Dr Simon Perril

Job: Professor of Poetic Practice

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8818

E: sperril@dmu.ac.uk

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Personal profile

Simon's poetry publications include The Slip (Shearsman 2020), In the Final Year of My 40s (Shearsman 2017), Beneath (Shearsman 2015), Archilochus on the Moon (Shearsman 2013), (Shearsman Nitrate (Salt 2010), Hearing is Itself Suddenly a Kind Of Singing (Salt 2004); the chapbooks Newton’s Splinter (Open House 2012), A Clutch of Odes (Oystercatcher 2009); and appearances in the anthologies Sea Pie: A Shearsman Anthology of Oystercatcher Poetry (Shearsman 2012), Gathered Here Today (Knives forks and spoons press 2012), and New Tonal Language (Reality Street Editions 1999). His poems have featured in leading journals including PN Review, Poetry Wales, Jacket, Tears in the Fence, Angel Exhaust, Fragmente, Salt, Jacket, The Gig, Shearsman, Pages, CCCP, Pilot, Hearing Voices, Cleaves. He has also been translated into Dutch by Stanza: Internationale Pöezie.

As a critic he has written widely on contemporary poetry, specialising in Late Modernist, ‘Linguistically Innovative’ or Anglo-American vanguard poetry and poetics. He has editing the books The Salt Companion to John James (Salt 2010), and Tending the Vortex: The Works of Brian Catling (CCCP 2001). He has contributed to many critical anthologies such The Cambridge Companion to British Poetry 1945-2010 (Cambridge University Press 2015), and Modernist Legacies: Trends and Faultlines in British Poetry Today (Palgrave 2015); and many book chapters and refereed journal articles on poets such as Tom Raworth, Anna Mendelssohn, Peter Riley, Andrea Brady, John Tranter and Peter Manson.

You can watch his inaugural professorial lecture here, containing three poetry film pieces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJoI30MzLGs

You can watch him reading at London’s Xing the Line poetry series on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7mFpV-4Cbs and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ypN-Vie5s4&feature=relmfu ; and reading in Leicester here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVV1x6u2rmM&t=13s

Simon has appeared regularly on BBC Radio Leicester, reading his work, being interviewed, and talking about National Poetry Day, and World Poetry Day, and the States of Independence publishers’ fair co-organised by De Montfort’s Leicester Centre for Creative Writing and industry partner Dahlia Books. For more information on States of Independence, visit the website: https://leicestercentreforcreativewriting.our.dmu.ac.uk/states-of-independence/

Simon is particularly interested in formal innovation in all aspects of Creative Writing practice, and currently supervising 4 practice-based PhD students working in diverse forms and projects: a ‘speculative biography’ of the 90s music scene, a ‘queer’ exploration of migrant identity and autobiography, a multi-platform creative experiment examining the ‘Millennial’ generation, and a memoir that challenges standard representation of visual impairment and mental health.

Publications and outputs

The Slip
The Slip Perril, S. D. The Slip is the final volume of Perril’s trilogy excavating a crime scene at the centre of archaic lyric. We can’t know whether ancient Greece’s first lyric poet Archilochus ‘really’ used his Iambic prowess to curse Lycambes’ family to its grave for a broken marriage oath. But neither can we doubt that his poetic legacy, in Antiquity and beyond, was a by-word for judgements over the acceptability, or otherwise, of indulgence in poetic harm; just as the literary form of Iambic he is famous for initiating is a locus of ethical crises. So, here are the last steps of the ‘wolf walker’ Lycambes, undergoing his curse in the Dog Days of summer on the cusp of following the death of his daughters with his own, and reminiscing. Central to this reminiscence are the early expeditions to colonise Thasos he undertook with Telesicles, Archilochus’s father, and that doubtless confirmed, if not established, the bond between the families that he shatters in breaking his oath. In pottery, the slip is a liquified suspension of clay in water and was painted onto the areas of ancient pots intended to emerge black in the firing process. Needless to say, notions of the slip also encompass all manner of acts of evasion, disguise, and the tying of a noose. Perril, S. (2020) The Slip. Swindon: Shearsman.
'Ode on the Departing Year'
'Ode on the Departing Year' Perril, S. D. This 10-poem sequence continues my exploration of the serial poem, and the Coleridgean Conversation Poem. Perril, S. (2019) 'Ode on the Departing Year' , Tears in the Fence, 69,
'According to John James: a Poem with Many Authors'
'According to John James: a Poem with Many Authors' Perril, S. D. This sequence, In Memoriam John James, was initiated as a chain poem by Kelvin Corcoran. Contributors were invited to write two stanzas continuing the opening to James' poem 'A Theory of Poetry.' Perril, S. (2018) In: Corcan, K. (Ed) According to John James: a Poem with Many Authors. Bristol: Shearsman Books.
In The Final Year of my 40s
In The Final Year of my 40s Perril, S. D. Join Simon Perril as he writes an ecstatically elastic 50th birthday poem bidding adieu to his 40s. Written on the skin of the moment, the membrane of occasion, these poems nod, wink, cajole, caress, proclaim and defame their way across 80 plus freewheeling stanzas. Perril, S. (2018) In The Final Year of my 40s. Bristol: Shearsman.
'Hollowed be Thy Name: for Denise Riley'
'Hollowed be Thy Name: for Denise Riley' Perril, S. D. This poem was commissioned by the editors for a volume of writings celebrating the 70th birthday of poet and theorist Denise Riley. Simon Perril, Hollowed be thy Name' In Ágnes Lehóczky & Dr Zoë Skoulding eds. The World Speaking Back. Norwich: Boiler House Press
'Janis Raups, From The Refutation of Colour'. In: Robert Sheppard et el., Twitters for a Lark: Poetry of the European Union of Imaginary Authors, conducted and co-created by Robert Sheppard.
'Janis Raups, From The Refutation of Colour'. In: Robert Sheppard et el., Twitters for a Lark: Poetry of the European Union of Imaginary Authors, conducted and co-created by Robert Sheppard. Perril, S. D. This collaboration with Professor Robert Sheppard involved inventing and writing as Latvian poet Janis Raups, as part of Sheppard's European Union of Imaginary Authors’ project. This collaboration with Professor Robert Sheppard involved inventing and writing as Latvian poet Janis Raups, as part of Sheppard's European Union of Imaginary Authors’ project. Robert Sheppard and others, Twitters for a Lark: Poetry of the European Union of Imaginary Authors, conducted and co-created by Robert Sheppard. Bristol: Shearsman, 2017. ISBN 978-1-84861-565-6
'The Man Who Turned to Paper' - and three more new poems
'The Man Who Turned to Paper' - and three more new poems Perril, S. D. Ten poems commissioned by Fortnightly Review, including the sequence ‘The Man Who Turned to Paper.’ Fortnightly Review, Nov 2017 Perril, S. (2018) 'The Man Who Turned to Paper' - and three more new poems, The Fortnightly Review, November 2017.
Beneath
Beneath Perril, S. D. Perril, S. (2015) Beneath. Bristol: Shearsman
Transliteracy: Crossing Divides
Transliteracy: Crossing Divides Perril, S. D.; Thomas, Sue; Joseph, Chris; Laccetti, Jessica Monica; Mason, Bruce; Mills, Simon Transliteracy might provide a unifying perspective on what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century. It is not a new behaviour but has only been identified as a working concept since the Internet generated new ways of thinking about human communication. This article defines transliteracy as "the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks" and opens the debate with examples from history, orality, philosophy, literature, and ethnography. Thomas, S., Joseph, C., Laccetti, J., Mason, B. Mills, S. (2015) Transliteracy: Crossing Divides. In: Qualley, D. (ed.) Participating in Cultures of Writing and Reading. Boston/New York: Bedford St Martins, pp. 151-171.
“Kinked up like it wants to bark”: Contemporary British Poetry at the tomb of the Poète Maudit’
“Kinked up like it wants to bark”: Contemporary British Poetry at the tomb of the Poète Maudit’ Perril, S. D. This essay discusses the poetry of Sean Bonney, Peter Manson, and Grace Lake / Anna Mendelssohn in the context of what it means to use the trope of the Poet Maudit in a twentieth century fin de siecle.It examines the use and infuence of Nineteenth Century French poetry on British vanguard poetry of the 1990s and first decade of the 'noughties'. Perril, S. (2015) “Kinked up like it wants to bark”: Contemporary British Poetry at the tomb of the Poète Maudit’ in Modernist Legacies: Trends and Faultlines in British Poetry Today ed. David Nowell-Smith, Abigail Lang. New York/Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 95-109

Click here to view a full listing of Simon Perril's publications and outputs.

Key research outputs

Newton’s Splinter (Open House 2012)

Nitrate (Salt 2010)

The Salt Companion to John James (Salt 2010)

A Clutch of Odes (Oystercatcher 2009)

Hearing is Itself Suddenly a Kind Of Singing (Salt 2004)

Research interests/expertise

Dr Perril’s research expertise lies in Creative Writing, and contemporary Anglo-American poetry and poetics, with particular leanings towards the ‘experimental’ (Modernism, Avant-Garde, Postmodernism, Linguistically Innovative, Late Modernist, British Poetry Revival).

Areas of teaching

Creative Writing

Qualifications

Phd in Contemporary Poetry, Cambridge University,
MA in American Literature, Leeds University
BA Hons in English Literature, Anglia Ruskin University

Courses taught

On the undergraduate Creative Writing BA (Hons) degree, Simon teaches Writing Identity, Writing and Context, Writing Place. In the past he has taught all manner of literature courses (Modernism, Postmodern American Poetry, Romanticism, Victorian Literature, Decadence, Critical Theory).

Membership of professional associations and societies

National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE)

Conference attendance

Conference Papers

“Nitrate: creative practice as research”, Canadian Creative Writers & Writing Programs conference, “Creative Writing in the 21st Century”, Thursday May 10th — Sunday May 13th 2012, Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Toronto.

“‘the words you can & do remember / by the hand to write / defy the night’: John James and the resistance to gravity”. Birkbeck Centre for Poetics Research, Keynes Library, London WC1, 9th March 2012.

‘“Kinked up like it wants to bark”: Contemporary British Poetry at the tomb of the Poète Maudit’. Paper given at the International conference Legacies of Modernism: The State of British Poetry Today, 9-11th June 2011, Université Paris-Diderot, Institut Charles V, 10, rue Charles V, 75004 Paris.

“Treasure Islands: Douglas Oliver, Hannah Arendt and the Pathos of Novelty” paper given at Variations on the Theme of Harm: A One-Day Conference on the Work of Douglas Oliver, Dept of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies and the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, December 5th 2009.

“Up the Northampton NILE - Paddle Provided (demonstration of the Northampton Integrated Learning Environment)” with Dr Ruth Robbins. Given at the Studying Poetry conference November 28th 2003, University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield

“One’s Regard Per Se: Leslie Scalapino’s Moebius Comic Strip” Given at Postmodern Poetry: An International Conference 30-31 March 1998, Exmouth Campus, University of Plymouth. July 1998.

“Being Apprehended, Being Overlooked: Barbara Guest’s Fair Realism” Given at "Something We Have That They Don’t”: Post-War Anglo-American Poetic Relations conference held at Centre For English Studies, University of London, July 1998.

“Hanging on Your Every Word: J.H.Prynne’s Bands Around The Throat” Given at The Works of J.H. Prynne: A One Day Colloquium December 15th 1998, English Faculty, Cambridge University.

Poetry And Artificial Intelligence”, given at the Assembling Alternatives international poetry conference / Festival held at the University of New Hampshire, U.S.A. 29 August - 2 September 1996.

“Response And Responsibility In J.H. Prynne’s Word Order”, given at the Identity And Community In Contemporary British Poetry conference held at the Centre For English Studies, University Of London. September 1 1996.

“Tom Raworth’s Eternal Sections and Recent Debates Concerning The Politics Of signification”, given at the Twentieth-century Graduate Research seminar, English Faculty, Cambridge. March 11 1995 .

“J.H. Prynne’s The Oval Window”, given at the Twentieth-century Graduate Research seminar, English Faculty, Cambridge. May 1994.

April 24 1993 : “A Reading Of Brian Catling’s The Stumbling Block”, given at The Third Cambridge Conference Of Contemporary Poetry, Kings College May 1993.

Selected Poetry Readings / Public Performances (since joining DMU)

Poetry reading at the xing the Line series, The Apple Tree, London WC1X 0AE, 20th April 2012
Invited to give a talk on John James, and then an evening poetry reading, at The Birkbeck Centre for Poetics Research, Keynes Library, London WC1, 9th March 2012.
Reading with visuals at Sussex Poetry Festival, Nightingale Theatre, Brighton, July 1st, 2011
Featured poet at Shindig! Reading series, The Western, Leicester, 27th June 2011
Invited to talk on my book Nitrate at Open Meeting of the Poetry and Poetics Research Group, Edge Hill University, 11th November, 2010.
Reading to launch the first issue of Cleaves magazine at the Turkey Café, Leicester, March 2010
An installation of an audio-visual version of my book of poems Nitrate, was screened on a loop all night at the Phoenix digital Arts Center, Leicester for the Cpulse Launch event 29th January 2010. I also gave a live poetry reading.
Reading at the States of Independence Independent Publishers Fair that the Creative Writing team co-hosted with Five Leaves Press, March 2010 – and which drew in 500 visitors, and was successful enough for Derby to use our model for a similar event themselves.
Launch reading for Nitrate as part of Salt Poetry Night at Cultural eXchanges alongside the internationally respected poets Tom Raworth and John James.
Reading at Salt Poetry’s 10th Anniversary event, The Punter, Cambridge, 28th January, 2010
Clutch of Odes Launch at the Western Pub, Leicester,2009

Current research students

Emma Conway, full-time, PhD, First Supervisor
Pam Thompson, P/T, PhD, First Supervisor
Hannah Stevens, P/T, PhD, First Supervisor

Externally funded research grants information

£2,500 funding from the Henry Moore Foundation, January 2001 (towards the completion of Tending the Vortex: The Works of Brian Catling).
JISC TechDis: Undergraduate Creative Writing and E-inclusivity
Total: £ 2010 (Commissioned July 2008; interim report written in January 2009; final report submitted in May 2009).

Internally funded research project information

Research into Teaching 2007-2008: Journeying Beyond the Page: New Media and undergraduate Creative Writing. Total: £3000.
Research Into Teaching 2008-2009: Towards Creative Design: Total: £3, 243.00.