Poetry collection by Emeritus Professor Angela Livingstone published

A newly published collection of poetry by Emeritus Professor Angela Livingstone of our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies features poems written over a 30-year period.

Certain Roses: Poems 1980-2010 is published by Mica Press (Wivenhoe), which is run by the poet and publisher Leslie Bell. The subjects of the poetry include language, people, death, places, and nature.

Professor Livingstone taught literature at Essex for more than 30 years. Her research is focused on Russian poetry and poetics, with a particular interest in the works of Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva and Andrei Platonov. She has published extensively on Russian poetry both as a critic and a translator. Her translation of Marina Tsvetaeva, Phaedra (A Drama in Verse), with ‘New Year’s Letter’ and other long poems was awarded the Rossica Translation Prize in 2014.

Professor Livingstone has written poetry throughout her life. When asked if she had any advice for today’s students of creative writing, she said: “Value all moments of unusual awareness, and concentrate on composition for at least three days, though it might well become thirty years.”