W. S. GRAHAM EVENT

Centre for South West Writing

and Special Collections

invite you to

A CELEBRATION OF W S GRAHAM

Wednesday 24 February 5.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m.

followed by drinks from 6.30 p.m.

____________________________________________________

Seminar Room A+B

Research Commons

Old Library

Prince of Wales Road

University of Exeter EX4 4SB

 

Andy Ching, Andy Brown, Tony Lopez, Ruth Rosen and Tim Kendall

Will read and discuss the work of one of Scotland's finest poets, who made his home in Madron, Cornwall.
 
There will also be a chance to listen to recordings of the man himself, followed by informal drinks from 6.30 p.m.-7.30 p.m.

 

The evening is free and to reserve a place please email:

c.j.faunch@exeter.ac.uk

or Tel. 01392 263879 by 19 February

PLYMOUTH TALK

Monday 18 January, 11 am, I'm giving a talk on my project 'Only More So' for the MA Creative Writing seminar at The University of Plymouth, Portland Square Building. 

PUBLICATION of WORK IN PROGRESS

My previous post on the publication of Work-in-Progress from 'Only More So' was incomplete, so here it is updated:

'Only More So' in Practice: New Writing + Art, 2 (2007) 145-148.

'Giant Steps' in the Dispatx issue Eminent Domain (2007).

'from Only More So' Argotist Online (2007).

'from Only More So' in Kornelia Freitag and Katharina Vester (eds), Another Language: Poetic Experiments in Britain and North America, Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2008, 17-20.

'The Hawthorne Effect' in  Wobbling Roof issue 1 (2009).

'from Giant Steps' in Salt Magazine issue 2 (2009).

'from Giant Steps' in Tears in the Fence, 50 (2009) 35-37.

'from Only More So' in  Tony Trehy (ed), Text 2, Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, 2009, 34-41.

The most substantial publication so far is Darwin, one section (10%) of 'Only More So', a 44-page book published in a limited edition by Acts of Language, 2009.

Reception

Darwin has been reviewed by Ron Silliman in Silliman's Blog and by Steve Spence in Stride Magazine.

Richard Kerridge, 'Climate Change and Contemporary Modernist Poetry' in Poetry and Public Language, Exeter: Shearsman Books, 2007, includes critical work on 'Only More So'.

ONLY MORE SO / ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND

Since 2005, I've been working on a prose book called 'Only More So', building it up in sections, fitting in when I could around teaching in Plymouth. It is a large-scale structure composed in a strict form using a collage process, similar in a way to False Memory (1996, 2003), but the unit of composition in this book is the sentence, rather than a verse line. In order to make more rapid progress with this work I decided to give up my chair in poetry and take voluntary redundancy so that I could write full time. I went back to self-employment on 1 August 2009, and since then I have been working on this project and putting in various grant applications. I just heard in late December that 'Only More So' was approved for Arts Council 'Grants for the arts' funding beginning January 2010, so I can concentrate on writing right through 2010 and also free myself up for any freelance work.

Some Work-in-Progress from 'Only More So' has been published:

'Only More So' in Practice: New Writing + Art, 2 (2007) 145-148.

'The Hawthorne Effect' in  Wobbling Roof issue 1 (2009).

'Giant Steps' in the Dispatx issue Eminent Domain (2007).

'from Giant Steps' in Tears in the Fence, 50 (2009) 35-37.

'from Only More So' in Text 2, edited by Tony Trehy (Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, 2009) 34-41.

The most substantial publication so far is Darwin, one section (10%) of 'Only More So', a 44-page book published in a limited edition by Acts of Language, 2009. Darwin was reviewed by Ron Silliman in Silliman's Blog. 

BOOKS RECEIVED

Helen Lopez, Shift Perception, Exeter: Shearsman, 2009, isbn 978-1-84861-073-6 -- my sister Helen's first poetry book.

Andrew Nightingale, The Big Wheel, Kingsbridge, Devon: Oversteps, isbn 978-1-906856-05-2 -- Andrew studied for the MA in Creative Writing at Plymouth.

Christopher Cook, Notes to the Graphites (exhibition catalogue), University of Plymouth: Peninsula Arts Gallery, 2009 -- I have a small collection of Christopher Cook artworks.

Rae Armantrout, Lyn Hejinian, Ted Pearson, Tom Mandel, Ron Silliman, Carla Harryman, Steve Benson, Barrett Watten, Bob Perelman and Kit Robinson, The Grand Piano (Part 9): An Experiment in Collective Autobiography, San Francisco 1975-1980, Detroit, MI: Mode A, 2009, isbn 978-0-9790198-8-3 -- The Grand Piano design and typography by Barrett Watten, cover motif after Varvara Stepanova.

QUARANTINE AT EXETER PHOENIX

I went to see Make Believe by Quarantine at Exeter Phoenix on 1 December. It's a piece of devised theatre performance, a patchwork of stories that must be the stories of the performers themselves, each taken over by other performers and thus turned into fictions presented both as fictions and lived experience. This teasing mix was the main pleasure as the show developed and I liked the changes in pace and mood as it went on. 

    Having opened with one performer telling a personal story that couldn't have been her own, then another, then each of the other performers taking over, it moved on to music and dance, showtime, dressing up, working with a toddler onstage and not onstage, more music and dancing and a big slice of audience involvement. Some of the best theatre events I've seen (and this was one of them) have that quality of theatre cut down to essentials. I've seen it recently in work by Chris Goode and by Lone Twin.  In Make Believe the stripped-down set really works for the production, the curtains used with the panache of Morecombe and Wise, tech crew on view at the side of the stage, wonderful use of music, every aspect dovetailed into the current story. I really loved this show and will look out for their future work.

Talk at Dartington

I was at Dartington (lower image) on Tuesday 20 October for a talk on Darwin for students and staff there. The event was organised by Larry Lynch who directs the field of writing at Dartington. There was a good crowd for a writer's talk and discussion about working methods, the questions went on longer than the original talk. John Hall, Jerome Fletcher and Marianne Morris were there. I stayed over at Sharpham House (top image, thanks Jerome, for your generous hospitality) and was able to look around the wonderful palladian house and estate in the morning, we even saw the vineyard, dairy and walled garden: amazing views from above the river Dart down two bends in the river and north to Totnes.