Karen Simecek
Associate Professor and Director of Student Experience and Progression (DSEP) for the philosophy department. I am a Senior Fellow of HEA (SFHEA).
Profile
My research interests are in Philosophy of Poetry (including performed poetry), Philosophy of Voice and the Emotions. I am working on issues around the value of reading and performing poetry in terms of how this experience can enhance our understanding of ourselves and contribute to our sense of moral progress. You can read more about my research in this interview by Richard Marshall for 3:AM Magazine and listen to an interview by Toby Tremlett for Common Room Philosophy.
I am an ordinary member of Trustees Committee for the British Society of Aesthetics. I'm the Poetry category editor on Philpapers and a member of the editorial board for Bloomsbury Studies in Philosophy and Poetry (editors James Reid and Rick Furtak).
Current Projects
- Words, Voices, Bodies: the ethics of writing and performing poetry with Poet in the City
- Empowering Young Voices with Andrew Cooper (Co-I) and Coventry Boys and Girls Club
Publications
Books
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Articles and book chapters
- 'Linking Perspectives: A role for poetry in philosophical inquiry' (2022), New Directions in Metaphilosophy ed Yafeng Shan, special issue of Metaphilosophy [open access]
- 'Literary Interventions in Justice' (2021) with Kate Kirkpatrick and Rafe McGregor, Estetika: European Journal of Aesthetics 59 (2) [open access]
- 'Listen to me! The moral value of the poetry performance space' (2021) In: English, Lucy and McGowan, Jack, (eds.) Spoken Word in the UK. Routledge.
- 'Cultivating Intimacy: the use of the second person in lyric poetry' (2019), Philosophy and Literature 43 (2)
- 'New directions for the Philosophy of Poetry' (2019), Philosophy Compass 14 (6) e12593
- 'Teaching and learning guide for new directions for the Philosophy of Poetry' (2019), Philosophy Compass 14 (6) e12610
- 'The Uses of Poetry: Renewing an Educational Understanding of a Language Art' (2017) with Viv Ellis, Journal of Aesthetic Education 51 (1)
- 'Beyond Narrative: Poetry, Emotion and the Perspectival View' (2015) British Journal of Aesthetics 55 (4).
- 'On the seeming incompatibility between Poetry and Philosophical Inquiry',(2013) Estetika, The Central European Journal of Aesthetics 50 (1).
Special Journal Issues
-
The Uses of Poetry, special issue of Changing English (2016), guest edited with Kate Rumbold, vol. 23 (4)
- 'Actual Texts, Possible Meanings: The Uses of Poetry and the Subjunctification of Experience' (2016), with Andrew Green and Viv Eillis, The Uses of Poetry, Special Issue of Changing English, vol. 23 (4)
- ‘Affective and Cognitive Responses to Poetry in the University Classroom,' (2016) with Kate Rumbold, The Uses of Poetry, Special Issue of Changing English, vol. 23 (4)
Book reviews and review chapters
- 'Freeman's The Poem as Icon' (2021), British Journal of Aesthetics
- 'Affect theory' (2020), The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory 28: 414-433 (also for 2019; 2018; 2017)
- Review of Michael Boylan's Ficitve Narrative Philosophy: How Fiction can act as Philosophy (2019) NDPR
- 'Bernard Harrison's What is Fiction For? Literary Humanism Restored' (2016), British Journal of Aesthetics 56 (4):424-427.
- 'John Gibson's (ed.) The Philosophy of Poetry,' (2016) British Journal of Aesthetics 56 (3):320-322
Public-facing work
- 'Of Many Voices: A Poetic Gift of Togetherness', essay with a poem by Momtaza Mehri, Poetry Review autumn 2021
- Discussion on 'What's going wrong with modern arts prizes?' for BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, 17th February 2020
- 'Should we treat loneliness with poetry?' (2020), Institute of Art and Ideas, issue 85 (February)
- 'Hearing Meaning and Poetry: In Conversation with Angela Leighton' (2014), PN Review 215, vol. 40 (3).
Tel: 024 7652 4321
Office: S2.61
Drop in times (for Advice and Feedback)
I am currently on maternity leave (until March 2024)
Modules
Philosophy in Education (co-taught with Dr Emma Williams)
Issues in Contemporary Aesthetics
Outreach
Stratford Girls' Grammar School, 2016
The Kingsley School, 2018
Harris Academy, 2019