Denise Riley (born 1948,

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

) is an English poet and philosopher.

Life

Riley lives in London. She was educated for a year at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, and graduated from

New Hall, Cambridge New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. She was, until recently, Professor of Literature with Philosophy at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

and is currently A. D. White Professor-at-large at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. Her visiting positions also included a writer in Residence at the Tate Gallery in London and visiting fellow at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She was formerly a Writer in Residence at Tate Gallery London, and has held fellowships at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and at Birkbeck,

. Among her poetry publications are '' Penguin Modern Poets 10'', with

Douglas Oliver Douglas Dunlop Oliver (14 September 1937 – 21 April 2000) was a poet, novelist, editor, and educator. The author of more than a dozen works, Oliver came into poetry not as an academic but through a career in journalism, notably in Cambridge, Par ...

and

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Early life and education Sinclair was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 11 June 1943. From 19 ...

(1996).

Work

Her poetry interrogates self-hood within the lyrical mode. Her critical writings are on motherhood, women in history, "identity", and philosophy of language. Her poetry collections include ''Marxism for Infants'' (1977); the volume ''No Fee'' (1979), with Wendy Mulford; ''Dry Air'' (1985); ''Stair Spirit'' (1992); ''Mop Mop Georgette'' (1993); ''Selected Poems'' (2000); ''Say Something Back'' (2016), which was nominated for a Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection; and ''Lurex'' (2022). Riley’s non-fiction prose includes ''War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother'' (1983); '''Am I That Name?': Feminism and the Category of Women in History'' (1988); ''The Words of Selves: Identification, Solidarity, Irony'' (2000); and ''Impersonal Passion: Language as Affect'' (2005).

Awards and honors

*2012

Forward Poetry 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 ...

, Best Single Poem, "A Part Song" *2012

Ted Hughes Award The Ted Hughes Award was an annual literary prize given to a living UK poet for new work in poetry. It was awarded each spring in recognition of a work from the previous year. It was a project which ran alongside Carol Ann Duffy's tenure as Poet ...

, shortlist *2016

, Shortlisted, Best Collection, ''Say Something Back'' *2017

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is a Canadian poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, two separate awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. I ...

, Shortlisted, International, ''Say Something Back''

Bibliography

''Poetry:'' *''Marxism for Infants'', Cambridge, UK: Street Editions, 1977. *''No Fee'' (with Wendy Mulford), Cambridge, UK: Street Editions, 1978. *''Dry Air'', London: Virago: 1985, . * ''Mop Mop Georgette: New and Selected Poems 1986-1993'', London: Reality Street Editions, 1993, . *''Penguin Modern Poets 10'' (with Douglas Oliver and Iain Sinclair), Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1996. *''Denise Riley: Selected Poems'', London: Reality Street, 2000. *''Say Something Back'', London: Picador, 2016. *''Szantung'', Lodz: Dom Literatury, 2019 (English-Polish bilingual edition, selected and translated by Jerzy Jarniewicz) . *''Selected Poems'', London: Picador 2019 *''Lurex'', London: Picador 2022 ''Non-fiction:'' *''War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother'', Virago, 1983, . *''"Am I That Name?": Feminism and the Category of "Women" in History'', Macmillan, 1988, . *''Poets on Writing: Britain 1970-1991'', Macmillan, 1992. *''The Words of Selves: Identification, Solidarity, Irony'', Stanford University Press, 2000, . *''The Force of Language'' (Denise Riley with Jean-Jacques Lecercle), Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 . *''Impersonal Passion: Language as Affect'', Duke University Press, 2004, . * Stephen Heath, Colin MacCabe and Denise Riley, editors, ''The Language, Discourse, Society Reader'', Palgrave, 2004, . *''Time Lived, Without Its Flow'', Capsule Editions, 2012, . *

References

External links

Denise Riley
a short article by John Muckle from

PN Review ''P. N. Review'' is a periodic publication in the United Kingdom, on the subject of poetry. Each issue includes an editorial, letters, news and notes, articles, interviews, features, poems, translations, and a substantial book review section. It i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Denise 1948 births Living people 20th-century English philosophers 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English philosophers 21st-century English women writers Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British Poetry Revival Cornell University faculty English women philosophers English women poets Feminist studies scholars People from Carlisle, Cumbria English philosophers of language