Rommi Smith: The Map Where We Meet and Other Queer Stories

The Map Where We Meet and Other Queer Stories: writers as cartographers on the crossroads of change.

A Lecture-as-Performance & Discussion with Rommi Smith.

Rommi Smith is a poet, playwright, performer and the first British Parliamentary Writer in Residence. A John Barnard Scholar at The University of Leeds, UK, Smith’s transdisciplinary, practice-led PhD, artfully combines scholarship with performance, focusing on the history of women jazz and blues musicians. In this lecture which fuses poetry, music, performance, and archival evidence, Smith builds up the narratives of her subjects and their historical contexts, whilst considering the roots of her doctoral research path.

Smith’s presentation marks the start of three-month research and writing period in NYC. She will be accessing archives and continuing writing and researching a new collection of poems, one of the outcomes of her PhD process. The resulting poetry collection will be published by Peepal Tree Press.

Smith is a grateful recipient of the following financial assistance from The University of Leeds: an Impact Grant, a Researcher Mobility Grant and a School of English Grant.

An earlier version of this presentation was given at the Archives Libraries and Museums LGBT Conference, London, in 2016.

www.rommi-smith.co.uk

This lecture-as-performance is written and performed by Rommi Smith. It is a collaboration with the following artists and creatives:

Juliet Ellis: Director and Filmmaker

Jason Hird: Dramaturg

Jenni Molloy: musician and composer

Mat Lazenby: Designer

Ros Steen: vocal coach

Hazel Holder: Dialect Coach

Tenzin Haarhaus: sound recordist and sound engineer

Matthew Elliot: Technician, UK