To honour Jerome Rothenberg’s contributions to poetics and explore his continuing influence on contemporary anthologies, Glasgow University is hosting a two-day symposium of panels and performances.

“Jerome Rothenberg is one of the truly contemporary American poets who has returned U.S. poetry to the mainstream of international modern literature. At the same time, he is a true autochthon. Only here and now could have produced him—a swinging orgy of Martin Buber, Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stein, and Sitting Bull. No one writing poetry today has dug deeper into the roots of poetry” (Kenneth Rexroth).

In a celebration of his seismic contribution to that international mainstream, and in the aftermath of several 2024 memorial celebrations in the United States, the University of Glasgow now presents two days of extended performances by poets representing his influence outside that of North America–from the United Kingdom, Ireland, continental Europe, and Latin America–along with critical discussions of his ground-breaking and unique contributions as visionary anthologist and assembler of poetry across the globe. Besides an exhibit of artifacts from his life and work, we will host a launch of his new (posthumous) anthology The Serpent and the Fire: Poetries of the Americas from Origins to the Present (2024), co-edited with Javier Taboada. While in “Anthology as Manifesto” we celebrate Rothenberg’s past accomplishment for itself, we will also pay particular attention its realizations in the poetry and global gatherings and networks of the present and future.

The participants: John Coyle, Felipe Cussen, Philip Davenport, Nia Davies, Montenegro Fisher, Allen Fisher, Jane Goldman, Martín Gubbins, Colin Herd, Tamara de Inés Antón, Pierre Joris, Florian Kaplick, Rebecca Kosick, Peter Manson, Nicky Melville, Peter Middleton, Maggie O’Sullivan, Jèssica Pujol Duran, Jeffrey Robinson, Rachel Robinson, Matthew Rothenberg, Will Rowe, Robert Sheppard, Zoe Skoulding, Maria Sledmere, Javier Taboada, Chris Tanasescu, Scott Thurston, Rhys Trimble, Cecilia Vicuña, Juan Carlos Vilavicencio, and Carol Watts.

Scheduling: Welcoming – Introducing – Lunching – Influencing – Breaking – Gathering – Evening – Collaborating – Breaking – Teaching – Dancing – Lunching – Performing – Breaking – Networking – Extending – Dining