Dr Kirsten A Harris

My first monograph, Walt Whitman and British Socialism: 'The Love of Comrades' was published by Routledge in 2016. It combines two of my primary research interests: the American poet Walt Whitman and nineteenth-century British socialist culture. This research explores the different ways that Whitman was interpreted, appropriated and put to use by British socialists at the turn of the century, despite his outright refusal to endorse a socialist political programme.

My current research focuses on utopian texts, thought and practice. Research on socialist utopias has developed into a long-view, interdisciplinary interest in the utopian tradition. Combining imagined societies, theory and lived practice, I explore the problems humans navigate when trying to create a better world.

Other research is on socialist print culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, particularly in the poetry of the so-called 'socialist revival'. I'm interested in debates in the socialist press about poetic voice, form, aesthetic and canon, and how these discussions were integrated in nuanced ways into debates about the nature and purpose of socialism itself. More generally, I'm concerned with the relationship between art and radical political and social movements in different time periods. The socialist poet and activist Edward Carpenter is a special area of interest.

I sit on the editorial board of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review and serve on the editorial team at Utopian Studies.

I lead creative community workshops and give public talks on topics relating to Walt Whitman, Edward Carpenter, utopias and the relationship between art and activism. I'm very open to discussing possible collaborations with community groups and external organisations.