Thursday, September 15 at 7 PM – 10 PM
Old Paradise Yard’ 20 Carlisle Lane ( Royal Street corner ) next to Archbishop’s Park. SE1 7LG
Pierre Reverdy – The Thief of Talant
Translated and introduced by Ian Seed, out now on Wakefield Press.
Originally published in French in 1917 but ignored (though subsequently a collector’s item after the end of WWI), The Thief of Talant would not see a new edition until 1967, after the author’s death. To this day it remains a particularly enigmatic book in the poet’s œuvre. Challenged by his friend, poet and art critic Max Jacob, to write a novel, Pierre Reverdy produced this strangely titled experiment: a fragmented assemblage of loneliness, paranoia, and depersonalization drawn from his own experience of Paris in the early twentieth century, the sometimes antagonistic atmosphere of the avant-garde, and his own troubled relationship with the generous but frequently suspicious Max Jacob, who like many of his literary and artistic friends, detected the threat of his literary treasures getting plagiarized among everyone he knew.
Toward the end of his life, Reverdy confirmed that the alienated and anxious “thief” of this novel in verse was a portrait of himself (“Talant” conveys both the dual echo in French of “talent” and the small town of “Talan” near Dijon, thereby evoking a potential plagiarizer from the countryside, finding his way in the Paris of the years 1910–1917), and “Abel the Magus” a semi-satirical portrait of Max Jacob.
The Thief of Talant was and remains a radical experiment in verse and narrative, but it is also a hauntingly beautiful and moving evocation of the loss (and recovery) of self, and an encrypted guidebook to the “heroic” years of Cubism and that movement’s literary and artistic protagonists.
Peter Barlow’s Cigarette
A special, mid-week Peter Barlow’s Cig, at a new venue! Wednesday September 21, at Apotheca Bar, 17 Thomas Street, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, 7-9pm. Free entry. All welcome.
Off Beat: Jeff Nuttall and the International Underground at John Ryland’s Library
Off Beat:
Jeff Nuttall and the International Underground
8 September – 5 March 2017
Open daily, free entry
Painter, poet, actor and sculptor, a man once described as “the only all-round genius most of us are likely to meet,” Jeff Nuttall was one of the few people in the early 1960s to publish William S. Burroughs’ most experimental writing.
He was also a performance artist, a pioneer of ‘happenings’ and author of nearly 40 books. As a cultural critic, his seminal work, Bomb Culture, was discussed in Parliament. Nuttall was at the centre of the International Underground scene driven by social dissent and the fear of imminent nuclear attack.
Yet, despite being a giant of the counterculture, the Lancastrian-born polymath is little remembered today. That is set to change with our Autumn/Winter exhibition. Off Beat: Jeff Nuttall and the International Underground reveals a network of artists and writers whose work was shared worldwide via the low-fi, self-published magazines of the “mimeograph revolution”.
Chief among them was Nuttall’s My Own Mag. Burroughs was both a contributor and collaborator and displayed in the exhibition is a rare edition showcasing a Burroughs cut-up text. Other countercultural magazines are featured, to which Nuttall himself contributed, including the one-issue only “newspaper” The Moving Times, and five of Nuttall’s books.
It is Nuttall’s combination of word and image, art and activism – and content that remains provocative and sometimes shocking – that made him a legend in his own time. As we face our own uncertain times, Nuttall’s work feels as prescient today as it did five decades ago.
Please note: because of the adult nature of the content in this exhibition, it is not suitable for children.
Share your experience: #jrloffbeat @TheJohnRylands
Convolution 4
Convolution 4, co-edited by Andrew Durbin and Paul Stephens, is now shipping:
http://www.convolutionjournal.com/
With contributions by Etel Adnan, Chris Alexander, Harry Burke, Natalie Czech, Andrew Durbin, Craig Dworkin, Kristen Gallagher, Robert Grenier, Diana Hamilton, Forsyth Harmon, Karl Holmqvist, Juliana Huxtable, Josef Kaplan, Shiv Kotecha, Sophia Le Fraga, Astrid Lorange, Holly Melgard, Nick Montfort, Kim Rosenfield, Aram Saroyan, Jacolby Satterwhite, Kit Schluter, Jason Simon, Carlos Soto Román, Joey Yearous-Algozin, Steven Zultanski and We Have Photoshop.
James Davies – Snow
Out now on zimZalla – Snow, a three postcard set by James Davies. More here.
From the vaults – Ulli Freer
Koto y yo by Tim Atkins out now from Crater Press
new Atkins product from Crater Press!
Koto y yo documents a year in the lives of a father and daughter living in Poble Sec; a working class barrio in Barcelona. Told in luminous poetic prose, the interlinked stories – echoing the Platero y yo stories of Juan Ramon Jiminez – detail the couple’s adventures and encounters as they wander around the streets. The pages are inhabited by the plumbers, hairdressers, bakers, traveling knife grinders, mechanics, tobacconists, waiters, postmen, mangy cats, and itinerant musicians who populate the neighborhood.
£10 paperback, £15 hardback, both available at
or
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/craterpress
As it’s Lulu the postage is about the same wherever you are in the world, and if you use this code FWD15 when you purchase you will get 15% off (this is working today, but I’m not sure how long for as Lulu changes the codes pretty often).
Free Verse: The Poetry Book Fair
Free Verse: The Poetry Book Fair offers equal space to all exhibiting publishers, whether small or large, from pamphlets to anthologies, in all styles of writing, in order to give the public a chance to explore everything that contemporary poetry publishing has to offer, all under one roof. Free verse is organised by Chrissy Williams and Joey Connolly.
This year’s event is on Saturday 17th September at Conway Hall, London and the programme is out now, giving details of participants and readings.
Proms Extra Lates: Chrissy Williams
LONDON SW7: Proms Extra Lates: Chrissy Williams
Date: Wednesday 7 September, 2016
Time: 10:00 PM
Price: Free, but book tickets in advance.
Venue address:
Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall, London SW7 2AP
Publicity material for this event says:
BBC Proms Extra, in association with The Poetry Society, presents a series of late-night events at the Elgar Room in the Royal Albert Hall pairing musicians with poets. Hosted by Georgia Mann, and then broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
The poet featured at this event will be Chrissy Williams.
Tickets are free, but must be booked in advance from the Royal Albert Hall website.
Contact:
info@poetrysociety.org.uk
Geraldine Monk recording from The Other Room July 2016
Tom Jenks – Sublunar
New 24 page pamphlet, out now on Oystercatcher Press.
Sarah Clare Conlon recording from The Other Room July 2016
Verbose
26 September at 19:30–22:30. Fallow Cafe, 2A Landcross Road, Manchester, M14 6NA.
This month’s headliners have all been published by literary periodical Bare Fiction Magazine, which promotes new creative writing across poetry, fiction and plays, and includes articles, reviews and interviews with practitioners. Michael Conley has published two pamphlets, Aquarium (Flarestack Poets) and More Weight (Eyewear). He runs a literature night The Other, in which poets swap words. Rosie Garland has five collections of poetry, with a sixth out this year on Flapjack Press, and two novels. Her third novel, The Night Brother, is due out next spring. Rachel Mann is resident poet at Manchester Cathedral. She is the author of three books, with The Great War, Memory & Symbol being published in spring 2017.
Fancy a go on the open mic? Sign up for a three-minute slot by emailing verbosemcr at gmail dot com.
Gramophone Ray Gun
The Singing Bridge
9 – 25 September 2016, Somerset House, London.
Wednesday to Friday 16.00 – 21.00
Saturday & Sunday 13.00 – 18.00
Fascinated by the rich and largely unearthed social history of Waterloo Bridge and its rebuilding during World War II by a predominantly female workforce comes a brand new work by composer and artist Claudia Molitor.
Collect a headset from Somerset House to begin your 40 minute musical experience that features new compositions by Molitor, with contributions from drum and synth duo AK/DK, folk band Stick in the Wheel and poet SJ Fowler. The Singing Bridge weaves you along Waterloo Bridge and its surrounding paths to give you time and space to consider your relationship to this bridge and its environs. More here.
Coming next
Thanks to all who came along last night for a hot and sultry Other Room. Our next event is in the cool of early October and it’s a really special one. We’re very pleased to be hosting Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee, over from the US. Maggie O’Sullivan completes the line-up to make a real power trio. Hope to see you there.
Iain Morrison Video from July 2016
The Other Room tonight
Carcanet book sale party in Manchester
Why not pop along to the Carcanet summer book sale tomorrow before coming along to our event which starts at 7pm. More details about that on our events page.
otherroom.org 