Poets Respond to Covid-19: Collaborative UK and International Poetry Project

Our project proposes the writing, exchange, publication and discussion of poetry as a significant cultural response, benefiting the UK (and global) public's processing, healing, and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our approach includes editing an anthology of 30 poets (15 UK / 15 other countries) responding to COVID-19, and an accompanying interactive website enabling collective public participation/engagement with poetry. CI and PI will situate poetry as a mode of response to COVID-19 in a multi-format essay speaking to our contemporary moment and within the context of other historical poetries of crisis (published in a peer-review journal, and also the anthology/website). The website (edited by PI/CI) will mitigate distancing and isolating effects of lockdown, inviting people to engage in forum discussions of COVID-19-related poetic performances and Q&A sessions. It will also provide a curated platform for public-submitted poetry responding to COVID-19. Target audiences include those suffering bereavement, physical or mental health issues, and those in need of 'wellbeing' (in line with the long-published research regarding the therapeutic value of reading and/or 'reflexive' writing of poetry). The print book (published 01/2021) formulates an immediate, static artistic response to COVID-19. The website will be edited for 12 months from the contract's proposed start (06/2020), enabling dynamic ongoing responses, exploring the impact of the virus as it requires ever-changing modes of engagement. The website further proposes value in its legacy-archiving and its exemplary use of digital technologies, enabling discourse (in this case, poetry) to be freely accessible during this crisis and future lockdowns.