Business Of ... JT Welsch

We were keen to talk to JT because of his prominence in connections throughout the department - his position in modules of publishing and creative writing, as well as his role in the printing society, lend themselves to discussion during lockdown. JT’s insight into the current circumstances of the world may provide a bit of comfort or relatability during this difficult time for academics and amateur writers alike.

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

I’m alright I think; I’ve not been great over the last month. I took some sick leave, not for Covid (but I feel guilty for that). I had terrible back pain and sciatica, which had a huge impact on my work both in terms of my teaching and my writing. It’s been tough writing because of the strains on people’s physical and mental health. At the start, I feel like some people had a great time of creativity whereas other people’s bodies or minds haven’t allowed them to work. The one thing I’ve been doing is working with small press, with the society I’m involved with from the university. Before lockdown we packed a car with a little table press and set it up in my garage, which has been very therapeutic to go out and use.

Will lockdown be a positive or negative experience for creative writing overall?

It’s hard to say, I think there’s been a lot of interesting things coming out of it. It’s fascinating to see how fast publishers have adapted. Writers who had books coming out realised that festivals and publicity stuff weren’t going to happen, so they went and had online festivals. It’s really tough for publishers and many books have been pushed back. I had an academic book come out during lockdown, which was strange. I tried to interact on twitter and post little exerts. We had an online poetry reading at the university that had people from all over the world. The sense of solidarity is difficult but the community is doing really well, the arts council is trying to produce emergency funds, but long term it’s tough for freelancers. There’s been jokes that publishers don’t want people to write about lockdown. There’s a lot of anger and grief and a sense of uncertainty, how long is it going to be? There will be a long time of rebuilding.

How has lockdown affected your role within the department?

We very quickly made the decision to move teaching online, which was a big challenge. The term timing was very lucky and let us have time to put together resources and there’s lots of conversations happening about where departments will go from here. Zoom calls have lost something, lost the energy from being in a room with your colleagues or students, which is where a lot of new ideas arise. It’s been… you’ve had to adapt.

Which literary forms benefit or suffer most from the experience of lockdown?

Tweets are doing very well. Longer forms take a long time to write, but novels can be very good at capturing a particular historical experience. I feel very bad for the performance arts, people in theatre or dance and even poets really rely on physical presence. YouTube has allowed people to have a platform for performance now, which is excellent. There is an article in the Guardian, by Mary Jane Chan on world poetry day where poetry was going to be the bridge during these difficult times. I have mixed feelings about this, I am a poet myself. It’s not universal but it is certainly shared. The world needs poetry but poetry needs the world. Poetry won’t bring back people who are dying but it can be a platform for talking about those things and a tool for having those conversations.

What have you learnt during lockdown that will improve your skills as a teacher and academic?

I don’t cope very well with the lack of structure, I usually hate the summer campus and go stir crazy. I’ve had to learn to pace myself and work in a way that is fair to my expectations. I’ve tried not to have a time crunch and not have my schedule packed. It’s okay to read in the afternoon, step back, and take stock, realise what the priorities are, especially with the teaching for the module in the coming years. Students will hopefully see the benefit of discussion boards and different forms of learning.

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