Shared Futures : Thank You!

'A British MLA with a festival feel'

This is – rather incredibly - the first national conference dedicated to English. 

The Cold Boat were in proud attendance across the festival to represent Poetry of Witness with events, film screenings and debates.

The conference was run by the English Association, University English, and the National Association of Writers in Education with the support of the Institute of English Studies and the Higher Education Academy: that is, all the major disciplinary bodies in English literature, language and creative writing. 

It aimed to celebrate the discipline’s intellectual strength, diversity and creativity and explore its futures in the nations of the UK and across the world. 400-600 people attended over three days, representing all sectors and career stages. Learned societies and interest groups within the profession were also represented in over 100 sessions: original research in academic panels; a literary salon; ‘how-to’ masterclasses; sessions on pedagogy; political briefings; plenary lectures from leading figures and a range of other forms of engagement. Around fifteen scholarly associations (e.g. the British Association of Modernist Studies, the British Association of Victorian Studies and the British Association for Renaissance Studies) ran panels.

Thank you to all who came along to share Poetry of Witness with us.

Update: an ekphrastic poem by Joanne Clement documents the conference  here.