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Staff Profile

Dr Shalini Sengupta

Lecturer in Diasporic and/or Black British Literatures

Background


Background


I joined Newcastle University in 2023 as a Lecturer after a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Vienna, where I worked on a project titled "Poetry Off the Page", jointly funded by the European Research Council and Austrian Start Fund). I earned my PhD from the University of Sussex, UK, where I was a Chancellor's Research Scholar between 2017 and 2021. In 2022, I was also a Visiting Scholar at Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University.



Role in the School:


At Newcastle University, I co-convene the Newcastle Postcolonial Research Group (NPRG) that brings together scholars from Newcastle, Durham, and Northumbria Universities -- along with other UK, US and EU universities --- for a series of lively talks, seminars, and other public engagement activities. The aim of the group is to foster a dynamic and interdisciplinary postcolonial research culture that is supportive of individual and collaborative scholarship.



Fellowship and Awards:


In 2024, I was awarded a £2500 grant to undertake archival research at the British Archive for Contemporary Writing at the University of East Anglia as an Archives and Collections Visiting Fellow. This grant will form the basis for future collaborations (in progress) between Newcastle's legacy archive, Bloodaxe (Contemporary Poetry Collections) and UEA's British Archive for Contemporary Writing.


Honourable Mention, Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award for Research Excellence, University of Sussex, 2021



Impact and Public Engagement:



In May 2024, I was in conversation with the poet Raymond Antrobus (TS Eliot prize nominee, 2025) for the sold-out event 'A Tribute to Benjamin Zephaniah' organised by the Newcastle Centre of Literary Arts (NCLA).


In November 2023, I organised a large two-day conference titled 'All Borders Blur: Mapping Intersections and Genre Crossings in UK Spoken-Word Poetries Since 1965' at QMUL London along with Prof. Andrea Brady (QMUL) and Prof. Peter Howarth (QMUL). The (hybrid) conference brought together poets, critics, and poetry scholars from across the world and was also attended by Newcastle/Poetry School's MA in Writing Poetry students. Keynotes: Joelle Taylor (TS. Eliot Prize winner, 2021) and Dr. Anthony Joseph (TS Eliot winner, 2022)


I remain a Ledbury Poetry Critic, affiliated with the Centre for New and International Writing, University of Liverpool and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and regularly publish poetry reviews in UK broadsheets and magazines.




Research

Research Interests


I specialise in modern and contemporary British poetry; diasporic literatures and Black British literatures.


My academic work over the last six years has been invested in interrogating canon formation and directing scholarly attention to writers who are removed from centres of political power and cultural hegemony.


My first monograph (in progress) reframes the the aesthetics and politics of difficulty in modern and contemporary poetry by looking at the work of four lesser-known British and diasporic writers. Its findings offer new routes into (published and unpublished) work by twentieth and twenty-first century women writers like Anna Mendelssohn, Fran Lock, Bhanu Kapil, and Anthony (Vahni) Capildeo. The book draws up a new theory of difficulty that disentangles the concept from its origins in white male authorship and re-conceives for the political present.


My postdoctoral work built upon my prior research by looking at contemporary poetry performance in the UK—particularly by Black British and British South-Asian writers and creatives—and establishing it as a recognised branch of historico-literary enquiry. 


I have published book chapters and journal articles in Modernism/modernity Print Plus; Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry; Presses Universitaires de La Méditerranée; Etudes Anglaise; and Palgrave Macmillan among other places.


Alongside my academic work in traditional venues, I regularly publish poetry reviews and creative-critical reflections in UK poetry broadsheets and magazines like Poetry London; Poetry Wales; Poetry Book Society; and Versopolis. I remain a regular reviewer for Poetry Book Society (founded by T.S. Eliot in 1953) and have been a Reviews Editor for the London-based (and online) magazine titled harana poetry jointly edited by Kostya Tsokalis and Romalyn Ante.


I have delivered talks on my ongoing research at numerous international conferences across the US and UK, including the MSA (Modernist Studies Association); MLA (Modern Languages Association); and NeMLA (NorthEast Modern Languages Association).


I look forward to hearing from prospective students and PGRs who are interested in working on British and diasporic contemporary poetry; women's writing; postcolonial and Black-British writing; and poetry performance.

Teaching

I teach across all three stages at Newcastle University. In 2025, I'm teaching on the following modules:


  1. Revolutions (Stage 1)
  2. Independent Research Project (Stage 2)
  3. Literatures of Decolonisation (Stage 2)


In 2024, I have taught on the following modules:


  1. Border Fictions (self-designed and self-taught Stage 3 module): offered in Autumn 2024
  2. Independent Research Project (Stage 2)


In 2023 Autumn, I have taught on the following modules:


  1. Introduction to Literary Studies 1 (Stage 1)
  2. Literatures of Decolonisation (Stage 2)


I also supervise undergraduate dissertations on various aspects of modern and contemporary literature; Indian/South Asian literature; and Black British literature.



International Teaching Recognition


2021: Virtual Faculty Residency, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University, funded by Andrew W. Mellon


I have guest lectured (virtually as well as in person) across universities in UK, India and the United States.

Publications

  • Articles

  • Authored Book

    • Sengupta S. Thinking from the Margins: Intersectionality, Affectivity, Difficulty in Post-1960 British Poetry. Edinburgh University Press, 2024. In Preparation.

  • Book Chapters

    • Sengupta Shalini. "With what voices do women poets speak? Feminist Experimental Poetry Performance in the UK". In: Julia Lajta-Novak, ed. In the Event of Poetry: Contemporary British Poetry Performance in Context. Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. Submitted.
    • Sengupta S. Broken Gifts: May Sinclair, Modernism, and the Motif of Exchange. In: Leslie de Bont, Isabelle Brasme, and Florence Marie, ed. May Sinclair in Her Time: Reappraising May Sinclair's Role in Early-Twentieth-Century Literature and Philosophy. Montpellier: Montpellier University, 2024, pp.229-244.
    • Sengupta Shalini. "Broken Gifts: May Sinclair, Modernism, and the Motif of Exchange". In: Leslie de Bont, Isabelle Brasme, and Florence Marie, ed. May Sinclair in Her Time: Reappraising May Sinclair's Role in Early-Twentieth-Century Literature and Philosophy. Montpellier: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée, 2024, pp.229-244.
    • Sengupta S. "Is the poet/An imperial dissident": Migration and the Limits of Care in Bhanu Kapil's How to Wash a Heart. In: Katz D, ed. No Future: Poetry of the Current British Crisis. Paris: Editions Klincksieck, 2023, pp.100-115.

  • Creative Writing