Shefali Banerji, M.A. – Doctoral Researcher
As a PhD researcher, my work focuses on the British Spoken Word Play. I completed my MA in English at the University of Calcutta, specialising in Postcolonial Studies, following which I also engaged in doctoral-level research on British-Caribbean literatures at Trinity College Dublin. My passion for poetry has always informed my academic work, such that my undergraduate dissertation focused on the poetry of Ted Hughes and D. H. Lawrence and my most recent publication studies the debut poetry collections of Ocean Vuong and Fatimah Asghar. I am also a published poet active in the Indian spoken word scene which underpins my interest in exploring the transnational influences of the British spoken word movement.
Marie Krebs, BA – Student Assistant
I am a student at the Department of English and American Studies as well as the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Studies of the University of Vienna. I have worked as a tutor for courses in grammar and literature. In my free time, I have been a member of the Students Acting Shakespeare Society (SASS), also at the English Department, and written blog posts for the NGO / NPO TEDxVienna. For Poetry Off the Page, I will provide administrative support and assist in literary and cultural research.
© Elisabeth Gierschele
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Ass.-Prof. Dr. Julia Lajta-Novak – Principal Investigator
I am an Elise Richter Research Fellow and hold a tenure-track professorship for Anglophone Literature and Mediality at the University of Vienna. I am the author of Gemeinsam Lesen (2007 – a book on reading groups) and Live Poetry: An Integrated Approach to Poetry in Performance (2011). I am an editor of the European Journal of Life Writing and have published extensively on biographical fictions about women artists. My (co-) edited books and journal issues include a special issue of Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik on Poetry and Performance (2016), a special issue of Life Writing on the theme of “Life Writing and Celebrity” (2019), the collection Experiments in Life-Writing (2017), and a special issue of the European Journal of Life-Writing about “Women’s Lives on Screen” (2021). www.julianovak.at
© ÖAW Daniel Hinterramskogler
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Mag. Claire Palzer – Doctoral Researcher
I am a PhD researcher at the University of Vienna, focused on Irish spoken-word poetry as part of the “Poetry off the Page” project. My passion for Irish literature and cultural studies was cemented during my year abroad at University College Dublin. This served as the foundation for my diploma thesis on Irish women’s fiction and the 1916 Easter Rising, for which I received the Excellence Award of the Department of English and American Studies in Vienna. I am myself a published poet who has performed in the Irish poetry scene and I also studied women slam poets intensively during my degree.
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PD Dr. Martina Pfeiler – Senior Researcher & Deputy PI
I am the author of Sounds of Poetry: Contemporary American Performance Poets (2003) and Poetry Goes Intermedia: U.S.-amerikanische Lyrik des 20. Und 20. Jahrhunderts aus kultur-und medienwissenschaftlicher Perspektive (2010). I have written articles on contemporary spoken word poetry including on Jamaica Heolimeleikani Osorio, Saul Williams, and Anida Yoeu Ali. I co-edited Pott Meets Poetry. Die erste illustrierte Poetry Slam-Anthology des Ruhrgebiets (2014) with Minu Hedayati Aliabadi. In 2017 I received the venia legendi in American Literature and Cultural Studies with a Habilitation-thesis titled Ahab in Love: The Creative Reception of Moby-Dick in Popular Culture at TU Dortmund (in preparation for publication), including archival research in New Bedford and at Harvard University. Between 2016 and 2021 I taught courses at the intersections of U.S. American Literature, Media Studies, and Cultural Studies, while acting as commissionary chair in American Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum. Within Poetry Off the Page, my focus is on poetry slam. http://www.martinapfeilercrossroads.com
© Wilke
Dr. Shalini Sengupta – Postdoctoral Researcher
My PoP research explores intersections between literary and avant-garde performance traditions in the UK. I received my PhD from the University of Sussex, UK, and was fully funded by the Chancellor’s International Research Scholarship. My doctoral work looked at the aesthetics and politics of ‘difficulty’ in modernist and avant-garde women’s poetry, shedding light on little-discussed British poets like Anna Mendelssohn, Geraldine Monk, and Bhanu Kapil. In 2021, I was nominated for the Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award at Sussex, where my dissertation earned honourable mention. I’m a Ledbury Poetry Critic and have published work in modernism/modernity; Poetry Book Society; Poetry Wales; Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry; Contemporary Women’s Writing; and The Bloomsbury Companion to Contemporary Poetry in Ireland and the UK.
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Russell Thompson – Liaison Archivist, Apples & Snakes
I have had several layers of involvement with live poetry over the years. I spent a decade as London programmer for Apples and Snakes, followed by two years coordinating their archive project and helping to build their Spoken Word Archive website. As a practitioner of the artform myself – performing as Rachel Pantechnicon and one half of Project Adorno – I have taken a dozen shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, and my CV includes appearances at Glastonbury, WOMAD and Latitude. I juggle my PoP work with a complementary (and equally fascinating) job at the National Poetry Library in London.
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Dr. Emily Kate Timms – Postdoctoral Researcher
My PoP research explores the aesthetics and politics of Black British spoken word. I received my PhD from the University of Leeds and my thesis investigates the intersections of Postcolonial Studies and Age Studies. I have published work in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Moving Worlds, and Essays & Studies and was an Editorial Assistant for Moving Worlds and Stand. During my studies I conducted archival research in Aotearoa New Zealand and completed a placement on developing a festival archive for NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago. My undergraduate work on the AHRC ‘Leeds Poetry 1950-1980’ archive won the Edward Boyle Award and my MA dissertation analyses British ‘little’ poetry magazine culture. I won a University of Leeds Partnership Award for organizing the Poetry and Audience 60th Anniversary exhibition and poetry slam.
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Former Members:
Franziska Klein, BSc, BA – Research Intern (2021)
I am currently doing a Research Masters at the University of Maastricht and am supporting the PoP team as a research intern. Throughout my Research Master program, I have focused on the intersection of arts, culture, and technology. I am interested in how new forms of (social) media and technology are influencing spoken word poetry and identity politics in poetry performance. With an interdisciplinary background in American Studies and Biology, I am excited to see how different fields of study will come together to form a theoretical framework for poetry performance research.
