PhD student profiles
Outline Biography
Greg Thomas comes from Essex. He began his doctorate in Edinburgh in October 2009, on concrete poetry in England and Scotland. He has previously completed a BA in English Literature at Sussex University (2003-2006) and an MPhil in Culture and Criticism at Cambridge University (2008-2009).
PhD details
I am completing a collaborative doctoral award in conjunction with the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, on concrete poetry in England and Scotland, using the excellent collection of concrete poetry related materials and the archive of Edwin Morgan’s collected journals, cutting and notes at the Scottish Poetry Library. My thesis focuses on the work of Ian Hamilton Finlay, Edwin Morgan, Bob Cobbing and Dom Sylvester Houédard. I also have duties as an archivist at the library.
I am interested in the points at which literature intersects with other fields like visual art and music, and the ways in which these territories have been explored by writers from the early 20th century onwards. I am also interested in the ideological stances which underpin such explorations; the understandings of subjectivity, communication, societal organisation that they correlate with and so on.
In September 2011, I co-organised ConVersify, a conference on poetry, politics and form, with Sam Walton and Lila Matsumoto. More recently I have curated the exhibition Beauty, Happiness and Play, featuring Edwin Morgan and Ian Hamilton Finlay’s concrete poetry, held at the Scottish Poetry Library from January to March 2012. I have organised various performances and discussions of poetry, and concrete and sound poetry, at the library between 2010 and 2012.
I have had some poetry published in Edinburgh and Glasgow based journals, and displayed work in the exhibition thetextisthetext held at WASPS Patriothall Gallery in Edinburgh, October 2011. I play or have played music with various groups and alone.
I like talking to people, not always about the above.
Publications
Publications/presentations/papers list for Greg Thomas
This article was published on Mar 23, 2011