LJMU organises first Jackie Kay conference

The first conference on the writing and influence of Jackie Kay, Scotland's national poet, is being organised by LJMU's Dr Fiona Tolan, senior lecturer in English.

Jackie Kay: An International Conference will be hosted online on 3 June 2021, 9:00-18:30.

Glasgow-born Kay is known for her works Other Lovers, Trumpet and Red Dust Road and has won a number of awards, including the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. Her most recent publication The Adoption Papers (Feb 2021) tells her own story from three viewpoints: the birth mother, the adoptive mother and the daughter.

In 2016, she was named Scots Makar, and has been made a CBE and MBE for her work promoting poetry and creative writing, with the British Council describing Kay as having, over the past two decades, "moved from marginal voice to national treasure".

This international conference brings together scholars from a wide range of literary and cultural studies.

Unique voice

Dr Tolan said: "This conference will examine the work that has marked Kay's shift from the margins to the centre, addressing a writer whose work has expanded the scope of British literature."

The conference is followed by a reading and Q&A from Jackie Kay. Both events are free to attend and you are welcome to register for both or either.

Find more information and updates on Twitter.

For more information about English Literature and Creative Writing at LJMU, please go to the English website.