English: Shared Futures – Caring for our Discipline During COVID II

This is our second English: Shared Futures online event this year, with sessions for English and Creative Writing colleagues in schools, colleges, and universities. We’ll hear from and about Early Career Academics; new work in eco-criticism, nature writing and engagement with schools and local libraries; and a conversation between Madhu Krishnan and Daljit Nagra, about his new book, indiom, forthcoming from Faber next year.

09:30 – 09:40 Introduction

Bob Eaglestone and Gail Marshall

09:40 – 10:40 Caring for ECRs in the Discipline

A panel of early career academics discuss the impact of COVID and the issues affecting their futures in HE English Studies; with Sally Barnden (KCL), Ellie Beal (MMU), Prudence Chamberlain (RHUL), Richard Fallon (Birmingham), Ahmed Honeini (RHUL), Vanessa Lim (IES), and Sarah Pyke (IES).

11:00 – 12:00 New developments in eco-criticism and nature writing

Academic and creative writers discuss their latest work, funded projects, and their work with schools; with Simon Kövesi (Oxford Brookes), Francesca Mackenney and Ralph Pite (Bristol), and Seni Seneviratne (Colonial Countryside Project).

12:00 – 13:00 Daljit Nagra and Madhu Krishnan in conversation

Daljit (Brunel) and Madhu (Bristol) will be discussing, and Daljit will be reading from, his new work, indiom, which is forthcoming from Faber next year. In it he focusses on how to create an English in poetry that best represents the ‘outsider’, that breaks from Standard English. They’ll also be discussing how to teach creative writing, and there will be time for Q&A.

Event chat

00:40:16 Sally Barnden: congratulations! it sounds like a wonderful book
00:42:00 Gail Marshall: Great and thoughtful start to the day, Ahmed. Thank you
00:42:14 Ahmed Honeini: Thank you!!
00:42:49 Sarah Pyke: I’m the IES Postdoc! Sarah/Sally confusion strikes again
00:43:44 Robert Eaglestone: sorry Sarah!
00:44:00 Sarah Pyke: no problem!
00:46:13 Gail Marshall: Great points re impact, Sally
00:46:40 Sally Barnden: no problem! Sally/Sarah causes no end of confusion, it’s entirely my parents’ fault!
00:51:39 Sally Barnden: such good points, Vanessa
00:51:57 Sarah Pyke: yes, this is so illuminating and well put
00:52:30 Ahmed Honeini: Agreed! The amount of times I’ve been asked about Faulkner’s reception in the Middle East is infuriating!
00:53:50 Alexandra Peilober-Richardson: Thank you! That was really illuminating.
00:53:54 Gail Marshall: Such important points, Vanessa. Thank you. Sobering and shaming for ‘global Britain’
00:58:12 Tasha Alden: Absolutely – that narrative about precarity being an unpleasant but unavoidable part of a normal career trajectory can mask just how much conditions have changed over the last 10/20 years, and there’s less awareness of this than there should be.
00:59:29 English Association (EA): https://englishassociation.ac.uk/the-good-practice-guide-for-employing-temporary-staff-in-english/
00:59:40 Karen McGivern: Excellent points- thank you.
00:59:55 Alexandra Peilober-Richardson: Really good points! Thank you.
01:00:49 Gail Marshall: Thanks, Ellie. *Really* helpful pointers and priorities
01:01:11 Ellie Beal: Thank you! x
01:04:27 Gail Marshall: Great questions, Richard
01:04:46 Simon Kövesi: Brilliant panel – thanks one and all – heaps of food for thought – but more importantly – action.
01:05:17 Ellie Beal: Great points Richard – hugely agree
01:05:19 Jennifer Richards: That’s a very good point Richard – I agree we need to do more work here, and we need to work with our PhD alumni who have made that transition. Thank you for your provocation.
01:05:44 Sarah Pyke: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-some-authors-used-pseudonyms-throughout-history-180975598/
01:11:09 Jennifer Richards: I’d be interested to know how many universities – and supervisors – have practical conversations about career futures with their PhD students, and how much knowledge there is about careers outside academia?
01:11:54 Simon Kövesi: magnificent thank you
01:11:57 Clare Lees: ‘Impossible futures’ really captures this entire, and entirely important session
01:12:05 Ellie Beal: I’ve been led to understand that these types of conversatons are actively discouraged by some HoDs
01:12:06 Karen McGivern: Sobering- but so important to hear. Thank you to all.
01:12:09 Gail Marshall: Thanks, Sarah. Much to think about, and DO.
01:14:21 Gail Marshall: There are training courses on this at Reading, but they’re quite generic. I wonder if we need to be more discipline-specific, and perhaps utilise our impact links/work better
01:17:41 Jennifer Richards: Thanks Ellie and Sarah. I think this issue is urgent. I think we need to gather examples of good practice (Gail has given one suggestion), and think how they fit our disciplines; we need to talk to our alumni who have made that transition, and understand – and share – how they use their PhD skills. We also need to maintain connections with all our graduates so we are not in a bubble 🙂
01:19:03 Ahmed Honeini: I’ve always found it insulting that the same people who keep emphasising the lack of jobs in the sector are oftentimes IN full-time academic jobs. It says more about them than it does about the ECR or PhD student, I think
01:19:04 Gail Marshall: I wonder how far the experience of English ECAs differs or is similar to that of other colleagues in other disciplines?
01:19:42 Sarah Pyke: Gail, that’s an interesting question. I think History may be broadly similar but I am not sure about others
01:19:52 Clare Lees: Agree with Jenny, and part of this important conversation needs to be about recognising the very different and valuable experiences, skills and knowledge of early career, post-PhD students. The point about demystifying the PhD is well taken. We undersell our remarkable researchers
01:22:08 Sally Barnden: I think it’s difficult for more senior people sometimes to recognise the scope of how much *worse* the sector/ job market has become
01:22:56 Clare Lees: Ahmed’s point goes to the heart of Sarah’s about within/without the university and how to use that bridge more effectively in both directions
01:23:01 Sarah Pyke: Yes, Sally, I agree and as Tasha said upthread even in the last ten years
01:23:15 Jennifer Richards: We need a broader discussion about futures, without seeing alternative careers as secondary (just as our panellists have been saying). I think this is the issue of our time.
01:24:28 Richard Fallon: Definitely
01:25:19 Clare Lees: I’d also like to bring Vanessa into this conversation because the International dimension is critical here
01:25:39 Clare Lees: Ah, Bob is already saying this. Sorry!
01:31:01 Jennifer Richards: What an amazing panel, thank you all. The Wellcome Trust have really pushed on changes to research culture, and universities are taking this seriously (especially those that rely on grants from the WT). We need to connect to those debates so our concerns are heard. But yes plase to practical solutions.
01:31:14 Gail Marshall: Agreed, Ellie
01:32:04 Clare Lees: Agreed, Sally
01:33:14 Alex Thomson: Funder policies can be problematic in terms of creating less precarious roles. This can be mitigated within the institution but my guess it depends on the financial situation of the dept and as we know, this varies a lot, often depending on what shape and size of unit the dept is embedded in.
01:34:01 Ahmed Honeini: Vanessa: this Graun article speaks to both our experiences! https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2016/may/06/what-does-a-russian-literature-expert-look-like-not-me-apparently
01:40:30 Alex Thomson: Never too early, Greg.
01:40:37 Ahmed Honeini: Amen!
01:42:58 Gail Marshall: This is definitely something we need to take up again at E:SF when – hopefully – we meet in person again
01:43:57 Ellie Beal: Yes, I would definitely like us to revisit this again
01:44:06 Clare Lees: Excellent point, Sally
01:46:18 English Association (EA): Brilliant idea, Bob
01:46:20 Gail Marshall: Great idea – very happy to do this
01:46:25 Greg Walker: yep
01:46:30 Ahmed Honeini: Sounds excellent – thank you all so much! 🙂
01:46:38 Richard Fallon: Thanks everyone!
01:46:41 Sally Barnden: thank you Bob and all—a great conversation!
01:46:50 Greg Walker: Yes, brilliant session. Thanks to all our speakers!
01:46:55 Sarah Pyke: thanks for inviting us! And yes, follow up would be great
01:46:58 Clare Lees: Include the IES too, Bob!
01:47:00 Vanessa Lim: Thanks all!
01:47:03 Alex Thomson: Does Jenny want to come in?
02:24:08 Robert Eaglestone: https://waysoflistening.net/
02:26:16 Robert Eaglestone: http://www.curlewmedia.com/gcse-natural-history
02:26:50 Karen McGivern: Wonderful!
02:42:56 Simon Kövesi: Sorry: my poet-tutors were: Karen McCarthy Wolf; Clare Shaw; Sarah Corbett; John Gallas. They were core to the thing and it was rude of me not to say their names! Project website (with readings of poems by Toby): www.brookes.ac.uk/the-meeting
02:43:14 Simon Kövesi: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/the-meeting/
02:45:31 Gail Marshall: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/colonial-countryside-project
02:54:48 Robert Eaglestone: Please can you give us a further feel of how the public responded to the various projects? Surprised? enchanted? Angry?
02:57:22 Alexandra Peilober-Richardson: Hello all, and thank you so much for your talks– Francesca mentioned the importance of literature (especially creative work) in changing how people engage with and think about the climate crisis, and I’m curious to see what the response to that is from the panellists. Especially when the conversation about the climate crisis is often dominated by politics and science.
03:01:53 Seni Seneviratne: A book of the commissioned writing from Colonial Countryside project will published by Peepal Tree Press. Out Spring 2022
03:02:23 Alexandra Peilober-Richardson: Thank you!
03:03:37 Tasha Alden: Thanks all!
03:07:46 Gail Marshall: That sounds fantastic
03:08:28 Clare Lees: Poetry Extra is a wonderful thing!
03:08:56 Robert Eaglestone: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b06qdjcn
03:17:38 Ellie Beal: I’m afraid I have to go, but thank you for such excellent topics today.
03:18:11 Madhu Krishnan: https://bakwabooks.com/product/your-feet-will-lead-you-where-your-heart-is/
03:18:28 Gail Marshall: Thanks, Ellie. Great to see – and hear – you
03:18:39 Robert Eaglestone: Thansk Ellie!
03:35:35 Gail Marshall: Such revelations
03:51:32 Madhu Krishnan: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/91318/american-letters-works-on-paper-i
03:52:12 Robert Eaglestone: The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How To Decolonize the Creative Classroom (BreakBeat Poets) Felicia Rose Chavez
03:57:37 Alexandra Peilober-Richardson: Thank you so much for the talk!!
03:57:38 Simon Kövesi: Thanks so much one and all! Thanks to Bob and Gail especially – ESF battles on!
03:57:43 Emily Hogg: Great event, thanks so much!
03:57:48 Madhu Krishnan: Huge thanks to Bob and Gail for organising!
03:57:57 Tasha Alden: Thanks everyone – this has been fantastic. Loads to think about. Hurray for E:SF!
03:58:04 Karen McGivern: Thank you to all speakers and to organisers. So much food for thought!
03:58:11 English Association (EA): https://englishassociation.ac.uk/9-july-2021-speaking-for-english-studies-in-uk-higher-education-2/
03:58:28 Greg Walker: Congratulations and thank you Bob and Gail, and Becky, it was a terrific group of discussions.!
03:58:29 Daniel Roberts: Enjoyed that conversation immensely. Spoke to lots of things I’ve seen and felt but not been able to express so well. Thanks to Daljit and Madhu!
03:59:35 Simon Kövesi: Here’s some (dreadful) 1820 music for you: https://youtu.be/N_JMae81jYU
04:00:12 Simon Kövesi: GOOD LUCK BECKY!
04:00:22 Alexandra Peilober-Richardson: Thank you for the event!!

About English: Shared Futures

THE STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, LANGUAGE AND CREATIVE WRITING IS AN IMPORTANT AND DYNAMIC ENTERPRISE.

We will celebrate the discipline’s intellectual strength, diversity and creativity and explore its futures in the nations of the UK and across the world.

An academic conference with a festival feel English: Shared Futures is the largest event for academics in English literature, language and creative writing. It is run by the major organisations of the discipline: The English Association and University English, and supported by the National Association of Writers in Education with Institute of English Studies and National Association for the Teaching of English.

The first English: Shared Futures conference in Newcastle in 2017 had 600 attendees drawn from nearly every Department of English in the UK, over 150 panel sessions, with sessions from sixteen scholarly societies, and a vibrant cultural fringe (including readings from three poets laureate). Stefan Collini wrote that the event “contributed to a real lift in morale”; Amanda Anderson praised the “extremely rich and important array of talks and sessions”; others found it a “field-defining event of huge significance at this political moment”.

English: Shared Futures fosters inclusivity and diversity. We encourage representation and participation from minorities, and are proactively working to reduce physical, social, and economic barriers to participation, and to develop an environment rooted in equal respect for all.