A new book, and a sequel 11 years in the making. My friend Tom Jenks, a huge influence on me and long-term collaborator, and I have been sending each other rapid fire poem proverbs, in fits and starts, for a long time. This book collects all 2001, published by Kingston University Press. https://www.stevenjfowler.com/proverbs
We launched the book in London, Manchester and Liverpool at Camarade events for my festival and sold a surprising amount of books.
The first volume was released in 2013 with Knives Forks and Spoons press, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and in it’s own way, had some resonance / recognition / influence. Perhaps not only as an example of conceptualism, but one that was collaborative, and most importantly (we hope) funny. It is, often accidentally, a humorous book, and very English in that humour. Others have said it has value in that sense then, in not being a po-faced conceptual project. Kingston University press have done a grand job with it and it’s a lovely thing to have out in the world.
Our proverbs have also been kindly featured by Ivor Kallin in his resonance FM show The Ambrosia Rasputin Show. It’s a brilliant thing every week. 32 minutes in or so are the proverbs https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-ambrosia-rasputin-show-11-october-2026/