Michael James' Report

Although less exotic than many of last year's Santander Travel Award recipients, the award allowed me to attend the duration of the 'What Happens Now: 21st Century Writing in English' conference at the University of Lincoln, where I delivered a paper entitled: 'Avoided/Avoiding Politics: Trade Unions in the Poems of Helen Mort and Steve Ely'.

As a first-year PhD student, having the opportunity to attend the conference and meet other researchers and academics working on contemporary literature gave me the opportunity to begin to understand the current issues and debates surrounding contemporary literary scholarship and an insight into how my own work could be situated within this constantly evolving field.

The conference was predominantly concerned, understandably, with 21st century fiction, with poetry only being represented in one panel - the one at which I presented - of the, roughly, twenty panels that were running during the week. Yet, for someone whose work is solely located within the poetry field it was amazing to get to listen to papers that ran the whole gamut of contemporary fiction that opened up a number of avenues into thinking about my own work.

Alongside the papers we were treated to poetry readings by Oli Hazzard and Rebecca Perry (whose Beauty/Beauty is easily one of my favourite poetry collections of the past few years). There were also performances from Andy Smith, presenting his work The Preston Bill, and Ava Hunt, performing her show Acting Alone. Acting Alone was a particularly affecting piece which combined autobiographical storytelling of Hunt's visits to Gaza, and her attempts to evade the authorities while bringing theatre to areas effectively under occupation, with a social commentary of how we do 'care' and 'empathy' in the modern world. If nothing else, bringing these readings and performances into the realm of such a large academic conference worked to show me the way in which creative practice and research can, and should, work side-by-side, rather than being considered as separate practices.

I, personally, was delighted with how my own paper went. With the EU referendum result only a few days before, my work, particularly the trade union aspect, seemed to be even more apt (unfortunately) than when it had been written. Having the experience of delivering my paper alongside long-time, seasoned, academics has given me a confidence in my project going forward which I would not have received otherwise. At the Q&A session after the three papers - my own, Anthony Rowland presenting on the poetry wars, and Samual Cooper's reading of Jeff Derksen's The Vestiges - fielding questions from the audience and having academics from different fields and institutions showing an interest in (and critiquing) work that I have given so much time and enthusiasm to was an incredible feeling that showed that there is an interest in my project and that I am (hopefully) moving in the right direction.

PhD research in the humanities involves an inordinate amount of time alone and reading about things that most friends have little-to-no interest in, however excited you might be about them. Although my Santander Travel award only took me a few hours away from Royal Holloway and was used to cover the relatively mundane essentials of conference fees and accommodation, I simply wouldn't have been able to do it without the award.