Business Of ... Alexandra Kingston-Reese

The Lockdown Creative arose from the Business of Books module at the University of York, which is co-led by the brilliant Dr. Alexandra Kingston- Reese. When she is not working on the module, Alexandra is the Programme Leader for the English Literature and History of Art degree, and the department's Deputy Chair for Admissions. Alexandra also happens to be married to short story writer, Sam Reese, whose interview with The Lockdown Creative can likewise be read on this site.

How are you and how has lockdown immediately affected your work?

I’m well all things considered, I think one of the strangest things has been the global ramifications,.I’m from New Zealand and have family all over the world, including a sister in the South of France. The main challenge has been being away from home. The main help has been my writing, which gives me an area to focus on; [it has] given me time to enter into some intellectual work that I have the privilege of doing. There are three things I’m working on, a collection of essays, The Curated Eye, under contract with The University of Iowa Press, and I got the contract the first week of lockdown, which was something to be happy about. I’ve been working on the licensing to get author’s essays included and get a draft finished for the intro. I’ve got two critical articles drafted, one accepted for publication, the other I am finalising, helping me to start working on my second monograph. The third piece of work has been as review editor for ASAP, looking at contemporary arts, visual media, film, all that sort of stuff. It’s given space for genuine critical work, which is obviously nice. I’ve edited five reviews in the last few weeks, it’s nice to not have to write the reviews myself, but I’m keeping busy. A lot of it has to do with layout, making reviews flow and keeping a good energy from start to finish, and focus on aesthetics.

How soon do you anticipate being able to return to a “normal” routine? Or will the way you work change permanently?

There are a couple of things. Usually over the summer, I work from home. I don’t anticipate there being any change before September, for any reason. I really like the way having meetings with colleagues or students takes place within these four walls. As soon as the meeting ends I can be writing, and there is no commute involved. It is something I would like keep as online meeting people allows me to remain in my creative flow and have less of a disruption.

Given your prominence in the department’s admissions team, what difficulties do you anticipate for both incoming undergraduates and the English department when grades have not been achieved conventionally?

One of the challenges is that there is so much uncertainty. Lots of new procedures have developed recently, all with student welfare and wellbeing in mind. One of the things we want to convey is just that we are a department that is really focused on community, which is usually about being in the same space, but also shown in the virtual community that has been created during this time, we can go on despite not maybe being in the same room. We have thought about applications with kindness, students are not just four letters on a page. I am working with Sheila Cosgrove and Helen Smith to house a generous attitude towards admissions. As a department, we hate exams! Our position has always been, “let’s look at your predicted grades and go from there”. Students sometimes do better than they expected, and deserve recognition for it.

Does being in quarantine with another academic help with your individual projects or is it the case that too many chefs spoil the thesis?

*Laughs*. I love being in quarantine with another academic! It means I have an editor, a reviewer, a cheerleader and a critic in the next room at all times. Great for immediate feedback. We have been together a long time and he makes me better, we bring something to each other’s work. My skill is in precision, close reading and abstract reading. Sam’s strengths are in literary history and telling a story.

The Lockdown Creative is a community-orientated project, how has quarantine affected your perception and experience of community?

Lockdown has strengthened my perception of community. I think about community in different ways. I have lived in York for 4 years, only started with a 2-year contract and didn’t want to plant roots. I didn’t feel part of a community here until lockdown started, supported local business, mainly pastry! A community of students and colleagues has been strengthened, opening up channels of communication that hadn’t existed before, we have a group chat where we send photos of pets, which is really fun and has solidified my ideas of community.

To submit a poem for our anthology, or get more information about our project, please email: businessofbooksg6@gmail.com