English Language and Literature Research (UoA27)
Literature and creative writing (UoA27) is part of Newcastle University's School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics. The School has a long and prestigious history, and each year we attract excellent visiting researchers from around the world.
Who we are
Literature and Creative Writing (UoA27) is part of Newcastle University's School of English Literature, Language, and Linguistics. The School has a long and prestigious history, and each year we attract excellent visiting researchers from around the world.
Our researchers
We are submitting 46.9 colleagues to REF2021. As well as research staff, the department also includes over 60 postgraduate students and 24 postdoctoral researchers.
Award-winning lliterature and creative writing research
Our researchers have produced an extraordinary body of work, ranging from medieval literature to contemporary works. We lead in areas including:
- Early Modern Literature
- Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Literature
- Children’s Literature
- Postcolonial and Black Atlantic Literature
- Digital and Scholarly Editing
- Poetry
Cross-disciplinary research initiatives
We welcome opportunities for interdisciplinary literature and creative writing research. We lead on the following Faculty research groups:
We also contribute to the University’s Centres for Heritage and for Data.
Literature and creative writing research funding
We received substantial external funding in the period from 2014 to 2020. This came from a broad range of funders, including major UKRI-funded collaborations such as:
Research partnerships
We work in partnership with a variety of organisations outside the University. Through these partnerships, we aim to generate major societal, economic, and cultural benefits for our region and the wider world. These partnerships also provide us with access to unique and world-renowned resources and literary collections.
Part of our work focuses on having an impact in the North of England. Regional partners include:
- Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books
- Bloodaxe Books
- Live Theatre
- Northern Stage
- Wordsworth Trust
In addition to this, we collaborate with partners around the world. We also collaborate nationally and internationally with, for example:
- the British Library
- Georgetown University’s Lannan Centre for Poetics and Social Practice
- the British School at Rome.
These partnerships significantly enhance our postgraduate culture.
Examples of our collaborative work
Seven Stories
Our partnership with Seven Stories gained recognition in 2015 through the Vital North Partnership. This is a strategic collaboration funded by Arts Council England and the University.
The partnership has enabled Seven Stories to establish itself as a national and international leader in children’s literary heritage.
Bloodaxe Books
Our partnership with Bloodaxe Books has played a key role in diversifying their list of BAME poets. The most notable example of this was the publication of The Mighty Stream: Poems in Celebration of Martin Luther King (2017).
This is a ground-breaking transatlantic anthology of BAME writers. It was co-edited by NCLA poets Jackie Kay and Carolyn Forché.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to diversity and inclusivity. Our aim is to create a supportive working environment for everyone. We:
- were the first School of English to hold an Athena Swan Bronze Award
- are currently diversifying our curriculum
- have recently introduced a BME scholarship
- subscribe to the University’s Racial Equality Charter
Research case studies
We established he Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA) in 2009 in the School of English. Our aim was to build new audiences for poetry and enhance the cultural life of people in the North East of England.
Since 2013, the NCLA has focused much of its work on shifting the centre of balance of the UK’s poetry scene northwards. A significant collaboration has been with the Northumberland-based publishing house, Bloodaxe Books.
Through a series of innovative, interdisciplinary research projects, NCLA researchers have:
preserved and curated Bloodaxe’s archive, making its material publicy accessible for the first time
helped Bloodaxe Books position itself more within the global literary marketplace.
contributed to the cultural regeneration of the North of England and of Scotland including Hull City of Culture (2017-2019)
The NCLA has helped establish Newcastle itself as a ‘poetry capital’. Its schedule of live events, readings and performances, and its major annual poetry festival, have grown audiences.
An important strand of our literary research involves close collaboration with regional companies.
These partnerships have developed novel methods of deploying texts. This generates increased competitiveness for business.
We enjoy partnerships with Bloodaxe Books, and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books.
Innovate UK fund Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). KTPs help businesses develop through innovative academic research. This allows delivery of specific strategic benefits to the non-academic partner.
One such partnership comprises Bill Herbert’s work with local construction companies. Their aim is to embed text-based creative practices in house-building projects.
Herbert worked in partnership with Bussey and Armstrong. They implemented an arts strategy for a residential property development in Darlington.
They used vernacular poetry as a resource for the regeneration of the landscape for residential use. The arts strategy he developed has had a significant beneficial effect on those who purchased houses at Westpark.
The major impacts claimed here are on housebuilding companies and ongoing guidance and policy.
Darlington Borough Council adopted Herbert’s approach as standard practice. Other construction companies now implement this strategy on other sites.
Seven Stories is the National Centre for Children’s Books. It's based in Newcastle upon Tyne, and is the UK’s foremost museum and archive of modern children’s literature.
Established in 2005, it has attracted over 50,000 visitors a year. It holds a significant collection of manuscripts, original artwork and editorial material. relating to British children’s books published from the 1930s to the present.
The Children’s Literature Unit (CLU) in the School of English at Newcastle works in collaboration with Seven Stories.
The recent focus of the partnership has been on understanding and expanding Seven Stories’ collection. They want it to better represent the nation’s children’s literature.
They want to develop exhibitions and outreach strategies to take the collection to a wider and more diverse audience.
Our research and collaborations undertaken with Seven Stories and other partners has had impact. It has led to significant changes in the ways Seven Stories collects, curates and presents children’s literary heritage.
CLU research has:
- underpinned Seven Stories’ acquisitions strategy, with a particular focus on diversity and inclusion
- ensured Seven Stories’ capacity to gain funding
- developed new ways to present the collection through exhibitions and innovative digital resources
Race remains largely divorced from questions of place and national belonging in Britain. Recent events such as the Windrush scandal and Black Lives Matter movement testify to this.
We work with place-based poetry by black and British Asian artists. Our research shapes and expands public debate around Britishness. We work to decolonise curricula and diversify the content of cultural institutions.
This has involved at least 250 schools and over 5,000 students and teachers across mainland Britain. Our collaborations enrich how young people understand the imagination of national belonging. They expand the curriculum of available texts, and inform educational practice.
We collaborate with libraries, museums and arts organisations. This informs the curation of national exhibitions and events. It also enriches their permanent holdings and online content.
There was wider media uptake of the research, including:
- the national press (the Independent, the Guardian and the Scotsman)
- radio and television (BBC, PBS)
- online (windrush.org.uk)
This coverage has helped inform a public conversation on black settlement in Britain.