A note on : The Parts ... Book launch at Rich Mix : March 23rd

The Parts of the Body that Stink : London Launch - March Saturday 23rd at Rich Mix Arts Centre with 7pm doors : 7.30pm start - Free Entry
theenemiesproject.com/londonstink
richmix.org.uk/events/book-launch-sj-fowler


My 11th poetry collection will be launched in a limited edition hardback at Rich Mix in Brick Lane, London. The Parts of the Body that Stink, comprised of five long poems exploring scent and stink and smells. For the launch over a dozen poets, writers and artists will join me to celebrate the theme, or their works with brilliant Bristol-based press, Hesterglock. From readings to art performances, perfume to anti-perfume, text to textiles, visual poetry to sound poetry, this event will be a launch as eccentric as the book it throws into the world, come along!

Book will be available herehesterglock.net/SJ-Fowler-Stinkand more infostevenjfowler.com/stink.

An excerpt recently published at Shuddhashar magazine shuddhashar.com/the-parts-of-the-body-that-stink/

A note on : Chicago Review, two poems on Peter Greenaway's films

https://www.chicagoreview.org/poems-from-the-greenaway-suite/

Two poems just published on the films of Peter Greenaway on the Chicago Review, whose editors kindly commissioned them after seeing some of my other poems on Greenaway’s films specifically. They featured heavily in my 2021 collection Come and See the Songs of Strange Days : poems on films

I first watched Greenaway's films 25 years ago and I began writing poetry 15 years ago and I began writing about Greenaway’s films 5 years ago, in 2019, when I rediscovered them, through a Zed and Two Noughts, and then watching most of his films. He’s definitely a big influence on me. These poems are on The Falls (1980) and Goltzius and the Pelican Company (2012).

A note on : Writers Kingston event #73

https://www.writerskingston.com/townhousecafe/

13 performances on the 5th floor of kingston uni’s town house building, mostly of current student, but also some alumnis and visiting poets for the night. a lot of fun, a real range, and definitely i feel lucky to work with so many young writers who are a lot more down to earth and comfortable with weird poetry and performance than i wouldve been when that age.

A note on : Versopolis at the Poetry Cafe, March 13th 2024

Versopolis in London
The Poetry Society Cafe
March Wednesday 13th 2024 : 7pm : Free
www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/versopolis24

A special standalone Camarade event, where Versopolis poets visiting from multiple nations present new works made with UK-based poet pairs - a series of premiere performances of literary and experimental poetry, all at the brilliant Poetry Society Cafe in the heart of the Covent Garden. A rare chance to see some of Europe's most interesting poets performing in London, in one of the first events The Poetry Cafe has hosted since the pandemic.
Featuring Helen Ivory and Agnieszka Studzinka / Tomica Bajsic and Antoine Cassar / Peter Zavada and David Spittle / Harry Man and Katerina Koulouri / Zuzana Husarova and SJ Fowler / Beverly Frydman, Kayona Daley and more, at 22 Betterton St, London WC2H 9BX poetrysociety.org.uk/event/versopolis

A note on : launching Crocodile Tear Waterfalls

A slightly flippant, though I hope fun, performance to launch my new publication - Crocodile Tear Waterfalls : Selected Uncollected Visual Poems 2011 - 2023, from Penteract press, the last of that brilliant press’ Enneract editions, a passport sized colourful traipse through over a decade of my various visual linguistic experiments.

https://penteractpress.com/store/crocodile-tear-waterfalls-sj-fowler

A note on : Student debut publications, Jessica Pritchard and Oscar Rodriguez

A highlight of my year when working at Kingston Uni are the annual Sampson Low Student Publications, and this year sees the 20th and 21st editions https://www.writerskingston.com/sampsonlow

They are a chance for me to support two student writers in their debut publication, and a publication that is a serious piece of work, that has to feel original, and considerable.

The poets this year - Oscar Rodriguez and Jessica Pritchard - have been exceptional to work with, superbly talented and kind and professional. I was proud to see them launch these booklets surrounded by their friends and family too. https://www.writerskingston.com/actionvispo/

https://sampsonlow.co/2024/02/20/mold-oscar-rodriguez/

https://sampsonlow.co/2024/02/20/bees-jessica-pritchard/

A note on : Action Vispo at Writers Kingston

The 72nd event I’ve had the pleasure to run for Writers Kingston, for Kingston University, this time celebrating something distinct but ambiguous - how do we perform visual poetry? This leads us into the territory of the score, but also, as was the case in this event, the sculptural and gestural. There were some really fun performances. Balloons with text. Eggs thrown on paper. Massive scrabble. Books taped to feet. The sense of playful weird but sincere experiment is what I seek in my work, and was what this event was about.

All videos here and worth watching https://www.writerskingston.com/actionvispo/

A note on : Printing, live, with Ane Thon Knutsen at ROM gallery, Oslo

“A unique live letterpress printing event by Ane Thon Knutsen and SJ Fowler at ROM Gallery, Oslo, Norway, on February 17th 2024.

With no text pre-written, Knutsen and Fowler created the poem in situ, using first a generator which displayed Norwegian words which are understandable phonetically in English (with both participants and audience choosing the words by chance) and then writing poems live, turning phrases from English into Norwegian, with special attention to composite words and what is found lost in immediate translation. As each phrase or line was decided upon it was then printed by Knutsen on strips of paper using a typeface designed by Stefan Ellmer.

These strips of poems were then hammered into the gallery wall in an order of sorts by Fowler. Over two hours the poem took shape, in Norwegian, mostly understandable out loud in English.” My first poem in Norwegian! I’m quite proud.

Thanks to Helena Bjørnevik Ottesen and Gjertrud Steinsvåg at ROM for their hospitality and support.

A note on : Oslo Camarade 2024

https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/oslo

Oslo Camarade : Feb 15th 2024 at Høyskolen Kristiania 12 new collaborations from over 30 performers made for this unique night of performance by groups of student poet-artist-writers from Kristiania School and pairs of those local to Oslo. Over 500 Camarade events have pioneered live literature made in collaboration since 2011, and this extraordinary event was the first of it’s kind in Oslo.

Super proud of many of the students at this event whom I worked with on their pieces in the days before.

Brilliant to share the stage with so many friends, old and new, from the Oslo poetry and music scene

And such a pleasure again to work with Dario Fariello, one of the best improvisers I have ever worked with.

A note on : Teaching at Hoyskolen Kristiania in Oslo

Teaching alongside Bard Torgersen for a week at Oslo’s Hoyskolen Kristiania, for the third time, following programs in 2022 and 2020. Both times before, as with this week, the experience changes my approach to teaching in general. The nature of the course is unique and dynamic, thanks to Bard, who is a remarkable lecturer with a roving, wide ranging and complex vision for what information to share and how to share it. The course synthesises so much about what it is to be a poet and writer, and stretches the perceptions of the students. It’s really brilliantly intense. In addition, the sessions last all day, they are vocational in a sense. We worked with the students 10am to 4pm, and beyond. So it’s very different, as an approach, as an experience, tiring and inspiring.

This group of students were exceptional. Mature, funny, down to earth and serious about pushing themselves to create proper pieces of innovative live literature and accompanying visual poetry scores. We ran a Camarade event where they all performed new works in groups. Really high pressure stuff as they had one day to hear about the live traditions we were exploring, then one day to create, and then one day to rehearse and then it was the event, a full room, with friends and family, and other poets performance who were much older, professionals, and some really experimental stuff. Really remarkable what they achieved, in such time, and a real bond was formed. Huge respect to Bard and all his students I met.

A note on : BBC Radio Devon, Shaldon Zoo Residency

A pleasure to chat with Toby Buckland at BBC Radio Devon to announce my new residency with Shaldon Zoo. I had the chance to read two new poems, about a Bintarong and Stick Insects / Tarantulas. I also had the chance to choose a song, and picked one of my heroes Harry Nilsson. Really a lovely, sincere, funny conversation.

Published : Crocodile Tear Waterfalls - Selected uncollected visual poems 2011 - 2023

Crocodile Tear Waterfalls : Selected uncollected visual poems 2011 - 2023 : Penteract Press 

https://penteractpress.com/store/crocodile-tear-waterfalls-sj-fowler
Paperback, 105x148mm, Full Colour, 40pp : £5

A beautifully produced pocket publication, with 32 visual poems and an essay, the last of Penteract’s longstanding and groundbreaking enneract chapbook series. Drawn from a wide range of my visual poetry work across a dozen years, lots more on asemic, concrete, poster poem, minimalist, art poem and conceptual work within here www.stevenjfowler.com/croco

Launched February 20th, 7pm, free at Writers Kingston at the Town House, Kingston University, with more events to follow.

A note on : Shaldon Zoo poet in residence

2024 Poetry Residency at Shaldon Wildlife Trust https://www.shaldonwildlifetrust.org.uk/

I am pleased to announce that throughout 2024 I shall be poet in residence at the remarkable Shaldon Wildlife Trust in Devon. It is a beautiful, brilliant zoo set in an acre of woodland garden, perched right above the south Devon coast. Hospitable and generous staff make up a remarkable community that runs and supports the zoo, which also runs some amazing conservation programs. My residency will include two public events, a small limited edition publication, film documentation and more. The new poems I'll write will be primarily about the animals residing in Shaldon, from Bintarongs, Lemurs and Loris' to Armadillos, Dart Frogs and Lovebirds. As a Devonian myself, this is a special project for me, connected to the wonderful people which make the county so unique. https://www.stevenjfowler.com/shaldonzoo

Live Event : May 22nd - 7pm Reading alongside David Spittle and more poets to be announced. A unique way to explore the wonders of Shaldon Wildlife Trust, a walking tour poetry event, featuring poet-in-residence Steven J Fowler and invited guest writers, all reading new short poems written about animals in the zoo. A second event will take place on September 14th 2024.

A note on : Surrealism feature on Shuddasar

David Spittle has put together an incredible special issue of Shuddasar celebrating neo-surrealism, contemporary surrealism, and I’m very happy to be featured in it alongside poets like Aase Berg, Julia Rose Lewis, Tom Jenks, Stephen Sunderland, James Byrne, Geraldine, Monk, James Knight, Aaron Kent, Vik Shirley and more. It’s massive. https://shuddhashar.com/magazine/issue-37-surrealist-poetry/

Here’s Dave’s intro https://shuddhashar.com/note-from-guest-editor-2/

And my stuff, excerpts from different sections of my new book The Parts of the Body that Stink https://shuddhashar.com/the-parts-of-the-body-that-stink/

At the end of my poems there is a small commentary by me, as below.

A note on : A fourth duet with Phil Minton and sound poetry at Writers Kingston

https://www.writerskingston.com/soundpoetry/

A really good event in Kingston with seven performances which each explored sound poetry in very different and idiosyncratic ways. Lots of collaborations in there, and some of my students did me especially proud with their work. It takes courage to perform improvised sound at one of your first public events, and this one was especially good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDTPbO7psM

For my own part I had the chance to duet with the legendary Phil Minton for the fourth time. It was as it always is, a great privilege, and a real process of learning for me.

A note on : Two events in Oslo - Feb 15th and 17th

I'm doing two events in Oslo very soon. On February Thursday 15th, at 7pm, I will be at Hoyskolen Kristiania, in their Black Box space, performing with Dario Fariello, and co-curating an evening of new collaborations between poets and artists, and loads of students, with Bard Torgersen. https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/oslo

And on February Saturday 17 February at 2 p.m, I will be at ROM, collaborating with artist and letterpress printer Ane Thon Knutsen, doing something https://rom.no/aktuelt/arrangementer/a-weird-interview

A note on : The first National Gallery event of 2024

A fitting way to begin a triptych of brilliant events at the National Gallery Lates in 2024, flanked by fellow poet David Spittle and students Danica Ignacio and Monica Nathalal, led by art historian and author Fiona Alderton, and given the chance by curator Joseph Kendra. January 19th 2024

Again I felt curiously relaxed, almost transforming into some sort of yellow liquid, reading my poems. Fiona remarked, kindly, and lucidly, that these events have been notable for their playfulness. The audience and poets alike were happy to be there, and again nearly 100 people in attendance. www.stevenjfowler.com/nationalgallery/

A note on : Goodbye to Iklectik, improvising with Benedict Taylor

Iklectik Artlab has been one of the great London venues of my time performing over the last decade. Eduard & Isa, who created it and ran it, are amazing people. It's so sad to say goodbye, for now, for this location. We all hope the project continues elsewhere.

Iklectik has not only been a place where I have curated dozens of events, but also a place I have performed a lot, and learnt a lot. It’s one of the places where I started to move deeper into the experimental music world, through sound poetry first, and now improvised talking performances. My collaboration there with Jaap Blonk and Phil Minton is one of many memories.

Benedict Taylor and I tried to offer a sendoff to Iklectik in proper style on January 12th 2024, a night for Resonant FM, and one of the final seven days of events that was put on to say farewell. As ever before, Benedict and I planned nothing, and tried to really react to what was around us, what came out, and what had been said / surrounding us on that night.

The reaction was quite something. I think an audience of musicians and composers is different to my usual audience, but also the febrile feeling of the circumstance. Some really nice return from this below.