Living History: Angela Leighton
My defining moment at Trinity
One thing I love about Trinity is the encouragement of creative work, both artistic and academic. At my interview here twelve years ago, I found myself facing a table of some twelve gowned men who, to my consternation, all stood up when I walked in. As I went on to explain that I’d hope to keep up my poetry writing alongside academic work, I was thinking: well, no chance . . .
But coming here has changed first impressions. Trinity is rich in hidden, and not-so-hidden, artistic work, from the nourishing presence of its creative arts fellows, to the fantastic, professional-standard music sung in chapel. This flourishing culture somehow leavens all work. If there is still some way to go in the appointment of women—and there is–once here, this atmosphere of mutual respect includes them. Such respect (even for the quaint pen-and-notebook ways of an arts fellow!) gives the place its intellectual richness.
About
Angela Leighton is a Senior Research Fellow in Poetry at Trinity. Her most recent collection of poetry, Spills, was published by Carcanet Press in 2016.