I am delighted to announce the latest publications from Like This Press: two new collaborations by SJ Fowler with Ben Morris and David Kelly, the Estates of Westeros and Gilles de Rais. Each box contains 34 loose-leafed A5 postcards, blending text and image.
The Estates of Westeros is where avant garde poetry meets avant garde illustration. Whether perception or reality, housing estates are environments of occlusion, claustrophobia and damage, and poetry about them has a responsibility to reflect this complexity and intensity in its tone and form. The Estates of Westeros is a meditation on this living space through the universe of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, and where Gilles de Rais explores the absurdity of mythmaking in that which once was real, the Estates ... explores the grinding realism at the heart of the fantastical.
In Gilles de Rais – an interchangeable narrative reflection on the life and legend of Gilles de Rais – this fusion of avant garde poetry and modernist line drawing aims to satirise and subvert the manner in which the monstrous myth surrounding such de Rais is echoed in our own time by Jimmy Saville. This is the disjunctive folklore of idiot's resounding through the ages, from 15th century France to 21st century Britain.
Both books can be purchased for £9 direct from Like This Press: http://www.likethispress.co.uk/publications/sjfowlerandbenmorris
Special offer: buy the Estates of Westeros with Gilles de Rais together for £15 from here: http://www.likethispress.co.uk/specialoffers
the Estates of Westeros and Gilles de Rais launched as part of the Enemies of the North project on 30 March, at the Cornerhouse, Manchester. Both books will feature also in the group exhibition,Synesthesia, organised by Leap into the Void & held at Darnley Gallery, in Hackney, London, 12-19 April. For more information, see: http://leapintothevoid.co.uk/2013/03/26/synesthesia-15th-19th-april-2013/
SJ Fowler is a poet living in London. He's published four collections of poetry including Fights (Veer books) and Minimum Security Prison Dentistry (AAA press), and has collections forthcoming from Penned in the Margins and Eggbox publishing. He has been commissioned by the Tate, the London Sinfonietta and Mercy and has read and exhibited across Europe. He curates the Enemies project, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, and Maintenant, a series of reading and interviews focusing on contemporary European poetics and collaboration. He is currently undertaking a Phd at the Contemporary Poetics Research Centre, Birkbeck College and is an employee of the British Museum. www.sjfowlerpoetry.com / www.blutkitt.blogspot.com / www.weareenemies.com /
David Kelly is an artist working in the modernist tradition, currently with a centre of interest in collage. He has collaborated with and 'visually translated' numerous writers and poets including David Berridge, Daniele Pantano and SJ Fowler. His collaborative works have been exhibited at The Saison Poetry Library, The Horse Hospital, My Pixxa and Rich Mix. He received a degree from the University of Leeds School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies in 2007 and is now an employee of the British Museum.
Ben Morris is a London based experimental musician and artist. He has been active in the UK underground music scene since 2005 and is best known as 1 half of Chora, which he formed with Robert Lye in Sheffield. He has gigged and toured extensively throughout Europe receiving critical praise in The Wire magazine, on webzines such as The Quietus, Dusted and Foxy Digitalis and on radio stations like WFMU (America), VPRO (Holland) and BBC radio 3. Chora have a large multi-format back catalogue on labels like ChocolateMonk, Singing Knives Records and Winebox Press. He has played gigs with Sonic Youth, Wolf Eyes and Psychic TV as well as shows at Colour Out Of Space Festival, the ICA and at the Liverpool Biennial. He has received commissions from Mercy for collaborative sound performances with Steven Fowler. Other musical projects include: Le Drapeau Noir, Akke Phallus Duo and he records/performs solo as Lost Wax…
All enquiries to: nikolai@likethispress.co.uk
Very best wishes
Nikolai Duffy
Editor
Like This Press