About

The Birkbeck Contemporary Poetics Research Centre (CPRC) is a forum for the study and performance of contemporary poetries, and research into their historical, political and theoretical contexts. The CPRC serves as a focus and rich resource for the work of a group of PhD students located in the School of English and Humanities, and works to develop existing links and new initiatives with the poetry community in London. We host poetry readings, performances, workshops, exchanges, seminars, lectures, and conferences. Over the last ten years the CPRC has established two web journals and has developed a publishing venture, Veer Books. We are committed to fostering the whole range of poetic practice, including sound, visual, and digital poetry, with particular emphasis upon work that is innovative in its materials and forms.

The Birkbeck CPRC is directed by Dr Steve Willey, who is always interested in hearing from postgraduates considering doctoral work in the field.

A contact for our active student group is Vicki Sparrow (vhnsparrow@gmail.com) who is undertaking AHRC funded research on the ‘Legal Subject and Lyric Subjectivity in the Poetry of Anna Mendelssohn’.

Advisory Committee: Will Rowe, Anniversary Professor of Poetics (Birkbeck College); Carol Watts, Professor of English and Head of School (Sussex University); Stephen Mooney, Lecturer in Creative Writing (University of Surrey); Allen Fisher, Emeritus Professor of Poetry & Art (Manchester Metropolitan University); Ulli Freer, Poet and Publisher; Pierre Joris, Professor (State University of New York, Albany); Alice Notley, Paris; Jerome Rothenberg, Emeritus Professor (University of California at San Diego); Colin Still, Director of Optic Nerve.