Lisa Kelly

Thesis title:

How the environment 'signs' the climate crisis: a poetic interpretation through the lens of British Sign Language (BSL)

How can the climate crisis be re-examined and re-interpreted by examining threats to the environment and disregard for biodiversity through British Sign Language (BSL) and closer attention to communication with the visual signs in nature?

Research Area

Languages and Literature

Publications

My prose essay 'Conkers, Signs and Memoies,' published in issue 6 of Modron Magazine, reflects my research into landscape, memory, and sign language as embodied communication. Revisiting Aranjuez, it explores how place is read and remembered through sensory experience and gesture, positioning creative nonfiction as a method of critical enquiry. Conkers, Signs and Memories, Prose by Lisa Kelly – Modron Magazine

The House of the Interpreter, Carcanet, 2023

What Meets the Eye?: The Deaf Perspective, Arachne Press, 2021, Edited by Lisa Kelly and Sophie Stone

A Map Towards Fluency, Carcanet, 2019

Conferences

I presented ‘Scavenger of Signs’ at the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership Showcase (11 February 2026, Austin Court, Birmingham), exploring how British Sign Language and creative practice can engage with the climate crisis and embodied communication.

Public Engagement & Impact

Judge for the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2025 and advocated for the inclusion of submissions by Deaf poets performing in British Sign Language (BSL) or Visual Vernacular in the Best Single Poem - Performed category. Advised on BSL entry guidance on the submission site; wrote an article for Limping Chicken - Why BSL poets should apply to the Forward Prizes for Poetry; contacted Deaf poets to raise awareness. Subsequently two poets, Raymond Antrobus and Zoë McWhinney were shortlisted for the prize and performed at the Southbank on 26/10/25.

Chair of Magma Poetry and a Trustee of the charity. Co-edited four issues of the magazine: Conversation issue; Deaf issue; Solitude issue; and Grassroots issue.

Other Research Interests

Ecopoetics

Contemporary poetry

British Sign Language (BSL)

Visual Vernacular

Diversity and inclusion in contemporary poetry

Silence and solitude

Walking and getting out in nature

Fungi

Birds

Names and naming

Dance

Humour

Poetic form shaping perception