Verbose
Following standing-room-only events in February and March, live literature night Verbose is back on Monday 24 April, at Fallow Café in Fallowfield, Manchester.
Hailed by the media as one of the best spoken word nights in Manchester, Verbose’s headliners are always linked – this time it’s members of The Writing Squad initiative.
James Giddings received a Northern Writers award in 2015. His debut pamphlet Everything is Scripted won Templar Poetry’s Book and Pamphlet Award in 2016, and he’s shortlisted for the upcoming Saboteur Awards. Charlotte Wetton won second prize at the StAnza Slam and her pamphlet I Refuse to Turn into a Hatstand is just out with Calder Valley Poetry. James Varney is a writer and theatre maker who has had work published in Ambit, and Gregory Kearns is a poet based Liverpool, published by In The Red 14 and The Lifejacket Anthology.
Taking place on the fourth Monday of the month at Fallow Café (2a Landcross Road, M14 6NA), entry is free and doors are at 7.30pm. See verbosemcr.wordpress.com. Open mic slots are three minutes; to perform, email via verbosemcr@gmail.com.
SJ Fowler on Resonance FM

An appearance on Resonance FM by SJ Fowler with Jude Cowan Montague as a guest on her The News Agents show, chatting about his new book, existence, death, the Anthropocene &etc. Listen here.
A Slice of Life: The Art of The Short Story with Neil Campbell

Sat 22 April 2017, 10:00 – 13:00. Lincoln Room 2, Central Methodist Buildings, Oldham Street, Manchester, M1 1JQ.
An introduction to the art of writing short stories by Neil Campbell.
This three hour workshop will introduce participants to the essential ingredients and structure of a well crafted short story. Beginning with reading an existing text and identifying key features in a group setting, participants will then have the opportunity to have a go writing their own individual short story with the support of an expert in the genre. The workshop will culminate in a reading of the stories created and the opportunity for instant feedback. More here.
Poetry Magazine – SJ Fowler

‘Violence on the Internet’ a new poem by SJ Fowler in the April issue of Poetry Magazine. Don Share and Lindsay Garbutt discuss the poem in the Poetry Magazine podcast here.
Xing the Line
Readings by Iris Colomb, Chris McCabe and Lars Palm
Illuminations I : Elfriede Jelinek

Illuminations I : celebrating Elfriede Jelinek
Wednesday April 26th / 6:30pm doors for 7pm start
Free entry (booking required)
Austrian Cultural Forum. 28 Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, London SW7 1PQ
New performances, readings and artworks by Hannah Silva, Jen Calleja, Patrick Coyle, SJ Fowler, David Rickard and Esther Strauss
Elfriede Jelinek is one of the most powerful literary figures in Europe, a novelist and playwright of remarkable authority. Her work is marked by its purposeful originality and cutting exposure of bourgeois sensibilities. Profoundly appreciated by readers in continental Europe and beyond, Jelinek’s work is not only vitally contemporary, it is ever more relevant in the UK.
This event, by commissioning contemporary artists, writers, poets and theatre makers to each make a new work responding to the works or life of Jelinek, aims to transpose her brilliance into a new moment – one that will stimulate as well as illuminate. More here.
European Poetry Night : London
European Poetry Night 2017 in London. May Saturday 6th: Rich Mix
7.30pm – Free Entry. 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA
An opportunity to see some of the most exciting contemporary poets from all over Europe, as over 20 poets travel to London to share new collaborative poems, premiered on the night, in pairs, across languages, styles & nations. These are some of the most dynamic literary and avant-garde poets of the 21st century, celebrating the potential of collaboration to generate truly innovative poetry and work firmly against the divisive idea of a reduced closeness of spirit across our continent. Curated by SJ Fowler. More here.
Xing the Line: Iris Colomb : Chris McCabe : Lars Palm
Iris Colomb : Chris McCabe : Lars Palm
Thursday, April 20 at 7:30 PM
Iklectik, Old Paradise Yard’ 20 Carlisle Lane, SE1 7LG London
Gramophone Raygun 6 – Mark Leahy & Benjamin D. Duvall, Patricia Farrell, James Davies

Gramophone Raygun number 6
A night of experimental poetry and sonic art with performances from Mark Leahy/Benjamin D. Duvall, Patricia Farrell and James Davies.
Thursday, April 27 at 8 PM – 11 PM
Everyman Bistro, Liverpool
LINK to Facebook page
English PEN Modern Literature Festival – films
The second English PEN Modern Literature Festival, curated by SJ Fowler’s Enemies Project, saw 30 contemporary UK-based writers present new works in tribute to writers at risk around the world at Rich Mix, London, on April 1st 2017. This film is of Hannah Silva, performing her piece for Narges Mohammadi. The rest of the films, more about the event and details of the important work of PEN can be found here.
Peter Barlow’s Cigarette with Cathy Butterworth & Mark Greenwood, Lyndon Davies, Gloria Dawson and Jazmine Linklater
Peter Barlow’s Cigarette #22 – ft. Cathy Butterworth & Mark Greenwood, Lyndon Davies, Gloria Dawson, Jazmine Linklater
~~~
An afternoon of alternative poetries
4.00 – 6.00, Gullivers *note the change of location*
Free entry
~~~
CATHY BUTTERWORTH ~
is an artist who makes work at the intersection of writing, performance and visual art. Her recent pamphlet Cimmerian was published by Dock Road Press. Performance actions, writing and visual art projects include: Sketches for Britain (Bridewell Gallery, Liverpool, 2010), 22 Mondays (durational performance with Mark Greenwood, 2015), Everyone in Your Life is a Figment of Your Imagination (Delhi, 2015), Elective Affinities (Tate Liverpool 2016) and True Blue: 26 Lost Performances (2016). Her literary object, Fortunate, was published by zimZalla in December 2016.
MARK GREENWOOD ~
is a performance writer from Newcastle but now based in Liverpool. His first poetry collection White Mice, All Colours was published in 2010 and he has performed his works internationally as well as appearing on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb in 2015. His poems mediate on labour, endurance and defunct working-class rituals using a Northern, punk vernacular. Mark received a doctorate in 2013 from Kingston University for his thesis and 48-hour performance, Lad Broke: The Performing Body in the Event of Writing. He has also taught Performance Writing at Dartington College of Arts.
LYNDON DAVIES~
has published three collections of poetry, Hyphasis (Parthian Press 2006), Shield (Parthian Press 2010) and A Colomber in the House of Poesy (Aquifer 2014). He runs the Glasfryn Seminars, a series of discussion groups on aspects of literature and art, and set up Aquifer Books, which publishes mainly poetry-centred writing with an experimental bias. He also edits an online magazine of art and literature called Junction Box.
GLORIA DAWSON ~
writes poetry, essays, and work for performance, and is recently published in Zarf, Datableed and The Literateur. Her work has been shown at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and anthologised in Remembering Oluwale (Valley Press, 2016). She lives in and interferes with Leeds. http://cargocollective.com/gloriadawson
JAZMINE LINKLATER ~
is a poet and writer based in Manchester, currently studying towards her MA at Salford. Work can be found in Datableed; The Literateur; Paratext; Zarf. Work is forthcoming in Epizootics! http://jjhlinklater.blogspot.co.uk/
Arvon Experimental Poetry Course with Scott Thurston and Harriet Tarlo, & Maggie O’Sullivan as guest reader
Arvon Experimental Poetry Course
With Scott Thurston and Harriet Tarlo, & Maggie O’Sullivan as guest reader
Sep 18th – Sep 23rd 2017
Suitable for new poets and more experienced writers who would like to explore innovative poetic techniques, throw over old habits, or push their work further. You will be encouraged to explore a diversity of poetic forms and uses of language, such as open form, collage and juxtaposition. We will bring to bear our background in what is often referred to as the UK’s ‘innovative’ poetry scene, introducing you to the approaches of British and American experimental poets as a means of encouraging you to play and take risks in your own work.
More at the LINK
Amy McCauley recording at The Other Room – February 2017
Steven Hitchins recording at The Other Room – February 2017
Anthology out now

Our ninth anthology is out now, featuring Bryony Bates; Susan Bee; Charles Bernstein; Cathy Butterworth; Stuart Calton; Kimberly Campanello; Wayne Clements; Sarah-Clare Conlon; Gary Fisher; Joey Frances; Steven Hitchins; Sarah Kelly; Linda Kemp; Amy McCauley; Geraldine Monk; Iain Morrison; Kerry Morrison; Wanda O’Connor; Maggie O’Sullivan; Martin Palmer; Sam Riviere; Rosanne Robertson and James Wilkes. Go here to buy a copy.
The Other Room 9th birthday party – tonight!

Poster by Maja Fagerberg Ranten
Bryony Bates recording from February 2017
B S Johnson Journal – call for papers
Call For Papers: On the Theme of “Endings”
BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal – email: bsjjournal@gmail.com
Deadline for submissions: 25th July 2017
The editors of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal request academic papers, essays, interviews, creative works or remembrances on the theme of endings. Johnson’s novels featured a range of innovative endings; from the “almighty aposiopesis” of Albert Angelo, to the unexploded bomb in Christie Malry, to the metafictional imposition of the House Mother in House Mother Normal. In the interests of exploring endings and the ways in which they can define, fix or unsettle the meaning of texts, we are seeking submissions that engage with our theme; be it a creative piece with an interesting ending, a theoretical engagement with Johnson’s work, or an interpretation of the wider connotations of the theme: limits, finality, death.
We welcome academic papers of between 6,000 and 8,000 words and essays of between 500 and 2,500 words (papers will be thoroughly peer-reviewed and must conform to academic standards, essays do not need to meet these requirements and are usually more journalistic or personal in style). Short stories, poetry and innovative forms are welcome at any length, short or long. Suggestions for reviews may also be made to the editors, but making contact first is recommended to avoid reviewers overlapping. Although submitted work need not be directly about B.S. Johnson, the journal aims to promote his legacy and therefore favours work that display a commitment to truth, formal innovation or working class modernism.
Zarf reading in Leeds – Raha, Dawson & Linklater
Zarf magazine presents (the second Zarf reading in Leeds) –
P O E T R Y (and similar)
readings by
NAT RAHA
and
GLORIA DAWSON
and
JAZMINE LINKLATER
Nat Raha is a poet and trans / queer activist, living in Edinburgh,
Scotland. Her poetry includes two collections: countersonnets
(Contraband Books, 2013), and Octet (Veer Books, 2010); and numerous
pamphlets including ‘£/€xtinctions’ (Sociopathetic Distro, 2017), ‘[of
sirens / body & faultlines]’ (Veer Books, 2015), and ‘mute exterior
intimate’ (Oystercatcher Press, 2013). She’s performed and published
her work internationally. She is undertaking a PhD in Creative &
Critical Writing at the University of Sussex. Nat’s essay titled
‘Transfeminine Brokenness, Radical Transfeminism’ is due for
publication in the South Atlantic Quarterly this spring, and she has
recently started working with Scottish PEN on the Many Voices project.
Jazmine Linklater is a poet based up north, currently studying towards
her MA at Salford. Work can be found in Datableed; The Literateur;
Paratext; Zarf. Work is forthcoming in Epizootics!
http://jjhlinklater.blogspot.co.uk/
Gloria Dawson writes poetry, essays, and work for performance, and is
recently published in Zarf, Datableed and The Literateur. Her work has
been shown at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and is anthologised in
Remembering Oluwale (Valley Press, 2016). She lives in and interferes
with Leeds. http://cargocollective.com/gloriadawson
Wharf Chambers (downstairs)
7 for 7.30, finish 9pm
FREE but donations for poet costs are welcome and there will be a
book, pamphlet, zine and whatever else table!
NOTE: Wharf Chambers is a members’ co-operative, You do not need to be
a member or guest of a member to attend this event UNLESS you wish to
buy things the bar. Joining is £1, takes 48hrs to process and is very
much encouraged.


