Invitation and call for participation – Inaugural Loop Day

You are warmly invited to come to our inaugural LOOP Day (LOOP = Laboratoire ouvert de l’oeuvre poétique) on Thursday March 10^th 2022, a day devoted to the study of English-language poetry in all its forms, including practice-based research approaches.

This event will take place at the Maison de la recherche, Université d’Artois in Arras. If coming from Paris, there is a train leaving Paris-Gare du Nord at 07.52, arriving in Arras at 08.40. The campus is ten minutes’ walk from the rail station. The day will end at 16.45 and there is a train to Paris-Nord at 17.17. Those of you unable to make it to Arras will be able to participate via a Zoom link. This event is organised under the aegis of the Université d’Artois research group Textes et Cultures (UR 4028).

Please see below programme details for our day. This is the structure of the day, with participants invited to propose brief—10-15 minute—presentations within these categories. This outline is flexible and offers of presentations outside these categories are welcome. Work in progress, drafts of papers meant for delivery at future conferences or of book chapters, or of ideas to be developed into research, will be gladly received.

You are naturally welcome to come and join us, whether you are giving a presentation or not.

In order to enable me to plan numbers for lunch and breaks, please confirm your on-campus presence by February 20^th. For those giving a short presentation, please send your proposal to adrian.grafe@univ-artois.fr by February 26th. Please note that this supersedes previously mentioned deadlines.

Program for the day

MORNING (9am-12.15pm)

Welcome
 1.  New Voices: presentations of new poets (possible examples: Jay Bernard, Danez Smith, Gorman, Hodges), or new volumes, including readings of one or two poems;
 Break
 2. Thinking Poetry: discussion of Ben Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry//Christopher Ricks’s article In Theory, which will be circulated beforehand to all participants.
 Lunch

  AFTERNOON (1.45-4.45pm)

 3. Poetry and the Arts: a consideration of poems in relation to music and the visual arts.
Break
4. Creative Writing: presentations on the theory and practice of teaching poetry writing. We will close the day by offering a poetry-writing workshop, and will be pleased to receive suggestions for activities and exercises.