Open Mic(roscope) Night

I’m Mathew, and I love to write. I’m also a long-term functioning depressive, that is I’ve lived so long with depression, anxiety, and huge self-doubt that it became normal. But I’ve found ways through it all. I’m recovering, it took a lot to take the first step, but it was one worth taking.

It was during my Masters Degree at Hull University, that the idea for this study came to mind. I’d began a new novel, Mind Cloud, where I wanted to explore a future where our minds are controlled by others for their own purposes. I had recently been furloughed and was spending too much time with my own thoughts, unconstrained. Not good, I know. And yet in the depths of it all the idea took root. Despite my best efforts to sabotage myself I have managed to get this done.

I have since progressed to becoming a PhD researcher at Loughborough University (still figuring this one out). So my study has now become official and will take five years or so to complete.

I am always on the lookout for participants, so if you are feeling brave, do get in touch.

Miranda Lynn Barnes is a poet, researcher, and educator from the US, now resident in the UK. Her debut pamphlet, Blue Dot Aubade, was published with V. Press in 2020. The poems in this pamphlet examine astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology via the lens of human experience. Formulations, a collaborative chapbook of poems and newly created poetic forms based in chemistry, is co-authored with chemist and poet Stephen Paul Wren (Small Press/Tangent Books, 2022). Each pair of poetic form pair engaged deeply with the elements of a given molecule's molecular structure, developed to represent various components, such as valence electrons, single and double covalent bonds, carbon rings, and stereoisomerism. Their new collaboration, taking the chemistry of colour as inspiration, is presently underway. Miranda’s solo collection-in-process draws from dendrochronology (tree ring dating), forest ecology, and tree forensics. Miranda taught creative writing for five years at Bath Spa University while undertaking her PhD. She now serves as Research Associate in Archiving & Preserving Open Access books at Loughborough University, as part of the Open Book Futures Project. Miranda is an editor at Consilience Journal, a peer-reviewed journal of poetry and science, and co-editor of Poetrishy, and experimental journal at the nexus of poetry and mathematics. Her poem ‘In the Pines’ was awarded second place in the Verve Poetry Competition 2023, judged by Forward Prize winner Kim Moore. Miranda’s poems are widely published in journals and anthologies, both in the UK and abroad.