About
The Archive of the Now is an electronic and print collection of poetry and text-based work. It is offered as a scholarly, aesthetic, social and political resource for writers and readers of innovative poetry.
Based at Queen Mary, University of London, the Archive was originally founded at the Centre for Contemporary Writing at Brunel University, West London. It consists of sound recordings, printed material, and manuscripts. Andrea Brady, its Director, has been commissioning and collecting audio performances by poets since early 2005, which now form the basis of this website. The print archive, housed at the Brunel University library, includes small press publications, chapbooks, little magazines, manuscripts and correspondence.
Currently, the Archive focuses on innovative text-based work being produced in the UK. We are committed to supporting non-mainstream poetry which may be excluded from similar projects. Inspired by the on-line resources available particularly in the US such as UBUWeb and PennSound, we hope to represent the true diversity of poetic practice in the UK. This project complements such well-resourced online projects as the British Council’s contemporary writers website and the Poetry Archive; but it is particularly dedicated to supporting emerging or under-recognised authors, providing a new distribution network for challenging poetry, and opening up opportunities for collaboration and exchange.
The Archive provides information on individual poets, with links to their publishers, online projects and other material, along with downloadable MP3 files of public recordings and commissioned performances.
The Archive can also provide space for new online projects: please contact us if you would like to discuss this further, or if you would like to use or deposit material in the archive, or make suggestions about new poets who should be included here. We are eager to respond to your feedback on the project. Please use the links to the left to contact us.
By downloading files, you agree to the terms and conditions which are outlined here.
This is a not-for-profit site. All the recordings can be downloaded free of charge, and redistributed for noncommercial or educational uses; but if you do use any of these files on your own site, we ask that you please include a link to the Archive website so that the project can continue to attract new audiences.
Welcome, and enjoy!
Andrea Brady
Queen Mary University of London
