The Cold Boat is led by Newcastle University creative writing PhD researcher Jo Clement with the support of Professor Carolyn Forché, Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, The Catherine Cookson Foundation and Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal.
Jo is a poet and PhD researcher investigating Gypsy Traveller representation in the wood engravings of Thomas Bewick. Supported by an AHRC Northern Bridge scholarship, Jo enjoys collaboration with artists and musicians, producing installations and poem-films which have been projected onto buildings, screened in libraries and art galleries, including Gateshead’s Shipley, where she was Poet in Residence. Awarded a Northern Promise poetry prize from New Writing North in 2012, she was most recently shortlisted for The Bridport and Melita Hume prizes. Her articles, poems and reviews are published by BLER, Butcher’s Dog, Forward, Society of Wood Engravers and The Ofi Press.