Monthly Archive for September, 2009

The Centenary Edition of Poetry Review

Published on September 27, 2009 in News. Closed

The Centenary Edition of Poetry Review | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog.

Now “One hundred years and counting…” – Poetry Review celebrates a century

Poetry Review celebrates its hundredth birthday with a special centenary edition. As editor Fiona Sampson says, it is “older than votes for women, or passenger flight”, in an era “before world wars, before antibiotics, before we split the atom or went to the moon.”

The Review is Britain’s oldest and most widely-read poetry publication. The Guardian calls it the national ‘magazine of record’. With new work from the country’s most important poets showcased alongside debutants, this issue continues and celebrates the Review’s central role in poetry over the past century, an era stretching from Rupert Brooke to Carol Ann Duffy.

‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue’ runs through this issue.

AUDIO: Poet in Residence at the Bluecoat – Slow Magic

Published on September 14, 2009 in News. Closed Tags: .

Just found time to listen to Nathan Jones latest poem responding to the Slow Magic exhibition. Excellent, have a listen.

To commemorate a very memorable and inspiring exhibition at the Bluecoat, ending this weekend. I have written a poem called Slow Magic.   Please download it HERE, and listen to it more intently than anything you have ever listened to before.

The poem is an attempt to reflect, or recreate the emotion of a visit to the gallery during the exhibition, not particularly to provide any critical dialogue or translation of the works themselves.  Something that I found particularly interesting – and this is a result of the generally Abstract nature of the paintings – is the way feelings occur when they have nothing concrete to attach to.  I have tried to reflect this in my poem, thought the use of mainly abstract words.  There are some concrete nouns in here, as there are figurative elements in the exhibition, but I have tried to mistreat or misplace them in a way that correlates to my experience of the paintings.

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Hopefully this hasn’t removed the potential for sense, empathy and power from the poem.

via nathanatthebluecoat

via AUDIO: Poet in Residence at the Bluecoat | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog.

The Corneliu M Popescu Prize for Poetry Translation – shortlist announced

Published on September 14, 2009 in News. Closed

popescu

The Corneliu M Popescu Prize for Poetry Translation – shortlist announced!

A chance to travel beyond British poetry

A shortlist of eight titles has just been announced for the Popescu Prize for Poetry Translation 2009. Selecting the shortlist was not an easy task. Elaine Feinstein, who judged this year’s prize alongside Stephen Romer, explains:
“The quality of submissions was remarkably high: a guided tour of classic poetry from many languages, countries and periods alongside poets altogether unknown to us. We decided our main criterion had to be bringing a new experience to an English reader.”
Fellow judge Stephen Romer was particularly excited by the translations of two strong women poets from Latin America: Gabriela Mistral and Dulce María Loynaz, who he said were “… unjustly neglected, even unknown in English, and now brought to us in all their passionate and classical austerity”.
This year’s submissions have exceeded past years with a total of 85 books entered from 24 countries. The shortlisted books are:
• Mad Women by Gabriela Mistral, translated by Randall Couch.
Spanish / Chile. (University of Chicago Press).
• Unfinished Ode to Mud by Francis Ponge, translated by Beverley Bie Brahic.
French / France. (CB Editions).
• Against Heaven by Dulce María Loynaz, translated by James O’Connor.
Spanish / Cuba. (Carcanet).

• Poems by Oktay Rifat, translated by Ruth Christie and Richard McKane.
Turkish / Turkey. (Anvil).
• Courts of Air and Earth, various, translated by Trevor Joyce. Middle and Early-Modern Irish / Ireland. (Shearsman Books).
• Birdsong on the Seabed by Elena Shvarts, translated by Sasha Dugdale. Russian / Russia. (Bloodaxe).
• Rime by Dante Alighieri, translated by JG Nichols and Anthony Mortimer. Italian / Italy. (OneWorld Classics).
• Selected Poems by CP Cavafy, translated by Avi Sharon. Greek / Greece. (Penguin Classics).
Organised by the Poetry Society and sponsored by the Ratiu Family Foundation, the prize is given biennially to a collection of poetry translated into English from another European language.
The strong shortlist shows the rude health of the British translation scene and provides the opportunity for the curious reader to take a journey beyond their own poetic horizons. “The shortlist is a chance to journey both inwards and outwards, both in the present moment and in those great poets from the past who can still quicken something in us today,” says Stephen Romer.
You can read the shortlist at http://tiny.cc/kDraR
The winner will be announced on the 19 November 2009 at the Ratiu Foundation, Manchester Square, 18 Fitzhardinge Street,
London W1H 6EQ.

Vic Reeves and Michael Rosen in Bluecoat Literature Festival 09

Published on September 10, 2009 in Events. Closed Tags: .

Reeves, Rosen and revolution as the Bluecoat announce second Chapter & Verse Literature Festival.

With a diverse range of events including performances from Vic Reeves and Michael Rosen, debates and workshops, the second Chapter & Verse Literature festival at the Bluecoat promises to be an eclectic and highly enjoyable programme.

cv-logoThe festival includes 30 events over five days from October 14 -18 2009 with a special focus on ‘revolutionary moments’ to coincide with a range of anniversaries occurring in 2009, including the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 50th anniversary of the recording of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.

From football fans of all shades to those who just want some hard, slightly wrong facts such as Leonardo ‘DaVincicode’ inventing the racing handlebars (well, we did tell you Vic Reeves was in attendance) the annual festival at the Bluecoat is sure to please a diverse audience.

The readings, talks and workshops will offer visitors a chance to hear directly from authors whilst mingling with fellow book-lovers.

And adding excitement for children and adults alike is much loved children’s author and illustrator Michael Rosen who returns to the Bluecoat courtesy of the Children’s Bookshow.
Rosen who is the children’s poet laureate will be performing some of his own poems and sharing his love of children’s books from all around the world with a reading from the best-selling Loulou by French author Gregoire Solotareff. In addition, during the first three weeks of October, children can participate in some giant fridge poetry as part of regular ‘Explore’ activities at the Bluecoat.   

Elsewhere, performance poet Adisa who has been described as ‘the future’ by esteemed poet Benjamin Zephaniah, will put on a poetic and musical one-person show exploring a profound year of the 20th century – 1968 – and its relationship to now. Progressing the revolution theme, it draws inspiration from the music of the time and explores the power of the collective voice and its effect on politics, culture and artistic expression.

Continuing Liverpool’s own rich literary history is Sally Vickers whose debut novel, Miss Garnet’s Angel, became a publishing phenomenon and a word-of-mouth bestseller. She will be talking to Philip Davis about art, psychology and other dimensions of reality.

There will also be two literature-related exhibitions on display during the festival period and beyond: Under the Volcano forms the backbone of the Malcolm Lowry season (25 Sept-22 Nov), celebrating the centenary of the birth of the Merseyside author. And in addition, Dave McKean’s illustrations from this year’s challenging Liverpool Reads title, graphic novel The Savage written by David Almond, will also be shown (15 Sept- 1 Nov).

Highlighting the wide range of topics featured at this year’s festival is the ‘Football Stories’ event with Mark Ward & Jonathan Wilson. Hosted by broadcaster John Keith of City Talk, this is an evening for football lovers of all shades. Mark Ward is from Huyton and played for Everton and West Ham among others. His witty and moving autobiography, From Right Wing to B Wing, describes his journey from the Premier League to a four-year prison sentence. Jonathan Wilson writes regularly on football for FourFourTwo and the Guardian and many other national newspapers and his book, Inverting the Pyramid, is a fascinating account of how football tactics have changed over time and around the world.

Other highlights of the festival include legendary journalist Richard Williams’ talk on Miles Davis’ groundbreaking jazz album, Kind of Blue.  Recorded over nine miraculous hours in 1959, the talk marks the album’s 50th anniversary, illuminating its lasting beauty and all-pervasive influence. Richard Williams is the author of The Blue Moment: Miles Davis’  A Kind of Blue and the Re-making of modern music.

Another writer offering his unique insight into a revolutionary moment is Peter Millar. Awarded the Foreign Correspondent of the Year prize in 1989 for his coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, he joins the Bluecoat on the 20th anniversary of this event to discuss his experiences and how the episode was the perfect example of ‘the ‘cock-up’ theory of history.’

On Friday October 16, Vic Reeves introduces us to the world as he sees it, from asparagus to Zeppelin, via eggs and Henry VIII. Illustrated by Vic himself, his new book amasses all the world’s knowledge “into one gloriously preposterous book, written in a scholarly fashion yet comprehensible to idiots”. Reeves’ talk is hosted by Tim Clare, author of We Can’t All Be Astronauts.

And closing the festival in style is poet-in-residence at the Bluecoat Nathan Jones, and his guests, who will be celebrating revolutionary song and poetry.

Tickets on sale now. To book call Tickets and Information on 0151 702 5324
at the Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX or visit www.thebluecoat.org.uk

Vic Reeves and Michael Rosen in Bluecoat Literature Festival 09 | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog.

Liverpool Reads 2009 – 20,000 Books to Giveaway

Published on September 8, 2009 in News. Closed

Liverpool Reads… The Savage

20,000 books to give-away!

The Savage, written David Almond and illustrated by Dave McKean has been chosen as the Liverpool Reads book for 2009. Liverpool Reads is a book bonanza! – a city-wide initiative, coordinated by The Reader Organisation at the University of Liverpool, encouraging the reading and sharing of one book each year.

The Savage is a uniquely presented, touching tale of grief, solace and hope from a master of contemporary storytelling and a visionary artist. David Almond, acclaimed author of Skellig – a children’s novel recently adapted into a major drama for Sky television – is a Whitbread Children’s award winner and was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal for The Fire-Eaters.

This year there are 20,000 copies of The Savage (published by Walker Books) to give away across the whole of Greater Merseyside. The Savage will be available for you to collect from 15th September from: all Merseyside libraries (across Halton, Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens, Warrington and Wirral), Merseytravel bus stations and M2Go rail station shops, Waterstone’s (Bold Street and Liverpool ONE), News from Nowhere (Bold Street), Amorous Cat (Lark Lane), Starbucks (Bold Street) and all Liverpool Football Club Stores. Get there quick to get yours!

Director of The Reader Organisation, Jane Davis, says:

“The Savage may be the boldest choice of book we’ve made for Liverpool Reads. It’s a graphic novel, it’s a children’s book, but also a book for adults. It’s a book to share with your family – read it aloud, or to take it to work and talk it over with your workmates. We’re very excited about bringing 20,000 free copies of The Savage to Merseyside. Make sure one copy has your name on it.”

David Almond, author, says:

“I was really thrilled when I heard that The Savage had been chosen for Liverpool Reads. It’s a groundbreaking project – imaginative, creative, optimistic and wonderfully democratic – and it’s a great honour to be part of it. The Savage is in many ways my favourite of all my books, not least because it is my first collaboration with the visionary artist Dave McKean. I hope that the people of Liverpool enjoy it!”

Dave McKean, illustrator, says:

“It’s a wonderful initiative, encouraging people to read is always welcome, but getting everyone to read the same book so they can talk to each other about it and share their own thoughts on the story is particularly inspired.”

Throughout the Liverpool Reads project, we’ll be reading the book aloud in Get Into Reading groups, where people across Merseyside communities will be able to share their thoughts and feelings on The Savage together.

We’ll be reading it with older people, asking how the book makes us feel about young people. We’ll be reading it with young people, asking what the book makes us feel about fear, love and creativity.

There are plenty of ways you can get involved and find out more, please visit the website for more details: www.thereader.org.uk/liverpoolreads. An exhibition of Dave McKean’s original artwork from The Savage will be on show at the Bluecoat from 15th September – 31st October 2009. Books will be available until they’re all snapped up!

www.thereader.org.uk

via Liverpool Reads 2009 – 20,000 Books to Giveaway | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog.