poetry in translation. Arc has been publishing for forty years.
- Anvil Press : publishing since 1968 and based in Greenwich, London, Anvil mainly publishes contemporary English poetry, with some Irish and American work, as well as work in translation.
- BOA Editions Ltd : BOA Editions, from Rochester, New York, has been publishing since 1976, and publishes both American poetry and poetry in translation.
- CB editions : began work in 2007, and has since published four titles a year in both poetry and fiction. The poetry has won the Aldeburgh Prize, received PBS recommendations, and various shortlistings for other prizes.
- Enitharmon Press : established in 1967, Enitharmon is based in London.
- Penned in the Margins : founded in 2004, Penned in the Margins is an independent publisher and live literature producer specialising in poetry and based in East London.Visit the Penned in the Margins website to sign up to the mailing list.
- Seren Books : (Seren means star in Welsh) based in Bridgend, South Wales. Originally conceived by Cary Archard and Dannie Abse as an offshoot of Poetry Wales magazine in the latters garage in Ogmore-by-Sea in the early 80s, under Managing Editor Mick Felton the press has gone from strength to strength and has published a wide range of titles including fiction, art books, and poetry.
- Shearsman Books : founded first in 1981 as a magazine, Shearsman now publishes new poetry from Britain and the USA, but also work in translation.
- Worple Press : founded by Peter and Amanda Carpenter in 1997, the press has published a wide range of authors, including Poetry Book Society Recommended Translations.
Other publishers
- Bloodaxe Books : founded in 1978, and located in Highgreen, Northumberland, Bloodaxe publishes poetry from all over the world.
- Copper Canyon Press : based in Port Townsend, Washington, and publishing poetry exclusively since 1972, Copper Canyons list contains work by well-known and emerging writers.
- Egg Box Publishing : operating out of Norwich, Norfolk, Egg Box aims to publish new and establishing writers.
- Oversteps Books : founded in 1992 by the poet and translator, Anne Born, the press has been run since 2008 by the poet and lecturer Alwyn Marriage. It publishes a wide range of established and new poets.
- Salt Publishing : started as a magazine in Australia in 1990, Salt began to publish books in the UK in 1999, and today publishes more than 80 books a year including poetry, biography, essays and literary criticism from authors worldwide.
- Two Rivers Press : founded in Reading in 1994 by Peter Hay, Two Rivers focuses on local poets and often explores and celebrates local history and environment.
Poetry societies and organisations
Do visit our list of local poetry societies, groups, and organised readings.
- Oxford University Poetry Society : a society run by students at Oxford University which hosts weekly readings during term-time and organizes an annual poetry reading competition, Poetry Out Loud. Non-Oxford people are very welcome to become members and/or attend readings.
- The Poetry Society : the Societys aims are to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry. Its programme of events includes readings, lectures and discussions.
- The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry : based at Queens University, Belfast, the Centre is a dynamic and vibrant focal point in Ireland for the writing, criticism and appreciation of modern literature.
- Poet in the City : a charity set up to develop new audiences for poetry and organize and host poetry events.
- The Poetry Book Society : an organisation devoted to developing and maintaining a readership for poetry in the UK.
Poetry online: texts, audio archives and podcasts
- The Poetry Archive : an online collection of recordings of poets reading their work (audio).
- Favorite Poem Project : an American site with footage of people talking about and reading their favourite poems (video).
- Poets.org (part of the Academy of American Poets) : an archive of over 700 poetry readings, lectures, and symposia (audio).
- PENNsound : an ongoing project committed to producing new audio recordings and preserving existing audio archives (audio).
- The Poem : dedicated to furthering contemporary British and Irish poetry; provides access to texts of poems.
Web-based poetry resources
- The Poetry Librarys poetry magazines archive : a searchable archive of UK-published poetry journals - especially good for contemporary poetry.
- Voices and Visions : free documentaries about American poets.
- Intute: a free online service designed to find the best resources on the web for study and research. Although it closed in July 2011, there is still an archive of useful material.
Resources for writers
Here at the Poetry Centre were not in a position to provide feedback on poems youve written, or to offer advice about getting them published - but we can recommend the following sites:
- Frequently asked questions about getting poetry published, answered by The Poetry Society.
- The Poetry School : an organisation which focuses on teaching the reading and the writing of poetry to adults; the tutors are well-known published poets.
- Guardian Poetry Workshops : monthly workshops, each hosted by a different published poet who sets an exercise, chooses the most interesting responses, and offers an appraisal of them.