Lucy Newlyn (born 1956) is a poet and academic. She is
Emeritus Fellow in English at
St Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...
, having retired as professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford in 2016.
Newlyn is a specialist in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century poetry.
Early life and education
Lucy Newlyn was born in 1956 in
Kampala
Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...
,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
. She grew up in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
, where she attended
Lawnswood High School, winning an open scholarship to read English at
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 1974. She took up her
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
place in 1975 and graduated with a
Congratulatory First in 1978. Her D.Phil. thesis, supervised by Dr Roy Park, was later published as an Oxford English Monograph by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
Career
In 1984 (after a year as a lecturer at
Christ Church) Newlyn took up a Stipendiary Lectureship at
St Edmund Hall. Two years later, she was elected as the A.C. Cooper Fellow and Tutor in English there – a permanent post which she held in conjunction with a CUF Lecturership in the Oxford English Faculty. Newlyn gained the title Professor of English Language and Literature in 2005. She is Honorary Professor at the University of Aberystwyth, an Advisory Editor of the journal ''Romanticism'', a Fellow of the
English Association
The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general.
It was founded in 1906 by ...
, and a Patron of the
Wordsworth Trust
The Wordsworth Trust is an independent charity in the United Kingdom. It celebrates the life of the poet William Wordsworth, and looks after Dove Cottage in the Lake District village of Grasmere where Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordswor ...
. She was literary editor of ''
The
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
''
''Oxford Magazine'' from 2011 to 2018. She was co-founder, with Stuart Estell, of the Hall Writers' Forum, an online resource launched in 2013 for the exchange of writing and discussion of literature and the arts. In 2015, she led the campaign to elect
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...
as Oxford
Professor of Poetry.
Work
Lucy Newlyn's longstanding research interests are eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literature, especially poetry and non-fictional prose in the
Romantic period; influences on
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
; the reception of Romanticism; creativity and multiple authorship;
allusion
Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...
and
intertextuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of a text's meaning by another text, either through deliberate compositional strategies such as quotation, allusion, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche or parody, Gerard Genette (1997) ''Paratexts'p.18/ref>Hal ...
;
reader-response and
reception theory
Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes each particular reader's reception or interpretation in making meaning from a literary text. Reception theory is generally referred to as audience reception in the an ...
.
She is an authority on
Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's '' ...
and
Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
,
and has published extensively in the field of English Romantic literature, including four books with
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
and the ''Cambridge Companion to Coleridge''. Her book ''Reading, Writing, and Romanticism: The Anxiety of Reception'' won the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
’s
Rose Mary Crawshay prize in 2001: 'a signal contribution to British Romantic studies and literary theory'.
Since 2003, Newlyn has been researching the prose of
Edward Thomas. Her edition of his book ''Oxford'' came out in 2005.
This was followed by several articles on Thomas, as well as ''Branch-Lines: Edward Thomas and Contemporary Poetry'', co-edited with Guy Cuthbertson.
She is general co-editor of ''Edward Thomas, Selected Prose Writings'', a six-volume edition for
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
Together, she and Cuthbertson edited ''England and Wales''. Newlyn's 2013 scholarly work, her book ''William and Dorothy Wordsworth: All in Each Other'' (2013), brought together many of her research interests.
Poetry
Newlyn is a published poet and anthologist, as well as an academic. Her first collection, ''Ginnel'' (Oxford Poets/
Carcanet
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
, 2005) concerns her ‘intense local attachment’ to the streets and alleys of
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
, where she grew up. ‘Baking’ was ‘Highly Commended’ by the judges of the
Forward Prize
The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...
and re-printed in ''The Forward Book of Poetry'' (
Faber and Faber, 2005).
Poems from the collection have also appeared in
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
,
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
,
The Yorkshire Post
''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...
,
Oxford Today
''Oxford Today: The University Magazine'' was a magazine for the alumni of Oxford University.[Contact details ...](_blank)
,
The English Review
''The English Review'' was an English-language literary magazine published in London from 1908 to 1937. At its peak, the journal published some of the leading writers of its day.
History
The magazine was started by 1908 by Ford Madox Hueffer (la ...
, and
The Oxford Magazine
''The Oxford Magazine'' is a review magazine and newspaper published in Oxford, England.[''The Oxford Magazi ...](_blank)
.
A recording of Ginnel, read by Sherry Baines, has been published as a ‘Daisy Book’ CD by the
Royal National Institute of Blind People
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss.
History
The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had eye ...
(RNIB).
Newlyn's second collection, ''Earth's Almanac'' (
Enitharmon Press, 2015) was written in the fifteen years after the death of her sister.
In 2019, Newlyn's collection of 135 sonnets about the Wordsworths, ''Vital Stream'', was published by Carcanet, in association with the Wordsworth Trust. In 2020, Newlyn's collection, ''The Marriage Hearse'', was published by Maytree Press. The collection explores the impact of infertility on an imaginary Edwardian couple.
In addition to her own poetry, Newlyn has published several anthologies of poetry and coordinated a number of collaborative writing projects. Together with Jenny Lewis, she was awarded a grant from
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
’s Institute for the Advancement of University Learning in 2002 to undertake research based on workshops at
St Edmund Hall.
Their findings (together with the students’ writing) were published in ''Synergies: Creative Writing in Academic Practice'' (2003; 2004). Newlyn was poet-in-residence for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in November 2005. She ran university workshops on ‘The Craft of Writing’ with
Christopher Ricks
Sir Christopher Bruce Ricks (born 18 September 1933) is a British literary critic and scholar. He is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University (US), co-director of the Editorial Institute at Boston Un ...
during his tenure as
Professor of Poetry; between 2001 and 2016 she ran regular writing workshops for students at
St Edmund Hall.
In 2021, she published ''The Craft of Poetry: A Primer in Verse'', a handbook on how to write poetry, written as poetry.
Memoir
Newlyn's personal experience of
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
is described in her fifteen-year memoir, ''Diary of a Bipolar Explorer.'' The book combines poetry with prose, and seeks to de-stigmatise mental illness.
Personal life
Married to economist Martin Slater, Lucy Newlyn has two step children and one daughter.
Selected publications
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newlyn, Lucy
1956 births
Living people
Rose Mary Crawshay Prize winners
Wordsworth family
English women poets
English literary critics
Women literary critics
20th-century English women writers
21st-century English women writers
20th-century English non-fiction writers
21st-century English poets
People from Kampala
Writers from Leeds
Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford
Fellows of the English Association
English women non-fiction writers
People educated at Lawnswood High School