Contact
Biography
PhD (University of Edinburgh); MLitt (University of Aberdeen); BA (Vassar College, US)
I am an Assistant Professor in Creative Writing and the current Head of Creative Writing.
Before coming to University of Nottingham, I taught creative writing and English literature at University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh, and the Scottish Universities' International Summer School.
I am a practising poet, and have three published collections of poetry: Urn & Drum (Shearsman, 2018); Soft Troika (If a Leaf Falls Press, 2016) and Allegories from my Kitchen (Sad Press, 2015). I also regularly perform my poetry in the UK and abroad. I co-edit the poetry and arts journal FRONT HORSE.
Expertise Summary
The main areas of my research and teaching are in creative writing and twentieth and twenty-first British and American literature, with a focus on modernist and contemporary poetry. I am particularly interested in experimental forms of production and performance of poetry, and the points of contact, historical and potential, between literary practice and visual arts.
My poetry and poetry criticism have been published in journals and anthologies. I have given lectures on poetry at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Little Sparta garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay. I am a member of the Critical Poetics interdisciplinary research group.
Literary Events and Outreach Initiatives
I am committed to connecting the practice and study of creative writing to wider research culture through innovative research and outreach methods. I have organised and produced such events as Syndicate, a series of readings, performances, and lectures on the intersection of technology and poetry in collaboration with New Media Scotland; Women Translate Translation, a symposium and poetry night on the theme of women and translation at the Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh; and Outside-In/ Inside-Out, a festival and online resource of 'outside' and 'subterranean' poetics held in Glasgow supported by the AHRC Digital Transformations Fund http://outsidepoetryfestival.wordpress.com
Here at Nottingham, I convene the Nottingham Poetry Exchange, a programme of poetry performances, seminars, and reading group sessions https://nottinghampoetryexchange.wordpress.com/
Teaching Summary
I am teaching on the following courses in the School of English:
Undergraduate
Academic Community
Creative Writing Practice
Poetry: Forms and Conventions
Advanced Writing Practice
Digital Story: Craft and Technique
Making Something Happen: 20th Century Poetry and Politics
Postgraduate
Conventions and Techniques
Research Summary
I am currently working collaboratively with a sculptor to produce a series of creative-critical pieces which respond to four locations in Scotland: the Isle of Eigg, North Uist, Dunbar, and the Flow… read more
Recent Publications
MATSUMOTO, LILA, 2018. Urn & Drum Shearsman. (In Press.)
MATSUMOTO, L., 2016. Soft Troika If a Leaf Falls Press.
‘at the house of a female friend’; ‘my highland guide’; ‘she points out features of the landscape’: Three poem-booklets exhibited as part of Wordsworth and Bashō, Walking Poets: Encounters with Nature exhibition at Kakimori Bunko Gallery, Itami, Japan 2016. At: Kakimori Bunko Gallery, Itami, Japan09/17/2016 00:00:00-11/03/2016 00:00:00.
MATSUMOTO, L., 2015. Allegories from my kitchen Sad Press.
Current Research
I am currently working collaboratively with a sculptor to produce a series of creative-critical pieces which respond to four locations in Scotland: the Isle of Eigg, North Uist, Dunbar, and the Flow Country. My research seeks to address: what special knowledge can poetry give us about our natural and built environments? What is poetry's coalescence with matter, and in what ways can poetry engage with environmental thought?
Recent research colloquia I have presented at include:
'Poetic Technologies: Exploring Hebridean renewable energy production through poetry- sculpture collaboration', Bath Spa University Intercultural Communication through Practice Research Group (November 2017)
'The Stitching of Her Wake: The Collaboration of Pamela Campion and Ian Hamilton Finlay', Little Fields, Long Horizons, Ian Hamilton Finlay Symposium, University of Edinburgh (July 2017)
'Happy Work: Poetics, Women's Labour, and Object oriented ontology', Land/Change Environmental Humanities Festival: Bath Spa University funded by British Academy (February 2017)
'Poetic Materialism', Poetry and Ecology Symposium, Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh (July 2016)
'Writing Artefacts: encounters between poetics and sculpture', Edinburgh College of Art Lecture Series: University of Edinburgh (April 2016)
Past Research
I regularly engage with practitioners and venues of visual arts in my poetry. Recent projects include:
Poem 'by likeness', published in MAP magazine
Poem booklet 'Dorothy Wordsworth', exhibited at Kakimori Bunko Gallery (Osaka, Japan), as part of Walking Poets project funded by Arts Council England, in association with University of Sunderland and The Wordsworth Trust.
Film-poem 'Strawflower', created with Adam Butcher, performed at Front Horse (London), published in DATABLEED journal of poetry.
Poem theatre piece 'byword', created with Mairi Lafferty and performed at Glasgow City Hall.
Poem theatre piece and video 'Pebbles', created with Rocio von Jugenfeld and performed at the 2014 Edinburgh Art Festival.