ZARF is a magazine of new experimental poetry based in the UK. Poems from: Ali Znaidi, Tom Bamford, Amy McCauley, Giles Goodland, Tomos Morris, Keith Tuma, David Spittle, James Davies, Nia Davies, Annabel Banks and Julia Rose Lewis, Arjun Rajendran, Chandramohan S., John M. Bennett, Patrick Riedy, and Nat Raha, and back cover by David Greenslade, plus: Julia Rose Lewis reviews Nia Davies and e.v. moore reviews Verity Spott!
Tom Jenks
Robert Sheppard: Last Look and EUOIA
They didn’t let me swear my oath on a dictionary
not even the one containing the word ‘Brexit’.
New poem by Robert Sheppard at International Times. Also follow Robert’s struggle to avoid exclusion from his own anthology if Britain votes to leave the European Union of Imaginary Authors (EUOIA) on 23rd June here.
The noise and voices of objects
Thursday 30 June 2016, The Reynolds Room and Life Room, Royal Academy of Arts.
Other Room reader Paula Claire will present seven pieces at the An Aside to On Stage event including improvisations with ammonites, lunaria, black treacle and the text/ures of savoy cabbage leaves. Convened by artist Sarah Jones, this one-day symposium brings together lookers and listeners from art and theatre to consider the noise and voices of objects. More here.
States of Mind
Three events at the Wellcome Collection organised by SJ Fowler:
The Poetry of Consciousness
Thursday 7 July, 19.00-20.30
FREE | TICKETED at Wellcome Collection
From the perspective of the neuroscientist, the poet, the translator – a discussion of the role of language in constituting our consciousness, presenting talks and newly commissioned works for performance on the night.
Featuring: Daniel Margulies, SJ Fowler, Noah Hutton & Jen Calleja.
The Sound of Consciousness
Thursday 14 July, 19.00-20.30
FREE | TICKETED at Wellcome Collection
This event asks what role sound takes in shaping our experience and understanding of consciousness and offers artist’s reflections on the pivotal role sound has in the firmament of our daily lives, drawing from the worlds of neuroscience, anthropology, film, composition and sound poetry.
Featuring: John Gruzelier, Nick Ryan, Vincent Moon & Maja Jantar.
The Narrative of Consciousness
Thursday 21 July, 19.00-20.30
FREE | TICKETED at Wellcome Collection
Within and without language, how does the notion of narrative define our experience of the world through consciousness? An event featuring some of the most dynamic contemporary artists, neuroscientists and writers, exploring how narrative interacts with consciousness and what happens when this begins to break down, whether through trauma or conditions like aphasia.
Featuring: Lotje Sodderland, Srivas Chennu, Sam Winston and Barry Smith.
‘My Century / Mój wiek’ at the Miłosz Festival 2016: Krakow
June Friday 10th 2016
An innovative poetic performance responding and retelling the extraordinary interview and memoir of Aleksandr Wat, conducted by Czesław Miłosz, for the 2016 Miłosz Festival supported and commissioned by UNESCO City of Literature: Krakow, featuring Polish and British poets and text artists in collaboration.
In My Century the great Polish poet Aleksander Wat provides a spellbinding account of life in Eastern Europe in the midst of the terrible twentieth century, an account at the end of his extraordinary life that couldn’t have found such iconoclastic form without it being led and coaxed by his friend Czesław Miłosz. A document of history, but also a profound collaboration.
For the 2016 Miłosz Festival, poet and artist SJ Fowler, founder of the Enemies Project, which pioneers collaborative poetry practise across the world, leads a group of four contemporary avant-garde poets in making a brand new work, commissioned for the occasion. Featuring Weronika Lewandowska, Tom Jenks, Fowler & others, this will be a reforming of Wat’s story and myths – a piece of experimental literature, faithful to its source in it’s experimentation.
More here.
The South West Poetry Tour: Call for Poets
The Enemies Project, in partnership with Singing Apple Press, presents a brand new collaborative poetry initiative across South West England. The proposed South West Poetry Tour will take place in the first week of August 2016. It will include 6 nights of collaborative poetic performance from poets across the region, moving through Cornwall (St Ives & Falmouth), Devon (Dartington), Dorset (Lyme Regis) and Somerset (Bruton & Bath).
Poets local to the area are asked to produce new language works, in pairs, for performance each night. This innovative and exciting model of new writing has been pioneered by The Enemies Project across the UK and the world, with over 600 poets in 21 countries participating so farwww.theenemiesproject.com Beyond producing some wonderful nights of collaborative poetry, the aim of the tour is to forge creative links between poets, artists, arts organisations and audiences locally and regionally.
This is an open call for poets, local to any of the above areas, to be involved in the project. Over 100 poets will participate in the tour. The only requirement will be that you work with an assigned collaborator to produce a poem or language-based performance (experimentation is welcome), lasting no more than 5 minutes, at the venue most local to you.
Please send two poems or pieces of language art (links or attachments – pdfs rather than word docs are preferred), your address and a short bio to info@singingapplepress.com The work you send can be in any form and experimental or avant-garde poetry is encouraged. Our aim is to be inclusive.
The provisional schedule is:
St Ives 1st August
Falmouth 2nd August
Dartington 3rd August
Lyme Regis 5th August
Bruton 7th August
Bath 8th August
NB these dates may be subject to change. Deadline for applications 31st May 2016.
The South West Poetry Tour is curated by Camilla Nelson and SJ Fowler and supported by Arts Council England, Tate St Ives, Falmouth University, Schumacher College, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, The Clearing, Trail Mix, SoundArt Radio and Francis Boutle Publishers.
More at the Enemies site.
nick-e melville: Conservative badges
Out now on zimZalla: a political lapel intervention.
Servant Drone book launch
Portugese launch of Servant Drone by bruno neiva and Paul Hawkins, published by KFS.
Cardiff Poetry Experiment
Amy De’Ath, Graham Hartill, Allen Fisher
Amy De’Ath’s poetry chapbooks include ON MY LOVE FOR gender abolition (Capricious 2016), Lower Parallel (Barque 2014), Caribou (Bad Press 2011), and Erec & Enide (Salt 2010). With Fred Wah, she is the editor of a poetics anthology, Toward. Some. Air. (Banff Centre Press 2015). Her criticism has appeared in Women: A Cultural Review, Anguish Language (Archive Books 2015), and Cambridge Literary Review, and is forthcoming in After Objectvism: Reconfiguring 21st-Century Poetry and Poetics (U of Iowa P 2017). She is a PhD Candidate at Simon Fraser University and lives in Vanco…uver, on unceded Coast Salish Territories.
Graham Hartill’s latest collection is Chroma (Boiled String, 2013). He also publishes collaborative translations (with Wu Fu-Sheng) from classical Chinese and essays on poetics and creative writing in health and social care settings. He works as a writer in residence in HMP Parc and teaches on the MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes for the Metanoia Institute.
Allen Fisher is a poet, painter, publisher and art historian, lives in Hereford, UK. Emeritus Professor of Poetry & Art at Manchester Metropolitan University; over 150 single-authored publications of poetry, graphics, aesthetic theory and art documentation; exhibited in many shows from Tate Britain to King’s Gallery York. Examples of his work in the Tate Collection, The King’s Archive London, the Living Museum, Iceland and various British and international private collections. Last single-artist show was at the Apple Store Gallery Hereford in 2013. Two recent books of poetry and image were: TIP REGARD, and SPUTTOR. A second edition of the collected PLACE books of poetry was published earlier this year, the collected GRAVITY books are scheduled for publication in autumn, 2016. There is a book of essays on poetry and art, IMPERFECT FIT, due from University of Alabama Press also this autumn.
Doors open at 7pm, readings promptly at 7:30pm
Free admission, accompanied by discussions
Refreshments available for purchase
Waterloo Teahouse
Wyndham Arcade,
Cardiff City Centre,
CF10 1FH
(enter opposite Central Library)
Poetic Artifice
Pop Up Poetry at St Helens library
Saturday, 14th May, 1 PM. St.Helens Central Library Victoria Square St.Helens , WA10 1DY. Free. Knives Forks and Spoons press return to St Helens library with James Davies and Tom Jenks.
European Poetry Night
European Poetry Night 2016 in London. May Saturday 14th: Rich Mix
7.30pm – Free Entry. 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA
http://www.richmix.org.uk/events/spoken-word/european-poetry-night
Vanni Bianconi & Billy Ramsell
Alessandro Burbank & Alexander Filyuta
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir & SJ Fowler
Ulrike Ulrich & Jen Calleja
Nurduran Duman & Jonathan Morley
Christodoulos Makris & Martin Bakero
Niillas Holmberg & Peter Sulej
Efe Duyan & Livia Franchini
Tomica Bajsic & Colin Herd
Ghareeb Iskander & Ahsan Akbar
Ariadne Radi Cor & Iris Colomb
Ana Seferovic & Agnieszka Studzinka
Rufo Quintavalle & Ian Monk
Alessandro Burbank & Alexander Filyuta
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir & SJ Fowler
Ulrike Ulrich & Jen Calleja
Nurduran Duman & Jonathan Morley
Christodoulos Makris & Martin Bakero
Niillas Holmberg & Peter Sulej
Efe Duyan & Livia Franchini
Tomica Bajsic & Colin Herd
Ghareeb Iskander & Ahsan Akbar
Ariadne Radi Cor & Iris Colomb
Ana Seferovic & Agnieszka Studzinka
Rufo Quintavalle & Ian Monk
The Enemies Project presents London’s first ever European Poetry Night as part of European Literature Festival in 2016. 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, from Iceland to Turkey, from Ireland to Russia, from France to Slovakia, all presenting brand new works and performances. Curated by SJ Fowler.
European Literature Night Edinburgh
13 May at 17:30–18:30, North Edinburgh Arts, 15a Pennywell Court, Edinburgh, EH4 4TZ.
Curated by Colin Herd and Theodora Danek in association Edinburgh City of Literature, European Literature Festival and the Enemies Project’s SJ Fowler, Edinburgh’s European Literature Night is one magical night dedicated to celebrating European literature on Friday 13 May 2016..
European Literature Night Edinburgh presents the best and brightest of a new generation of avant-garde and literary poets from over a dozen countries across Europe. An extravaganza celebration of European poetry, culminating in a specially commissioned collective performance, #Europoem. This is a free event but please book a ticket.
Otoliths 41
10th anniversary edition with Pam Brown, Jesse Glass, Philip Byron Oakes, Marco Diotallevi, Travis Cebula, Charles Borkhuis, Kyle Hemmings, Daniel Y. Harris, Jack Galmitz, Mark Melnicove, Michael Allen, Raymond Farr, Jennifer MacBain-Stephens, Texas Fontanella, Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, Archana Kapoor Nagpal, Pete Spence, Joel Chace, AG Davis, Márton Koppány, Sanjeev Sethi, Martin Law, Gheorghe Marian Neguțu, Niloofar Fanaiyan, Tomás Sánchez Hidalgo, Andrew Brenza, Luisa-Evelina Stifii, John M. Bennett, John M. Bennett & Baron, John M. Bennett & Jim Leftwich, Tim Suermondt, Scott MacLeod, John W. Sexton, Andrew Topel, Francesco Aprile, Catherine Vidler, Olivier Schopfer, Lakey Comess, Louise Landes Levi, Richard Kostelanetz, bruno neiva, Hugh Schwarz, Timothy Pilgrim, Billy Cancel, Cecelia Chapman, Amelia Dale, sean burn, Zachary Scott Hamilton, Bill DiMichele, Javant Biarujia, Valeria Sangiorgi, Steve Dalachinsky, Charles Freeland, Michael Prihoda, Bobbi Lurie, Glen Armstrong, Jeff Harrison, Martin H. Levinson, Carol Stetser, Christopher Barnes, hiromi suzuki, sutcliffe lovingood, Edward Kulemin, Laurent Grison, Ana Prundaru, Clara B. Jones, Marco Giovenale, William Garvin, Stephen Nelson, Aidan Coleman, Rebecca Eddy, Bob Heman, Annette Plasencia, Bogdan Puslenghea, Carla Bertola, Tom Beckett, Alberto Vitacchio, Susan Gangel, Jeff Bagato, Kit Kennedy, Owen Bullock, J. D. Nelson, Brendan Slater, John Pursch, Ginny O’Brien & Michael Basinski, Matthew Carbery, Karl Kempton, Seth Howard, Sal Randolph, Gian Luigi Braggio, Robert Lee Brewer, Shloka Shankar, Shloka Shankar & Bill Waters, Tony Beyer, Marcia Arrieta, Tim Wright, Arpine Konyalian Grenier, Michael Brandonisio, Eric Hoffman, Reijo Valta, & Katrinka Moore. More here.
Frank O’Hara and Friends
para-text
Issue 2 out now, including brush, measuring tape, etc. by bruno neiva.
Kakania Berlin
7.30pm at Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin kulturforum berlin: kulturforumberlin.at
Free Entry – May Monday 9th 2016
Stauffenbergstraße 1, 10785 Berlin. T: +49 30 202 87-114 E: berlin-kf (at) bmeia.gv.at
Six new literary performance commissions from contemporary artists, each of whom will present a work that celebrates/responds to a figure from the Habsburg era:
Max Höfler on Ludwig Wittgenstein
Maja Jantar on Lou Andreas Salome
Stephen Emmerson on Rainer Maria Rilke
Tomomi Adachi on Josef Matthias Hauer
Ernesto Estrella on Gustav Mahler
Ann Cotten on Otto Neurath
More here.
The Other Room: a review
“Our eighth birthday event was initially billed as a sound art night, but as it turned out, two of our performers decided to deliver their poetry, setting up some delicious counterpoints for the evening. In time-honoured fashion we had to have a gimmick – on this occasion it was a complete copy of the annual anthology turned page by page into paper aeroplanes which got fired at various points during the evening at an increasingly wary audience.”
Scott Thurston’s thoughts on our eighth birthday event. Read them in full here.
Takeaway Britain: Sue Birchenough
zimZalla object 032 is Takeaway Britain by Sue Birchenough, a combinatorial card poem in a styrofoam box with cold chips and a branded napkin. More at the zimZalla site.
The Rich Mix Anniversary Camarade
May 2nd, 6pm, at Rich Mix 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA. Free.
To celebrate the ten year anniversary of Rich Mix a special celebratory Camarade event will bring together some of the best known pairs from the series, all of whom had their debut at Rich Mix, alongside some brand new commissioned pairs of young and established poets, invited especially for the night. Featuring:
Sandeep Parmar & James Byrne
Carol Watts & George Szirtes
Mark Waldron & Rebecca Perry
Prudence Chamberlain & Eley Williams
Giovanna Coppola & Clover Peake
Mischa Foster Poole & Chrissy Williams
Julia Lewis & Harry Man
Tasimbaradzwa Kanyangarara & Susie Campbell
Rachel Long & Elizabeth-Jane Burnett
Farhana Khatun & Francine Elena
Kathryn Maris & Amy Key
SJ Fowler & more.
otherroom.org 