Stoke-on-Trent's surprising Canadian connection explored in new poetry collection

The surprising connection between Stoke-on-Trent and a small Canadian town are among the topics explored in a new poetry collection from a Keele University Professor. 

Professor Ceri Morgan's debut poetry chapbook "Unstuck" features a range of poems inspired by her research on the Eastern Townships of Quebec in Canada, which uncovered an unexpected link with North Staffordshire. 

Throughout her research into the regional fiction of Quebec, Professor Morgan visited Maison Merry, a small municipal museum in Magog, a town in Quebec near Montreal. During the visit, she was surprised to discover a range of Stoke-made ceramics within the museum's range of artefacts. 

Among the collection was a fragment of pottery from an archaeological dig in the grounds of the museum, originally built in 1821 as a home for a wealthy American industrialist. Professor Morgan believed the fragment to come from a piece of children’s tableware made by John King Knight. On contacting the museum, she was invited to view Stoke ceramic holdings in its store, mainly everyday tableware like plates and dishes. 

This link between Magog and Stoke-on-Trent inspired a number of follow-on projects, including a "creative walk" led on Keele University's campus, where participants walked near Keele's lakes while listening to audio recorded from a lake front in Quebec to explore the connection between the two. 

It is also the subject of one of the poems in Professor Morgan's new collection, which features works inspired by things like her childhood, and North Staffordshire's industrial heritage. 

Professor Morgan (pictured) said: "I knew as soon as I saw the fragment in the museum’s display, it likely came from Stoke-on-Trent, as the family would have had the best of everything. I was very moved to see a back stamp from Fenton on the pieces in store.  

“Sharing my surprise about the finds with Quebec friends, I learned that many of them had inherited Stoke-made tea and dinner sets from parents and grandparents, testament to the importance of the region as one of the world’s key producers of everyday and art ceramics.  

“I’m delighted that through my poems and research, more people will learn about the connections between Stoke, Quebec, and other places in the world, and celebrate these international links."