Postdoctoral Fellows

Kristen Smith
Supervisor: Michael O'Driscoll

Dr. Kristen Smith (she/her) completed her doctoral research in English Literature at York University. Her intermedial dissertation examines the multifaceted presence/absence of sound in varieties of visually-oriented poetry from the 1950s to the 2010s. For the selected transnational poets, she interrogates the intersections of aesthetics, cognition, and ethics. As a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta, Kristen will be undertaking a two-year project, “Investigating Insound: Diverse Sonic Experiences in Composing and Processing Poetry,” which has the overarching goal of exploring the sonic production and reception of poetry and reflecting on the implications of diverse readers in their processing of sound.

Kristen’s academic work has been published by the International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, Interdisciplinary Discourses, Inter-disciplinary Press, Somatechnics, and [transcript]. Her work on processing non-linguistic poetry appears in the special issue of “New Sonic Approaches in Literary Studies” published by English Studies in Canada (ESC). Additionally, two chapters in separate anthologies will be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in Spring 2025.

As a Narrative Poetry Prize winner (2019), a Fineline Competition finalist (2020), and Pushcart Prize nominee (2021), Kristen’s creative writing is an artistic outlet. Her poetry has appeared in Canthius, Mid-American Review, Naugatuck River Review, The New Quarterly, and SewerLid Magazine. After winning the Graham Atlantic Writing Prize (MTA) and participating in the Writing with Style program (Banff Centre), Kristen founded the Toronto-based writers collective The Musings.

In both her academic and creative work, Kristen is interested in the creation of art in community, connection, and collaboration. 

 

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