Emily Warner (she/her) talks creativity & history with York Civic Trust's First Writer-in-residence.
Image Credit: Image: Livvy Golby-Kirk
My interview with Robert Powell began with an essential form of creative inspiration; coffee. Once we had established the correct combination of milks and sugars we settled ourselves in a quiet corner of Fairfax House Museum and I was able to appreciate the beautiful, historic building we were in. Our initial correspondence via email consisted mainly of Robert’s justified outrage that I had never visited Fairfax House. I suspiciously followed Google Maps on the day of the interview, unsure quite how much faith to invest in a blue line, but half an hour later, I arrived at the building. Robert correctly described it as a ‘microcosm’ of Georgian history, embodying the act of imagination by inviting visitors to travel back in time. He also encouraged me to look out of the windows at the same time to the contemporary city outside. This act of looking both ways, embracing the old and the new, the imaginative and the historical, the factual and the creative, informed our whole conversation.
Situated amidst a network of historical monuments, asking Robert why he chose York seemed absurd; the evidence surrounded us. However, having lived in multiple locations across the UK and elsewhere, Robert has accrued experiences which all influence his writing. He was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada but as a young adult he bought a one-way ticket to England. “It was a restless time” Robert said, and since being young he has always been fascinated by British history, devouring the historical fiction of Rosemary Stucliff.
He has now lived in York for seven years. Not only was Robert drawn to the dense history of York, but also to its creative spirit. Every street is infused with a historic vibrancy and his role as Writer-in-residence for York Civic Trust is deeply entrenched in both history and art. He explained that his aim was to, “bring history to bear on fact-based, clichéd aspects of the past”; he wanted to uncover the hidden aspects of history which are often lost to time. York Civic Trust is involved in planning the future of York, not just in preserving its history, and Robert sees his mission align with this. He wants to make York a home as well as a historic monument.
Robert has experienced a vast array of careers, from working as a journalist, to curating gallery exhibitions, to architecture. In doing so, he undercuts the conception of writing as a lonely endeavour and spoke about the challenging yet stimulating experience of collaborat - ing with other artists and creatives. We are all familiar with the toil of group work – the ominous cloud that descends on a seminar when the tutor announces it – but Robert described quite a different experience. Working with others, he said, can sometimes produce unexpected and exciting results.
One such example of this was the work he did with his friend Jake Atree, a York-born artist. Robert was new to the city and in order to familiarise himself with the location, the two decided to embark on a series of walks on which Jake shared stories about York; “from these stories poured short poems”. Their walks were guided by the Ouse and the Foss rivers, and in time these rivers flowed through Robert’s pen as well as his footsteps. A collection of poetry and sketches emerged, inspired by the two rivers, which was displayed at York Art Gallery.
Robert also discussed his collaboration with the York Theatre Royal, creating five-minute acts to be performed live or digitally; a reflection of our post-Covid world. This experience of working with the visual, within a time limit, and with actors, overturned what Robert was accustomed to in poetry. To summarise, Robert is a man of many interests and pursuits aside from writing and all of these layers intersect in his current role as Writer-in-residence.
Robert is currently working on the development of a character called Portius Punch, the protagonist of one of Jake Atree’s stories. He conceived of him as a character lost in time, who experiences York during different historical periods. Robert said that, “We can never really know history other than by imaginatively putting ourselves into their shoes,” and he does this literally by allowing the reader to walk alongside his character. Robert expressed concerns for York; namely the rise of tourism. He worried that, instead of being a city for its people, York would become a “museum occasionally filled with Hen parties”. Anyone who has walked into the city centre on a Saturday will be familiar with this nightmare vision; high heels, camera shutters and stationary crowds. Therefore, animating York’s past while looking ahead is an important consideration in his work.
Robert will work alongside other members of the Trust, as well as with citizens of York who want to shape the city’s future. He was particularly keen to involve more young people and university students within this in order to include more young people within the Trust’s work. This will be beginning with a ‘Meet the Writer in Residence’ event on 26 November, 11am-3pm. If you are interested in art, history, writing or just have some free time between lectures then come and meet Robert Powell to experience his writing yourself.