On Complicity in Torture and Literature

Joel Calahan on the recent reading by Keston Sutherland and J.H. Prynne:

What I’ll most remem ber from the day the tor ture memos were released, Thurs­day, April 16, was the occasion of the poetry reading that I happened to attend on that day. It changed the way I later read the torture memos that night, in a way that I will not soon forget, because the readers confronted me with a poetry that did not give me the safety of distance.

Read the rest. via Eirik Steinhoff

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Conceptualists vs. Flarfists

The conceptualists and the flarfists had a battle at Whitney Museum on April 17th. Videos are available here. Can you have a battle between two CaTeGoRiEs?

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Verse Giveaway

Verse blog:

We need to clear out some storage space, so we're offering free classroom sets (entire boxes) of Verse to the first 20 instructors (of literature and/or creative writing, at any level, in any setting) who request them. While we cannot guarantee specific issues, we'll try to meet any special requests. Verse will cover shipping costs, too. We just ask that you put the magazine into students' hands, gratis.

Go here and catch them while you can. via Seth Abramson

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Recession at the London Book Fair

Clues to how the publishing industry is reacting to the recession at the London Book Fair:

Samson said he was seeing a lot of economics, a lot of history, coming across his desk; international rights to new works by historians Max Hastings, Norman Stone and Simon Schama – who is writing a history of the Jewish people - are all on sale at the fair. "The zeitgeist I think is people trying to come to terms with the post-Lehman Brothers world," Samson said. "A lot of history is coming in – people are anxious about the present. And since the collapse of the banks people are very suspicious of false expertise – there is a sense of back-to-basics in the submissions we're getting." He's not, he said, "getting a lot of silly books full of advice. People are writing about the lessons of the past rather than pontificating about the present. The fluffy dating manuals are thin on the ground. People are being quite serious."

Read more.

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The Wolf 20 Launch

Launch of The Wolf 20, organised by James Byrne:

• Robert Rehder
• John McCullough
• Sophie Robinson
• Margo Berdeshevsky
• Richard Parker and guests

Poetry Studio, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2 Admission is free (arrive early, seating is limited). via modernpoetry

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Community

Tom Beckett:

"Community" though is something I have only glimpsed from time to time in the course of my life. The early days of Language Poetry constituted one such time--when a group of unique artists worked individually and collectively to problematize and reinvigorate poetry writing with great joy and abandon. Another such time was the antiwar movement during the Vietnam war. ... In terms of my own sense of things the only place I feel a sense of community now is among my favorite poet bloggers.

Context.

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Text 2

The Text Festival Anthology is now available to buy at the Bury Art Gallery Shop. Featuring:

• Phil Davenport
• Hester Reeve (HRH.the)
• Alan Halsey
• P. Inman
• Allen Fisher
• Caroline Bergvall
• Carolyn Thompson
• Judy Kendall
• Tony Lopez
• Scott Thurston
• Stephen miller
• Jesse Glass
• Joe Devlin
• James Davies
• Carol Watts
• Carl Middleton

With an introduction from Tony Trehy.

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Online Publishing

I am after any and all thoughts about online publishing - form, methods of distribution, compatibility, responsibility, value, copyright etc. etc. Please post any thoughts you might have in the comments.

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Blue Bus

Tuesday 21st April, 7.30pm

• Jow Lindsay
• Mike Weller

The Lamb, 94 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1 Admission £5 / £3 (conc.)

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Isola di Rifiuti

I've linked several times to John Latta's blog, Isola di Rifiuti. He does one of those tricks whereby he makes it look easy, but if you were to try to copy him, you would fail. I like those kinds of writers. It's like trying to sing like Morrissey, or act like De Niro - on the surface they exhibit accustomed ticks and eccentricities which, at first, seem a doddle to replicate. A few attempts later, the best you can do is a poor caricature, neither funny nor accurate. I get the same kick watching Sean Bonney or Tim Atkins or Maggie O'Sullivan read. I would recommend you bookmark his site, for his acumen is a worthwhile read and his weaker posts still worth a skim.

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