https://www.writerskingston.com/exhibition
I’ve had the pleasure to put together this exhibition of nearly 20 original works on the theme of Para-ability for the Writing Cultures group at Kingston University. The exhibition came together on May 28th and runs until April 15th at the Kingston school of art, dean’s space, and you can see from the video below, it’s really wonderful vibrant weird DIY stuff, and we had a grand opening. Loads more at the link above
A double whammy on 3am magazine.
An excerpt from my novella MUEUM, just as it’s amazingly been shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness prize, https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/outside-the-first-museum/ this section is taken from the front of the book.
And then an in depth and brilliantly complex interview with Dominic Jaeckle, by Daniel Davis Wood. Dominic’s work as publisher of the novella, with Tenement, has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. He’s remarkable. https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/qa-dominic-jaeckle-tenement-press/
“In my first encounter with MUEUM, I was reminded of a line from his 2017 collection, The Wrestlers: ‘Diogenes the Cynic said nothing upon hearing Zeno’s arguments, but stood up and walked in order to demonstrate the falsity of Zeno’s conclusions.’ That “standing and walking” work as quite a beautiful means of thinking through the varied emphases of Fowler’s playful and prolific productivity as a poet is true, to my mind. However, MUEUM represented a study of the ways in which certain things inhibit our gait, our capacity for independent thought, our ability to freewheel through the corridors and wings of such an imagined glasshouse as Fowler’s “museum.” Rather than an imago of any free agent aiming defiantly to walk on, their strident sense of self intact, MUEUM—with Buster Keaton’s acuity and a brand of Bernhardian savagery—musters a picture of the ways in which the world (or a city, and its various ecosystems) interrupts any capacity to stride on freely. It’s a banana peel of a novella, and it’s that precise quality of Steve’s writing which first drew me to the project.”
A really resonant night capping off one of my favourite years teaching at Kingston University. This event, hosted by Katerina Koulouri at the lovely and local Waterstones in Kingston, saw students of mine from five different years, and lots of different approaches to poetry and literature share their work with readings and performances. It was also the book launch for the brilliant Matthew Sokulsky and Cameron Wade. Lots more here https://www.writerskingston.com/waterstonesshowcase/ included all the videos
At the event in his role as publisher too, the brilliant Alban Low also provided these beautiful sketches of myself and many of the performers!
Lavinia is a brilliant poet and a dear friend, and I was so touched to be a tiny part of her debut poetry collection book launch! It took place at Burley Fisher, and her book with Prototype publishing - Artifice, buyable and highly recommended here https://prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/artifice/ - is fantastic. It’s deft, funny, complex, clever, playful, experimental. And in it is Lavinia’s warmth too. She is so supportive of so many others and this night captured the feeling so many have for her. It was a really friendly, kind, generous event, emanating from the person it celebrated.
For my own part, I took youtube videos of Lavinia performing, from events I had invited her to, over 10 over the years, and then copied the given subtitles that youtube had conjured. I lightly edited and read three of these.
11 years editing 3am magazine’s poetry section and counting! Some brilliant recent additions to the Poem Brut handmade series
#150 https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/poem-brut-150-blank/ Jules Sprake
#149 https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/poem-brut-149-solinho/ Jesse Kominers
#148 Paola Tavoletti https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/poem-brut-148-fruit-bags/
A workshop recently took place at The People’s Theatre in Newcastle in which my books Sticker Poems and Bastard poems were used, by the brilliant David Spittle, to lead teenagers to collage! It all seemed to go well, from the work attached.
It confirms my long held suspicion that the more playful experimental works are better for younger people to learn about poetry that the more formal or subjective, in the sense that aberrant humour and play, and the emphasis on this in method as well as subject, circumnavigate the boredom so associated with the medium. Or maybe not.
Designed by Babak Safari https://www.babaksafari.com/
https://www.versopolis.com/initiative/poetry-expo-23/content/1333/european-poetry-festival-presenting-on-poetry-expo-2023 “The European Poetry Festival in the UK is unique as a festival happening for a number of reasons, having involved over 1000 poets from across our continent since its inception in 2018. All attending poets present new works, and the festival pushes the boundaries of what is possible for live literature in the 21st century. Improvisation, performance and experiment is encouraged, specifically in the environment of the live event, separate from the book. At the centre of all this is a celebration of collaboration. The Camarade event format has seen hundreds of new works made by pairs of poets, performed, bringing together new literal friendships in the making of poetry. Here, for Poetry Expo, we present a selection of some of the festival’s most unique and brilliant collaborative works from the last festival in 2022, given the 2023 edition begins soon in April 2023.”
The EPF returns in spring 2023 for one of the grandest celebrations of European poetry ever to take place in the UK. Eleven events over three weeks will see over one hundred poets from across the continent and the UK come together for a celebration of liveness, collaboration and cross-linguistic collective inventiveness. All events are free to attend, and subject to change.
April Weds 19th : Versopolis Poetry Celebration at Iklectik Artlab, London
April Sat 22nd : Norwegian Poetry in Collaboration at Iklectik Artlab, London
April Mon 24th : European Camarade Norwich at National Centre for Writing, Dragon Hall
April Weds 26th : Swiss Poetry in Collaboration at National Poetry Library, London
April Thurs 27th : Austrian Poetry in Collaboration at Austrian Cultural Forum, London
April Sat 29th : Catalan Poetry in Collaboration at Rich Mix, London
May Weds 3rd : Danish Poetry in Collaboration at Hundred Years Gallery, London
May Thurs 4th : Flemish Poetry in Collaboration at Kingston University, Kingston
May Sat 6th : Dutch Poetry in Collaboration at Rich Mix, London
May Weds 10th : Latvian Poetry in Collaboration at National Poetry Library, London
May Thurs 11th : European Camarade Liverpool at venue to be announced March 23rd!
The second of my commissions for the National Gallery this year. The first was remarkable. This should be the same. New paintings, new poets, new art educator to talk with. A walking tour of ekphrastic poems and performance. Please come along
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/friday-lates-tour-and-poetry-readings-sj-fowler-24-03-2023
For centuries, the artforms of painting and poetry have been in dialogue, with each informing the other, or attempting to translate what makes them unique as their own media into another. In this second event for our Friday Lates programme, poet and performer SJ Fowler returns to the gallery to read new ekphrastic poems about chosen paintings in our collection, offering alternative interpretations of their meaning, history and standing.
Fowler is joined by Gallery Educator Fiona Alderton alongside invited guests from Writers’ Kingston, students and staff from Kingston University, as well as further afield, for a tour and poetry performances around the Gallery. Readings will be performed by Stanimir Dimitrov, Matt Sokulsky and Rushika Wick
It was a brilliant event, the 62nd of Writers Kingston, celebrating Cassettes this past week. And a perfect place for me to launch my debut cassette https://sjfowler.bandcamp.com/album/babs-london-adventures-talk-poems and the culmination of my Babs performances. Everyone brought some brilliant work, poems, performances, spools and tape, and all can be seen here https://www.writerskingston.com/cassette/
My own performance, I made it up on the spot, obviously, but also wasn’t going to do anything but play the cassette until it all kicked off. It seemed to go well. Please have a watch.
Another lovely few days in the legendary Whittington press with Pat Randle and Angie Butler, and coming this winter https://www.stevenjfowler.com/ppp/
A limited edition of 100, letterpress printed, original poetry sequence. The gallant errant crusading knight, and the world’s first troubadour, Guillaume IX of Poitiers visits his former comrade-in-arms Sir Richard de Croupes. In the ancient Cotswold village of Whittington, future home of the eponymous press, will Guillaume, fine dining, be able to resist the temptations of a beaked devil?
A distinctive, eccentric and playful work of literature, The Hyphen is a Dagger is a product of a unique ground-up collaborative project between printers and poets - Angie Butler, Pat Randle and SJ Fowler. Working in cahoots from scratch, this publication was made with its specific letterpress production as a constraint and guide. Using only wood-letter typefaces from the stores of the legendary Whittington press in the heart of the Cotswolds, and working to vocabularies available from the letters on hand, the poems were written by Fowler to be then edited, while being set, across a series of collaborative in press sessions over 2022 and 2023. The poems themselves relate to the the place of their making, centering around the real life crusader Sir Richard de Croupes, whose tomb adjoins the press in Whittington court. Guillaume, the hero of the story, was the first recorded troubadour. For print afficionados, the text is buffeted with labels of each typeface used, from the Delittle collection of 1888. This publication is a rare example of what is possible when contemporary writers and printers work together with simultaneous purpose.
Digital download and a Limited edition cassette, fresh from 8ox publishing.
"In your lucy locket, a series of encounters with London’s most loveable rogue, Babs the purple cat, whose improvised talk poems have become a staple of the UK’s avant garde poetry scene. Recorded at public performances, film shoots and specifically for this release, and featuring found sound recordings around the capital, Babs takes on what is possible for’ the improvised poem and for the poet as a character."
For more on Babs, and Babs' performances, visit www.stevenjfowler.com/babs
I was recently on Sian Thomas’ radio show the poetry bath. The show was broadcast here: https://wildhartradio.com on Friday 17th of Feb 2023, then on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday at six for two weeks.
After that it'll hop over to Sian’s presenter's page: https://wildhartradio.com/sian-thomas-the-poetry-bath/ where it should be available for all eternity.
We talked poetry, time travel, not reading one’s poems and loads of stuff, and I got to pick a favourite song. I chose Ween’s Chocolate Town, after much angst.
A good review, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/hell-is-the-british-museum-on-s-j-fowlers-mueum/
Hell Is the British Museum: On S. J. Fowler’s “Mueum” January 27, 2023 • By Guy Stevenson
Sunday afternoon wonders at Hundred Years Gallery with ten performances. It was such a lovely vibe, thanks to our hosts Montse and Graham, and loads of new folk amongst the old friends.
For my part I got to do another pure improvised piece with Benedict Taylor, with our duo The Onions Boys going strong strong for our fourth performance in the last six month. We have a rhythm, weaving, finding a way towards each other, between talk poem and viola. He’s an amazing person to work with and witness
https://www.stevenjfowler.com/nationalgallery/ The National Gallery : poems on paintings
Three National Gallery commissions in 2023. I'm writing new poems on paintings of choice as well as interacting and improvising with gallery guides, during three Friday night lates events. Those events I also have a chance to curate, inviting other poets and students of mine from Kingston University. “"For centuries, the artforms of painting and poetry have been in dialogue with each other, with each informing the other, or attempting to translate what makes them unique as their own media into another. In this unique event and across future Friday Lates, poet and performer SJ Fowler will read new ekphrastic poems about chosen paintings in our collection, offering alternative interpretations of their meaning, history and standing.”
An unexpectedly enormous turnout for myself and poets Kayona Daley, Cameron Wade and Tom Jenks, alongside educator and guide Katy Tarbard all curated by Joseph Kendra. This was a very memorable event, relaxed, literary, fun. The poems were serious, engaging, resonant, but the atmosphere was more febrile, playful. But it stayed close, despite the big crowd in small spaces with unamplified voices. Katy, Kayona, Cameron, Tom, Joseph are such decent, warm people, to match their talent, the whole thing was so enjoyable for me. A special start to 2023 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/talks-and-conversations-friday-lates-tour-and-poetry-readings-writers-kingston-20-01-2023
Kornelia Deres and Peter Zavada have done a grand job translating the works of myself, Colin Herd, David Spittle and more for the latest issue of the Hungarian online literary journal 1749
one is from the great apes and one is from i will show you the mind on prescription drugs, i think. im very happy to be in Hungarian and to be translated by two of the best poets in Europe, for real.
https://www.writerskingston.com/dancepoetry/
The 60th Writers Kingston was a first exploration of something I have been investigating and thinking about for awhile, poetry and dance. Thanks to Scott Thurston, Daniela Perazzo and some others, giving me some reading and putting me on paths, I’ve begun to think about what movement means in my performances and how I might learn from dancers, of the contemporary experimental kind. This event was a chance for me to learn, and brought together 5 pairs of poets and dancers. The videos on the link are really worth a watch
“Whether as a separate, interactive practise from two artists and arts, or as a synthesised fusion of language and movement by two performers simultaneously, these two creative fields, sitting so far apart in their mode, have enormous potential together.”
