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About
'New Ways of Capturing, Collecting and Curating: Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive', was a Mellon Foundation (Public Knowledge Program) funded project that began in May 2022 and concluded at the end of November 2023.
The pilot project was a joint initiative between the University of East Anglia, the National Centre for Writing and Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service and took a community led approach to the collecting of archives from four dazzling voices in contemporary poetry.
The poets: Jay Bernard, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Gail McConnell and Joelle Taylor worked as Poets in Residence on the project, engaging in the process of archiving and reflecting on the experience in various ways.
The collections, gathered using the innovative 'Storehouse Model': a flexible loan approach to depositing, are now available by appointment for consultation within the British Archive for Contemporary Writing (BACW), part of UEA Library's Archives and Special Collections.
The project aimed to promote and preserve the archives of contemporary poets of colour, LGBTQ+ poets and writers from other historically underrepresented backgrounds and practises in the UK and Ireland.
The project team consisted of: Will Harris, Visiting Poetry Fellow; Dr Jeremy Noel-Tod, Principal Investigator, Dr Georgina Colby, Senior Research Associate and Justine Mann, Project Manager and Archivist. There was also an Advisory Board and a Stakeholder Consultation Group made up of members from a wide variety of institutions and disciplines both within the UK and internationally, representing poets, poetry publishers, public libraries, archives and creative and cultural engagement networks.
A detailed account of the achievements, methodology and recommendations arising from the project, as well as details of all those involved, can be found in the project report: 'Uncollected: Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive'. Publications from the Project · Publications · Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive (omeka.net)
There are two recorded events available which heard readings and reflections from the poets and contributions from members of the project team. The first at the launch of the project and the second at its conclusion. Events · Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive (omeka.net)
The archives of the four poets have been catalogued and are available at the links below:
This site provides access to curated exhibits from the archive and details of community based poet led workshops held in Norfolk public libraries during the summer of 2023.
To visit the archives, or to ask for further information, contact the Archives team at the University of East Anglia: via email
To access further information about the project, please read the comprehensive report highlighted above. The Principal Investigator, Jeremy Noel-Tod, can also be contacted via email
