Out now on zimZalla – Snow, a three postcard set by James Davies. More here.
Tom Jenks
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.
Tom Jenks – Sublunar
New 24 page pamphlet, out now on Oystercatcher Press.
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.
The Other Room tonight
Line-up for Thursday
Unfortunately, David Kennedy won’t be able to make it to our next event on Thursday 23rd August. But we’ve still got three great performers: Joey Frances, Wanda O’Connor and James Wilkes, back at our usual haunt of The Castle Hotel , Oldham Street, Manchester. 7.00 start, free entry as always. Hope to see you there.
James Wilkes: a preview
The next Other Room is on Thursday 25th August at The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE. 7 PM start, free entry. The readers are Joey Frances, David Kennedy, Wanda O’Connor and James Wilkes.
James Wilkes is a poet, writer and performance maker. His poems and prose have appeared recently in Gorse, Poetry Wales, Torque 2 andThe Wire; recent performances have included live work for ‘This is a Voice’ (Wellcome Collection, London) and ‘Where Were We – On Intimacy, Writing, Body’ (Godsbanen, Aarhus). He is Associate Director of Hubbub, an interdisciplinary group of artists and researchers investigating rest, noise, tumult, activity and work. Links: www.renscombepress.co.uk // twitter.com/wilkesjames
Exploding Human Language: Camilla Nelson
Sunday 21st August, 10:00–13:00. Unit 12 The Long Shop, Merton Abbey MIlls, London, SW19 2RD.
This workshop breaks down language-making into three components: sound, movement and mark-making. These components are used as prompts for an embodied encounter with a tree: how do we understand a tree through sound, movement and mark-making?
Not me and the landscape, but a kind of oneness (Maitland 2009)
This workshop offers a series of embodied and perceptually attentive interactions with a tree in order to discover how it is that marks, movements and sounds are made by and with a tree. Each participant will be encouraged to engage their full body and all of their senses in this exploration and to use these findings to devise a short language performance to share with the group (as you wish). The aim of the workshop is to use this creative exploration as a practical stimulus for discussion of what it might mean to make a language that emerges between organisms rather than viewing human language as something that emerges in isolation.
Duration: 3hrs
Participants: up to 10
Other requirements: Mobility is required either by wheels or on foot. We will be going out and about to Morden Hall Park and along the river Wandle, so wear comfortable footwear. Some experience of writing and/or performance would be beneficial – although all are welcome.
This workshop is Part 1 in a series of two workshop, Part 2 follows in the afternoon. They may be booked seperately or together. See Part 2 here:https://www.facebook.com/events/479604888910147/
Adults (16+) £16, Students £14
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About Camilla Nelson
Camilla Nelson is a poet, artist and researcher, currently based in Somerset. She successfully completed a PhD in Reading and Writing with a Tree: Practising ‘Nature Writing’ as Enquiry, at Falmouth University. Her text work has been featured in Amy Cutler’s exhibition Time, the deer, is in the wood of Hallaig (London, 2013) and Karen Pearson’s outdoor exhibition in Yarner Wood, Assemblage (Dartmoor, 2012). As well as appearing in several magazines and journals, her poems have been anthologised in The Apple Anthology (Nine Arches) and Dear World & Everyone In It (Bloodaxe)
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About Object Book
Object Book is an alternative book makery and book arts studio, in residency at Merton Abbey Mills, run by artist Chloe Spicer with support from The Wandle Studio Prize (UAL Wimbledon College of Art and Office Estates Ltd).
This workshop is one of many bookish workshops, screenings and events scheduled over 2016.
www.chloespicer.co.uk
Twitter: @Object_Book @ChloeSpicerArt
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Accessibility: Object Book is a ground floor wheelchair accessible studio (1 table space) with disabled parking spaces. Run by a dyspraxic artist, Object Book is committed to accessibility for the book, please contact book@objectbook.org to discuss any needs/adjustments.
Wanda O’Connor: a preview
The next Other Room is on Thursday 25th August at The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE. 7 PM start, free entry. The readers are Joey Frances, David Kennedy, Wanda O’Connor and James Wilkes.
Wanda O’Connor is a doctoral candidate at Cardiff University researching the intersections between critical theory and contemporary poetry. Recent writing is available in Asymptote, Datableed, Magma, Poetry Wales, Zarf, and “The Best Canadian Poetry 2014” (Tightrope Books). She co-organizes the Cardiff Poetry Experiment reading series and participates in collaborative projects, most recently with Enemies Gelynion. She is currently composing a film project and a libretto.
Links:
Asymptote: http://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/wanda-o-connor-omophagos/
Datableed: http://www.datableedzine.com/#!wandaoconnorfuguestate/ch41f
Poetry Wales: http://poetrywales.co.uk/wp/2953/poem-palatine-hill-by-wanda-oconnor/
Junction Box: http://glasfrynproject.org.uk/w/4041/wanda-oconnor-drawing-hour/
Poetry Tour of Nunhead Cemetery
Saturday 27 August, 2016, 2:15 PM. Free. Nunhead Cemetery, Linden Grove Entrance, London SE15 3LP
Who was known as the ‘Laureate of the Babies’? Who was sent off to tour the world by Charles Dickens? Who welcomed Garibaldi to her home in Peckham? Who introduced a magazine called ‘Fun’ to a Victorian readership? Find out on this free tour of Nunhead Cemetery, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and hearing more about why the Victorians moved their cemeteries to the suburbs. A perfect way to find out more about poetry and experience London’s heritage. Meet at 2.15pm at the Linden Grove entrance to the cemetery.
The tour is led by Tim Stevenson of the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery and Chris McCabe. More here.
South West Poetry Tour – films
The South West Poetry Tour was a groundbreaking collaborative poetry initiative bringing together over 70 poets connected to the region moving through Cornwall (St Ives & Falmouth), Devon (Dartington) and Somerset (Bruton & Bath) in August 2016. As well as core touring poets JR Carpenter, John Hall, Matti Spence, Annabel Banks, Camilla Nelson and SJ Fowler, the project featured many dozens of well-known poets of south westerly counties and an open call for participation. Films are now online here, including the above featuring Other Room readers Tony Lopez and Elizabeth-Jane Burnett.
Mark Greenwood: Slips
The new zimZalla object is Slips by Mark Greenwood, conceptual betting slips in bookmaker’s boxes with a pen. More at the zimZalla site.
David Kennedy: a preview
The next Other Room is on Thursday 25th August at The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE. 7 PM start, free entry. The readers are Joey Frances, David Kennedy, Wanda O’Connor and James Wilkes.
David Kennedy was born in Leicester in 1959 and has degrees from the universities of Warwick and Sheffield. He is Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Hull and publishes widely on elegy, ekphrasis and experimental poetries. His books include Women’s Experimental Poetry in Britain 1970-2010, co-authored with Christine Kennedy. His own poetry has appeared in three collections from Salt including The Devil’s Bookshop. His most recent collection is a book length sequence about the art of the French painter Paul Cezanne entitled The Apple and The Mountain (Shearsman 2015). More at David’s author page at Archive of the Now: http://www.archiveofthenow.org/authors/?i=50
Otoliths 42
Out now, with new poetry and prose.
Joey Frances: a preview
The next Other Room is on Thursday 25th August at The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE. 7 PM start, free entry. The readers are Joey Frances, David Kennedy, Wanda O’Connor and James Wilkes.
Joey Frances is based in Manchester. He is a member of Generic Greeting, a multi-disciplinary arts collective with whom he has collaborated on zines, posters, exhibitions and other events. He also co-organises the reading series Peter Barlow’s Cigarette. His poetry has appeared in Manchester Poets Declare A No Spy Zone, The Red Ceilings, e-ratio, The Curly Mind, Generic Greeting Zine #1 & #2, Sure Hope #1 (collab with Bryony Bates), Brewtopia by Generic Greeting for the Manchester Beer Festival, Brexit: Borders Kill (collab with Will Berry). His first full collection, a l’instar de, was published this year with Knives Fork and Spoons Press. He will shortly begin a PhD on contemporary innovative poetry and ideological resistance. Find him at bubblethesedatasets.tumblr.com // genericgreeting.co.uk // twitter @JoeyFrances
Juliana Spahr and Sean Bonney in Liverpool
09 August 2016, 6.30pm. Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB. Join radical poets Juliana Spahr and Sean Bonney, and new British poet Ruby Robinson for an evening of politically-charged poetry readings. Situated in the context of the contemporary avant-garde, Spahr and Bonney’s poetry undermines the political and cultural establishment, giving a fresh voice to the dispossessed. Also interested in dismantling and rebuilding, Robinson’s poetry engages with class issues, exploring the contemporary world in scrupulous detail, and offering up imaginative and emotionally-rich commentary on legacies of trauma. Free, booking required. More here.
otherroom.org 