Oxford Brookes lecturer wins award for dedication to helping new poets showcase their work

Dr Niall Munro, who is a Senior Lecturer in American Literature & Director of the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre, was awarded the English Association Fellows Award at a ceremony on Wednesday (25 May).  

The award is presented annually to an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the broad field of English Studies. 

Dr Munro was nominated for his excellent work in publishing and promoting poetry, notably for his work on ignitionpress, a poetry pamphlet press that was launched by Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre in 2017, and has given numerous emerging poets their first major publication. The pamphlet press won the Michael Marks Publishers’ Award in 2021. 

Following the presenting of the award, Dr Munro said: “This award is wonderful recognition for all the work that we do at the Poetry Centre. Whether it’s researching poetry, teaching our students about the importance of reading or writing it, running events for many different audiences, or sharing the work of emerging poets from all over the world through ignitionpress, the Centre’s aim is always to advocate for the value of poetry today. 

“Poetry is a democratic art – anyone can read and write it, and there is no single definition of what ‘poetry’ is. Through our workshops and our annual international poetry competition, we’ve learned that it can be transformative too, enabling people to experience and express things that other forms of art can’t. We think that the more people who read and write it, the better!”

Dr Munro will now receive a free one-year subscription to an English Association publication of his choosing, and his work will feature in the summer 2022 edition of the English Association Newsletter.

Dr Munro was also commended for his work in publishing podcasts and, together with Claire Cox, running the Poetry Centre’s annual International Poetry Competition. Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre is based within the School of English and Modern Languages at Oxford Brookes University. According to the Times Higher Education‘s analysis of REF2021 results, Oxford Brookes is now ranked joint 6th amongst UK higher education providers for English language and literature. 66% of research submitted in the English Unit of Assessment was assessed as being of world-leading quality.