It's (A)Live!' The WPHP Monthly Mercury at New Romanticisms

In August 2022, Kate and Kandice traveled to Liverpool for “New Romanticisms”: the joint conference for the British Association for Romantic Studies and the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism—BARS and NASSR, respectively. Organized by Dr. Andrew McInnes and his incredible team of research assistants, “New Romanticisms” was a four-day Romanticist extravaganza with five plenaries, more than one hundred panels, the stunning environs of Edge Hill University, an ingenious coffee cart, and the occasional visit from Buster, the campus cat. The call for papers “invite[d] explorations of both the concept of newness in and about the Romantic period and new approaches to Romantic Studies today,” and the conference expressed an openness to ‘alternative’ and ‘innovative’ formats. This led us to wonder: could we create a live episode about the conference? 

After nine interviews, twelve months of editing, and thirty-five audio tracks (insert Kate sobbing here), the answer is yes—sort of. Stitching together interviews with conference plenaries, organizers, award winners, and award facilitators, this episode is a truly Frankensteinian attempt to answer the question: What do New Romanticisms sound like?

FEATURING Jennie Batchelor, Roy Bayfield, Manu Samriti Chander, Chloe Dilworth, Noah Heringman, Diana Little, Carmen Faye Mathes, Patricia Matthew, Kirsteen McCue, Andrew McInnes, and Dana Moss.