Leaves

David Berridge, http://verysmallkitchen.com/ another remarkable individual on the London poetry and art scene (for his activities as a organiser and art activist are as excellent as his own work and performances) was kind enough to invite me to cointribute to a night celebrating the work of Marton Koppany at the x marks the bokship http://bokship.org/ in Bethnal green. The theme of the evening was Leaves, and I was joined by Nick-e Melville, Claire Potter, Lisa Jeschke amongst others. I wrote 18 poems specifically for the event

Adventures in form



Exactly the kind of work that needs to be done is being done by Tom Chivers. Neither declarative nor factional, his work with Penned in the Margins has always struck me as thoroughly well considered and admirable. This anthology is an embodiment of that, a publication that genuinely adds to the litany of anthologies and offers the reader a remarkable width, depth and range of work. I was happy to have a poem included, and to read at the launch.


The poem i read was about Giorgio Petrosyan, probably my favourite kickboxer ever, if i had to choose one.



Calvert 22 with Offpress

The work of Marek Kazmierski and Offpress is the kind of work Id like to be doing with Maintenant, its genuinely valuable and completely relentless. He was kind enough to invite me to chat about translation, and to allow me to invite others to do the same as well, when an event was staged at the Calvert 22 gallery in Shoreditch for the end of an exhibition on translated Polish poetry, which is what Offpress does. It is remarkable how much more fun it is to read someone else's work, and I am slowly becoming more acclimatised to reading in a gallery space rather than a boardroom / pub. The night rather belonged to Tim Atkins in my opinion though.

Southbank

A few weeks ago the Maintenant reading series I curate debuted at the Southbank centre. Certainly in terms of venue and repute, it was a milestone for the series. If I'm honest I have never viewed my activities in organising poetry events through the lens of ambition, despite their frequency, I am always tinged with some reluctance around their doing, and as such I tend to just view each one as a separate entity. I have asked myself the question often enough of why I do organise events at all, and I think this sense of doubt is healthy. I am all but completely sure I do so for the right reasons now, to bring people together for enjoyable exchanges, to cultivate an atmosphere that I personally benefit from... None the less, I do believe once an event series stops running, it stops existing and if I were aiming to build a legacy or anything else, I would be a fool. This evening was an unusually intense one, with visa problems and last minute changes aplenty. None the less, it was considered a success and certainly it represented and width I always seek to advocate. Here is my intro to the night's proceedings.

Maintenant event videos / Equus press UK tour


Thanks to everyone who made our event last Saturday evening at the Rich mix, it was an excellent evening. Over 15 poets performed some remarkable sound poetry and sonic art, while over 70 poets provided original visual poetry for the free artfair. It was our best attended event ever and completes an especially busy month for Maintenant as we close in on the 100th edition of the interview series and an event at the Southbank centre among other things.


Taking place in just over one week's time, the remarkable Equus press, based in Prague, is commencing a UK tour that will take in two London dates, as well as two more in Manchester, with a night at the Rich mix arts centre, near Brick lane, on April Friday 13th, beginning at 7pm http://www.richmix.org.uk/. Authors Louis Armand and Thor Garcia will be launching their new novels, and this is a rare opportunity to see truly innovative and interesting contemporary English language European fiction read in London. See the poster attached and the website of the press - www.equuspress.com

Blue Touch Paper event on may 16th

Blue Touch Paper Preview Event
Wednesday 16 May, 7.30pm, Village Underground, London

The London Sinfonietta and Jerwood Charitable Foundation are delighted to present an event showcasing three works currently in development on the Blue Touch Paper programme.

Steve Potter and Kélina Gotman's music-theatre piece stages the urgency and ambivalence of dreaming other possible worlds. Philip Venables and Steven J Fowler explore boxing, a form of violence sanctioned by society, through the use of music and poetry. Meanwhile, Elspeth Brooke, Seonaid Goody and Anna G Jones use the arts of puppetry, live music and electronics to re-imagine the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter.

This exclusive preview event is not open to the public, however a limited number of tickets will be available to the London Sinfonietta Pioneers. Join today for your opportunity to attend. See making new music happen below for more details.

Maintenant #87 - Eugene Ostashevsky


An irrepressible poet and thinker, the work of Eugene Ostashevsky has been a dynamic presence in the New York poetry scene for some years. Born in Leningrad and emigrating while still a child, like so many who have left their homeland, alongside the ebullience and humour of his own poetry, Ostashevsky has been a tireless translator and advocate of Russian poetry, most specifically the OBERIU group, whose radical experimentation was led by the near mythological Daniil Kharms. Teaching at New York University, the energy and vibrancy, and intellectually buoyancy, of Ostashevsky places him as an invaluable link to both the Russian past, and future, in poetics. He reads in London for the first time on March 8th 2012 at Pushkin house, and celebrating that event we are pleased to welcome him as the 87th respondent of the Maintenant series.

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-87-eugene-ostashevsky/

Accompanying the interview is an excerpt from the The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of Pi, a work-in-progress about the relationship between a pirate and a parrot.

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-pirate-who-does-not-know-the-value-of-pi/

As mentioned Eugene is reading for in London this upcoming Thursday, at Pushkin house. He will be speaking specifically about the OBERIU group and it should be a unique event, not to be missed. (Thanks to Alistair Noon)

http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/the-oberiu

Chatting with Sam Riviere

Listen back to Austerities

Carmel Doohan, writing in Exeunt, gave our packed event Austerities a magnificent five stars:

“Sam Riviere is trying to find a way of being authentic about this inauthenticity. At Toynbee Studios, he recites a poem that reads like a shipping forecast of literary criticism. Comprised of a tutor’s one line comment on each poem – good, okay, we’ve heard this idea before, nice rhythm - it reveals the work lurking behind the myth of inspiration. Poetry is shown as calculated word-smithery; like everything else, poems are made to create a certain response.”

★★★★★ Exeunt Magazine

Listen back to Sam Riviere reading from 81 Austerities and in discussion with SJ Fowler.

Maintenant Camarade II: The Videos

I’m very pleased to say Saturday’s Camarade: Edition II event was another remarkable evening of poetry and a fine continuation of the series. A three figure audience witnessed some wonderful performances and equally significant poetry, and it was an evening which showed the depth of talent, inventiveness and wit in the contemporary British scene.

McCabe & Jenks

Bonney & Sutherland

Terry & Hilson

the Righteous Harmony Society Movement


After about a year, the Voiceworks song from last year, created in collaboration with the singers Lucy Roberts and Hadleigh Adams and the composer Wenjing Wang has been placed online.


The poem is about Chinese revolutionary spiritual movements, specifically the boxer rebellion, and stupid stereotypes of China from the West. Here's the blog with the text of my poem http://blogs.voiceworks.org.uk/1011/groupthree/

Enjoy enjoy www.voiceworks.org

North Chicago Review

Update: the North Chicago Review is nearly here!

16012012

Finally.
After a variety of setbacks that range from shitty printing presses (I said it, we’re on our third one – though this one’s great, really) to broken bones and the occasional flash flood, we are in the final stages of the process. We expect final-edit copies in the very near future, at which point we can do a quick sweep for glaring errors, and then get these suckers printed! Among the nearly overwhelming number of submissions (a fantastic problem to have), we have selected an eclectic group of artists – proud to have them involved.

Artist’s Spotlight: SJ Fowler, who will be introducing a band of relevant British Poets – giving us a glimpse into England’s modern poetry scene. www.sjfowlerpoetry.com

It’s going to be great. Stay tuned. http://northchicagoreview.com/2012/01/16/update-the-north-chicago-review-is-nearly-here/