Doggerland Rising

In 2016 I was commissioned by Durham University, Free Word, and eco/arts charity TippingPoint to write a new six-part poem, Doggerland Rising. The commission arose out of an exciting conference called Weatherfronts, which brought together scientists and writers with the aim of generating new climate change writing.

Thanks to a chance meeting at the conference dinner, I discovered Doggerland. Once a vast landmass off the east coast of England which connected Britain to mainland Europe, it was submerged by rising sea levels and now lies under the North Sea. I was fascinated and set out to write a long poem in the voices of our Mesolithic ancestors as their land became more inhospitable. The poem would investigate parallels between what they faced and what we’re dealing with today.

The project was life-changing. I collaborated with palaeo-scientists at Durham University – face-to-face interviews informed the poem’s context – and revelled in working in the university context. I had not thought of myself as writing ‘eco’ poetry, but realised with a jolt that some of my other work could be seen through this lens. The project also pushed my writing forwards: Doggerland Rising became my first long poem.

Doggerland Rising was launched at Free Word in London in January 2017, along with the other commissioned work in different genres. I showcased it and performed extracts at a panel event at the Durham Book Festival, at the Hay Festival in May 2017, and at the Birmingham Literature Festival. It was published on the Free Word website and in a free e-book by Cambria Press.

In 2018 I’m bringing Doggerland Rising to Australia … In another chance moment, an American friend, Tamara Braunstein, sent me a link to The SPACLALS Two Canaries of Climate Change - Island and Polar Places conference in Sydney. It seemed that Doggerland Rising would fit right in, so I sent in an abstract for a paper I could present, which was accepted. With more than 800 islands of its own, Australia is deeply concerned about rising sea levels.

I then applied for funding from the Arts Council England and the British Councils' Artists’ International Development Fund to attend the conference in person, and do a broader project in Sydney and Australia. This consists of:

• presenting a paper at the conference
• performing the poem and related work in Sydney and Melbourne
• networking with Australian writers to develop new collaborations and readers

I am indebted to the British Council and Arts Council England for funding, to Dr Gillian Dooley and SPACLALS for acting as my project host, and to Jonathan Davidson, Chief Executive of Writing West Midlands and the Room 204 programme, for the original invitation to attend the Weatherfronts conference.

Read my poem in this FREE Realistic Utopias: Writing for Change anthology (PDF)