Students from the Warwick Writing Programme in SCAPVC provide their own very personal reflections in poetry on the construction and significance of this landmark building for the Arts at Warwick.

On Thursday, 12 November 2020 the University celebrated completing the final storey of the new Faculty of Arts Building with a “topping out” ceremony.

Explore with Professor Silvija Jestrovic (Theatre and Performance Studies) some ideas from her recent work about the presence and absence of the author, in ‘The Author Dies Hard’. Siilvija challenges us to think about the questions ‘Who is the author?’ and ‘Where is the author?’. Her wider work looks at how the author is constructed through cultural and political imaginaries and erasures, intertextual and intertheatrical references, re-performances and self-referentiality, and what the politics and ethics of these constructions are.

Hear from Dr Jonathan Skinner (English and Comparative Literary Studies) about his critical and creative work in the field of ecopoetics. Jonathan illuminates for us the importance of the writing and study of poetry in environmental contexts, and highlights the important work that poetry can do in times of environmental crisis. He reads here his poem ‘Paragraphs on Forest Bathing’, written for the HS2 protest encampment at Cubbington Woods, Warwickshire.

In the second of our ‘Health, Wellbeing and the Arts’ Faculty of Arts at Home films, explore with Dr Elizabeth Barry (English and Comparative Literary Studies) ‘Beckett and the Age of Covid’. This film presents her fascinating research on the representation of aging in work of Samuel Beckett. Liz is interested in how Beckett’s work can be understood in relation to the experience of aging in lockdown and beyond, and how the current pandemic amplifies generational tensions.

Associate Professor Michael Meeuwis (English and Comparative Literary Studies) explores the history of Victorian theatre and, particularly, the Victorians’ love for amateur theatricals at home. Michael makes the link between these performances and how we’re keeping ourselves entertained during lockdown.

Then&Now is a student led-research project run by students in the Faculty of Arts in collaboration with the Modern Records Centre. Find out more about the project here.

New Faculty of Arts building artwork commission. Can you spare 10 minutes to talk to artist Matthew Raw and to express your feelings and plans about the move of the Arts and Humanities departments into the new building? He is interested in talking to anyone who will live with the building (and mural!) every day. If you would like to be involved, please contact Sarah Shalgosky asap at S.H.Shalgosky@warwick.ac.uk.

Mika Watkins studied English Literature at Warwick, before going on to create and executive-produce the hit YouTube premium series Origin. Her writing credits include Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix horror series Cabinet Of Curiosities; Stan Lee’s Lucky Man on Sky 1; and BBC1 period drama Troy: Fall of a City.

Mika will return to the English Department next Wednesday, 1^st February to share her experiences in the TV and film industries with current Arts Faculty students.