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Matt Martin

PHD SCHOLAR | BIRKBECK, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | 2017–2020

Dr. Matt Martin was Stuart Hall PhD Scholar in the Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London between 2017–20. The Stuart Hall Foundation’s funding and support enabled him to research his PhD thesis Tides of Voice: Nation Language as Political Resistance in the Work of Kamau Brathwaite and Bill Griffiths. The thesis explores Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite’s theories on Caribbean speech, and applies these to writing that represents marginalised voices in England, concentrating on Bill Griffiths’ poems in the working-class dialect of County Durham.

Matt has a BA in English from the University of York (1998) and an MA in Poetic Practice from Royal Holloway, University of London (2017). He worked for many years in London museums, focusing on the city’s port history, and particularly its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. He is now an Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck, as well as a freelance editor and researcher. He has contributed chapters to the collections Hilson Hilson: The Poetry of Jeff Hilson (Crater Press, 2020) and Whose Heritage?: Challenging Race and Identity in Stuart Hall’s Post-nation Britain(Routledge, 2023).

Matt is also a poet, with publications including Full Spectrum Apotheosis (Contraband Books, 2013), The Dotted Line (Gang Press, 2019), and Frequently Asked Questions (Kater Murr’s Press, 2021), as well as writing in numerous journals. His concrete poetry has featured in exhibitions at the Southbank Centre and the Poetry Society.

Matt Martin: ‘I’m profoundly grateful to the Stuart Hall Foundation for granting me a wonderful opportunity to pursue my research while furthering Stuart Hall’s legacy.’