About

We are an interdisciplinary hub for creative and scholarly engagement with the works of Samuel Beckett. We actively promote all aspects of Samuel Beckett's legacy, especially the potential his work offers to creative artists. To this end, we commission new work by contemporary writers, composers and visual artists. Our world-leading archive of Beckett’s manuscripts and other materials offers a wellspring of creative and critical inspiration for these new works.

In recognition of Beckett's living legacies within the creative arts, the University of Reading's Samuel Beckett Research Centre hosts a series of Creative Fellowships, enabling leading writers, performers, artists, and musicians to develop new projects and insights through unique access to and engagement with the University's archival resources and Beckett specialists. Samuel Beckett has influenced and inspired the work of countless international writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers. These are just a few of those who have spoken of their admiration of and indebtedness to his work:

• Avigdor Arikha
• John Banville
• J. M. Coetzee
• Philip Glass
• Jasper Johns
• Sarah Kane
• Charlie Kaufman
• György Kurtág
• Eimear McBride (Beckett Creative Fellow, 2017-18)
• Robert McCrum (Beckett Creative Fellow, 2019-20)
• Tim Parkinson (Beckett Creative Fellow, 2018-19)
• Suzan-Lori Parks
• Harold Pinter
• Patti Smith
• Susan Sontag
• Kate Tempest

The Centre promotes research on Beckett that is international, cross-disciplinary, and collaborative. Our projects advance the field of Beckett Studies, and demonstrate the relevance of Beckett’s work to twenty-first century issues and debates. These include, for instance, climate change, health, education, disability, violence, trauma, minority identities, migration, and ‘post-truth’ politics.

The Centre is home to a network of scholars who are recognised around the world for their work on Beckett. They take part in TV and radio programmes, community outreach, publishing, and conference talks. Their research also makes use of the Beckett Collection – the largest archive of Beckett materials in the world.

There is also a thriving PhD and Early-Career Researchers' group, which plays an important and dynamic role in the Centre's research activities and community. In the last few years, the Group has organised two successful international conferences, with over 50 delegates in attendance. The conferences, 'Beckett and Europe' (for postgraduates) and 'Beckett and Politics' (for scholars of all career stages), which were held in 2015 and 2016 respectively, foreground the Centre's inaugural research themes of 'Europe' and 'The Environment'.

The Centre hosts various academic programmes, and facilitates collaborative research and teaching initiatives led by world-class Beckett specialists from the following departments:

• English Language and Literature
• Film, Theatre & Television
• Modern Languages & European Studies
• Philosophy

Beckett's works and manuscripts are included in a number of core and specialist undergraduate and taught postgraduate modules across departments, with students often choosing to pursue their interests in Beckett through further postgraduate study.