Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge) and The Poetry School online eBook

Some of the poems we wrote earlier this year during the collaborative project between the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, and The Poetry School, are now online. They can be found on The Poetry School Campus site in an eBook entitled Sharpened into Absence, produced by Julia Bird of The Poetry School.

Thank you, Julia, for your hard work in preparing the publication.

Thank you to all who made this unique course not only possible but enjoyable, riveting, challenging and more besides.

I read my two poems, 'Chattermarks' and 'Pepys Island', yesterday evening at our local Poetry Cafe ...


Postscript
Julia adds a word about viewing the eBook online ...

'To view the book full screen, click the four arrow icon at the right of the grey toolbar at the bottom, and then you can make the print bigger or smaller by moving the slider between the ‘-‘ and ‘+’ magnifying glass icons.'

Museums at Night Festival ~ Coming to a Museum near you?

Who dares to loiter in our lofty halls
while scholars burn their midnight oil at home?

© Caroline Gill 2009

from 'Sleepover at the Museum'

Did you know that the annual  Museums at Night Festival  takes place this week from 15-17 May?

You can read about the organisations behind the festival here and here.  

Back in 2009, The Haddon Library (of Archaeology and Anthropology in the University of Cambridge) arranged a poetry competition to mark its own 70th anniversary in 2006 and the University’s 800th. My poem, 'Sleepover at the Museum', was awarded Third Prize. You can read it here.

Cambridge at Dusk

There are lots of night time museum activities going on, so why not take a look here and see what you can find in your neck of the woods. 

BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz will be hosting a documentary about the initiative on BBC2 this Saturday night, May 17, at 19.00hrs.

Here are some links to a variety of Museums at Night activities ...

• Cambridge museums, including the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. 

• Museums at Night - London

• Keats House (a chance to get creative)

• Mr Smith at the William Morris Gallery (a chance to help in the creation of some posters)  

• Manchester after hours

• Black Country Museum - Red by Night

 ... and there are many more. Do check the dates and times carefully as the events take place over a three day period. You may need to book in advance for some of the activities. 

Poetry at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

I can hardly believe that my 'three-month museum residency' as part of a group at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge, via The Poetry School, is into its final month. It has been an unbelievable experience so far, with input sessions from poets and SPRI researchers alike.

We have studied and handled artefacts. We have looked at documents and charts. We have spent time in the museum and we have flexed our poetry muscles in unexpected ways. It has been exciting to learn a different vocabulary and to meet new people.  

three-month museum residency√

three-month museum residency

three-month museum residency

three-month museum residency

three-month museum residency√

three-month museum residency

Cambridge from the Backs

Back in the 1990s I worked for five terrific years in one of the Cambridge University archives, and I have been aware of a certain sense of 'return'. It is often the case, however, that one fails to appreciate one's surroundings and local resources to the full until it is time to move on!

'Behind the Scenes at the Scott Polar Research Institute' developed out of the Cambridge 'Threshold' residencies that took place in a number of university museums and institutions in 2013. The project was showcased at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas last autumn, and I was very inspired by what I heard at the event.

Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2013 ~ The Poetry of Things

We were really excited by the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, and particularly glad that we were able to obtain tickets for the 'Poetry of Things' event in the Cast Gallery of the Cambridge University Museum of Classical Archaeology.

The participating Thresholds Project poets were National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Jo Shapcott and Sean Borodale. The poets were in conversation with Steve Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English in the University of Cambridge, and Isobel Armstrong, Emeritus Professor of English at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Gillian Clarke

Each poet described aspects of his or her residency in an assigned museum - or University Library in the case of Imtiaz Dharker. The poets presented poems that had been written on their residencies and the audience were invited to ask questions about the creative process and about the way in which the poets had responded to their allotted collections.

The Cast Gallery

I am looking forward to another poetry event in Cambridge, this time in December in the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. The Fen Poets and their Young Curators will be launching a new poetry pamphlet on artefacts in museums throughout the eastern region. I am looking forward to reading my contribution. More details to follow ...