Emily Critchley (born 1980) is an experimental writer and academic. Her writings have garnered numerous international awards, including the Jane Martin Prize for Poetry (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

) and the John Kinsella-Tracy Ryan Prize for Poetry, among others. Her work has been translated into several languages.

Early life

Critchley was born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and grew up in

Dorset, England Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to th ...

. Her mother is Greek. She states that her influences include

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

, the

Language poets The Language poets (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (magazine), ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Berna ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

, and

John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...

, among others.

Education

Critchley gained her B.A. from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, (University of Greenwich profile) her MA in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

, and completed a PhD entitled "'Doubts, Complications and Distractions': Rethinking the Role of Women in Language Poetry" at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

Critchley specializes in contemporary experimental writing. In 2006, she organized a three-day international conference for contemporary experimental women's writing at the University of Cambridge and another in 2010 at the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along wi ...

. She is an editor of ''Out of Everywhere 2: Linguistically Innovative Poetry by Women in North America & the UK'', the sequel to the poetry anthology ''Out of Everywhere'' published by Reality Street Press in 1996. She is a co-editor of ''#MeToo: A Poetry Collective''. Critchley has been anthologised and interviewed, and her work has been critically reviewed by Maryam Hessavi in ''

Poetry London ''Poetry London'' is a literary periodical based in London. Published three times a year, it features poems, reviews, and other articles. Profile Adopting the title of an earlier bimonthly publication which ran from 1939 to 1951, ''Poetry London' ...

'' (autumn 2019);

Peter Riley Arthur Peter Riley (born 1940) is a contemporary English poet, essayist, and editor. Riley is known as a Cambridge poet, part of the group loosely associated with J. H. Prynne which today is acknowledged as an important center of innovative ...

in ''

The Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000 ...

'' (summer 2019);

Isabel Galleymore Isabel Galleymore (born 1988) is a British poet and academic. In 2017, she was co-winner of the Eric Gregory Award. Galleymore's first collection, ''Significant Other'', won the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize in 2020. In 20 ...

in Prac Crit, 9 (August 2017) and Professor David and Christine Kennedy in Women's Experimental Poetry in Britain 1970 – 2010 (

Liverpool University Press Liverpool University Press (LUP), founded in 1899, is the third oldest university press in England after Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. As the press of the University of Liverpool, it specialises in modern languages, lit ...

, 2013). Critchley's writing has been compared to that of

Denise Riley Denise Riley (born 1948, Carlisle) is an English poet and philosopher. Life Riley lives in London. She was educated for a year at Somerville College, Oxford, and graduated from New Hall, Cambridge. She was, until recently, Professor of Literat ...

Leslie Scalapino Leslie Scalapino (July 25, 1944 – May 28, 2010) was an American poet, experimental prose writer, playwright, essayist, and editor, sometimes grouped in with the Language poets, though she felt closely tied to the Beat poets. Writes Hejinian: ...

, and

Mina Loy Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwy; 27 December 1882 – 25 September 1966) was a British-born artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to ...

. She has been performing her work since 2000. In 2004, she won the John Kinsella-Tracy Ryan prize for poetry and in 2011, was joint winner of the national Jane Martin Prize for Poetry. Critchley is Senior Lecturer in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

at the

. She currently lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She works as a librarian in Sandringham School in St Albans.

Critical writing

*Afterword to Adelaide Ivánova's The Hammer and Other Poems (The Poetry Translation Centre, April 2019) *Introduction t
#MeToo: A Poetry Collective
(Chicago Review, Summer, 2018) *'W.S. Graham and the Caught Habits of Language', talk, Newcastle Poetry Festival (summer 2018) *Entries on Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Rosmarie Waldrop, Jean Day, Vanessa Place, Jennifer Moxley and Alice Notley in The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry, ed. Ian Hamilton and Jeremy Noel Tod (Oxford University Press, 2013) *'Denise Riley: "Writing our / Difficulties,"' Poetry Review (2012) *'"Moi aussi, Marianne," or Moving the Targets, being a crypto-ironic response, etc.' The Claudius App (August 2011) *Guest editor of the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry, 3:2: a Greenwich Cross-Genre Festival edition (September 2011) *'"We live on buoyant fragments" (Andrea Brady): A further selection of American writers from the Greenwich Cross-Genre Festival,' Cambridge Literary Review, ed. Boris Jardine and Lydia White, 1:5 (May, 2011) *'A selection of North American women writers from the Greenwich Cross-Genre Festival (July 2010), and some thoughts about their work', Cambridge Literary Review, ed. Boris Jardine and Lydia White, 1:4 (Michaelmas 2010); pp. 9–43 *'Lyn Hejinian's Faustienne Beings-With', Stress Fractures, ed., Tom Chivers (London: Penned in the Margins, 2010), pp. 55–72 *'Leslie Scalapino's "alternative ways of seeing"', Delirious Hem, eds, Cara Benson, Elizabeth Bryant, Catherine Wagner (September 5, 2010) lesliescalapinotribute.wikispaces.com/file/view/Emily+Critchley7.pdf *Review of Lisa Robertson's Magenta Soul Whip, HOW2 Journal, 3: 3 (2009) *'" ubts, Complications and Distractions": Rethinking the Role of Women in Language Poetry', Hot Gun! ed., Josh Stanley, 1:1 (Summer 09) ), pp. 29–49 *'Post-Marginal Positions: Women and the UK Experimental/Avant-Garde Poetry Community', ed. Cathy Wagner, Jacket magazine, 1:34 (Oct 2007) *'Dilemmatic boundaries: constructing a poetics of thinking', Intercapillary Space, ed, Edmund Hardy, 1:4 (November 2006) www.lulu.com/items/volume_34/533000/533882/2/print/533882.pdf *A conference overview + introduction to the Cambridge Contemporary Experimental Women's Poetry Festival (organised by myself in 2006), How2 journal, vol. 3:1 (Summer 2007)

Published works

* ''When I say I Believe Women…'' (London: bad press, 2006) * ''Of All the Surprises'' (Switzerland: Dusie, 2007) * ''Who handles one over the Backlash'' (Norfolk: Oystercatcher press, 2008) * ''Hopeful For Love Are Th' Impoverish'd Of Faith'' (Southampton: Torque press, 2010) * ''Love / All That / & OK: Selected Writing'' (London: Penned in the Margins, 2011) * ''Sonnets for Luke'' (Liverpool: Holdfire press, 2011) * ''IMAGINARYLOVEPOEMS'' (Paris: Corrupt Press, 2011) * ''This is not a True Thing'' (London: Intercapillary Press, 2013) * ''Salutation to Poetry'' with John Hall (London: Crater Press, 2015) * ''Some Curious Thing'' (London: Barque Press, 2016) * ''Ten Thousand Things'' (Norfolk: Boiler House Press, 2017) * ''These. Insuing. Sonnets.'' with Eric Langley (London
Crater Press
2018) * ''Arrangements'' (Bristol: Shearsman Books, 2018) * ''Alphabet Poem: For Kids!'' with Michael Kindellan and Alison Honey-Woods (London: Prototype, 2020) * ''Home'' (London: Prototype, 2021)

Awards and accolades

National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by UK-based The Poetry Society and accepts entries from all over the world, with over 10,000 poems being submitted to the competition ...

(2020) -- Poems long listed *

Forward Prize for poetry 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 ...

(2018) -- Poems Highly Commended * Pacuare Nature Poetry Competition,

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

(2015) -- Runner up * Jane Martin Prize for Poetry (2011) -- National Winner * The John Kinsella-Tracy Ryan Prize for Poetry (

, 2004) -- Winner * The Other Prize (

, 2003) -- Winner for best original play

References

Sources

* Wheatley, David, ''Contemporary British Poetry'' (London: Palgrave, 2015), * Zword, Megan (2013), Review of ''Love / All That / & OK'', Hix Eros 2 (November 2013) * Kennedy, David and Kennedy, Christine, ''Women's Experimental Poetry in Britain 1970–2010: Body, Time & Locale'' (Liverpool University Press, 2013) * Skoulding, Zoe, ''Contemporary Women's Poetry and Urban Space: Experimental Cities'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) * Morris, Marianne, 'The Claudius App' (Summer 2011) * Spence, Steve, 'Stride Magazine' (Spring 2011) * Tuma, Keith, ''Chicago Review'', 53:1 (Spring 2007)

External links

* (University of Greenwich staff profile)
Critchley profile at A-gender

Interview (video) 6 October 2010, ''The other room''
(8 minutes)
Profile and audio files of poems at ''Authors of the now''

. "A Starling for Morning': critical irony and gender in Emily Critchley's Love / All That / & OK", ''The Claudius App'', 1.

, ''Stride Magazine''. Critichley review

by Emily Critchley, ''The Claudius App 1'' (August 2011)
Emily Critchley, "Post-Marginal Positions: Women & the UK Experimental/Avant-Garde Poetry Community"
''Jacket'' magazine, #34 (October 2007) * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Critchley, Emily English women poets Living people 1980 births 21st-century English dramatists and playwrights 21st-century English poets Academics of the University of Greenwich Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge English people of Greek descent English women dramatists and playwrights Greek people of English descent Writers from Athens Writers from Dorset 21st-century English women