The Institute for Creative Practice guest research seminar with Dr Steve Ely (University of Huddersfield)
In this seminar, Dr Steve Ely will discuss his poem, Orasaigh.
Following this seminar, attendees will be invited to listen to a soundwalk setting of the poem, composed by Duncan MacLeod (University of Nottingham)
A drinks reception will be held after the event
Abstract: Orasaigh is a book-length, 'apocalyptic landscape' poem anchored in the eponymous tidal island off the coast of South Uist, near the settlement of Boisdale. Although the poem never loses sight of its setting and context, it nevertheless roams widely and associatively through space and time, exploring history, culture, nature and conflict in an extended meditation on the precarity of life in the context of the Anthropocene. Orasaigh (with photographs by Uist-based photographer, Mike Faint), will be published by Broken Sleep Books in August, 2024. Orasaigh has already been showcased in two 2023 exhibitions in Uist, and the poem has been set to music by the composer Duncan MacLeod.
Steve Ely has written twelve books or pamphlets of poetry, most recently Eely (2024), Lives of British Shrews (2023), The European Eel (2021), and Lectio Violant (2021). Orasaigh, a collaboration with photographer Mike Faint, is forthcoming in August 2024. His books have been nominated for or have won a number of prizes and awards, including the Forward Prize for best first collection, the Ted Hughes Award, the Northern Writers Award for Poetry, the Michael Marks Award, the Laurel Prize and others. He teaches creative writing at the University of Huddersfield, where he is also Director of the Ted Hughes Network.