Election looms for Professor of Poetry
13 May 09
Graduates and academic staff are preparing to vote for the next Professor of Poetry in Saturday’s election.
The election will take place at the Examination Schools on May 16, between 10am and 4pm, and members of Convocation can vote for the successor to the current post-holder, Christopher Ricks. The result is expected to be announced after 5.30pm.
Poet, Oxford alumna and former Chair of the Poetry Society, Ruth Padel, is bidding to become the first female post-holder in the 300-year history of the role. She will be up against Indian poet Arvind Mehrotra, who is currently professor of English at the University of Allahabad.The third candidate, Nobel Prize winning poet Derek Walcott pulled out of the contest earlier this week.
The duties of the Professor of Poetry include giving a public lecture each term and the Creweian Oration at the University's honorary degree ceremony every other year. The elected professor is one of the judges for the Newdigate Prize, the Chancellor's English Essay Prize, and the prize for an English poem on a sacred subject, and generally encourages the art of poetry in the University.
Dr Sally Mapstone, chair of the English Faculty Board, said: ‘The high level of interest in the Professorship of Poetry in Oxford, in the UK, and across the world indicates how much poetry matters to people and how much relevance this chair still has.
‘We hope that as many members of Convocation will come to Oxford on the day to vote in the Examination Schools - where most of them will have sat their examinations in the past. We are in for an exciting 16th of May.'
Arvind Mehrotra
