A note on : European Poetry Night London 2017

One of the best events I’ve put on for awhile, one of the best Enemies ever by all accounts. Over 130 people packed into Rich Mix, 13 new collaborations from 26 poets from over 12 nations across Europe. It was intense, energetic, original and still open, welcoming, engaging. Having organised two events the two nights previous on the same continental theme, taken everyone visiting London to dinner the night before, to show a wee bit of all too rare London hospitality, and then having a collaboration on myself, it would be fair to say in the buildup, I was busy. In the end it was smooth as you like. www.theenemiesproject.com/epn

My collaboration with Ásta Fanney SigurðardóttirAsta was one my favourite performances I’ve done. We worked on it very sporadically, so much of it open to improvisation just moments before, much of it fleshed out in a stairwell in the venue. This kind of liveness and intensity gave the piece something, and the control of tone, the pace, the balance and rhythm of delivery really seemed to work. The big turn at the heart of the piece, and the satire driving it seemed to surprise / resonate with the audience. Always something special working with Asta.

By the end in the bars of Brick Lane, many new friendships had been made and there was the distinct payoff such endeavours occasionally provide – the feeling something special, something small and transitory, but none the less special, had taken place.

A note on: article for Literaturhaus Europa on CROWD bus tour

The Elit article series runs very regularly from Literaturhaus Europa's base in Austria and always has some fascinating insights into the wider European literature scene from writers, organisers and journalists. I've written for them a few times before, and they asked me to pen a short piece on the CROWD Literature bus tour which I partially participated in this summer. I wrote about my experience of being at the Krokodil fest in Serbia during Britain's exit from the EU. http://www.literaturhauseuropa.eu/de/observatorium/blog/crowd-literature2019s-omnibus-project

Upcoming: The Enemies Project - the Winter Programme

The Winter Programme: Oct 2015-Jan 2016

The Enemies Project Winter Programme 2015/2016 features seven remarkable events, with projects in partnership with the London Literature Festival and the Globe Road Festival, Enemies: Italy and Iceland, a one night celebration of European poetry (with poets visiting from 13 nations) and the first Camarade event in Norwich. It's another great series of collaborative and innovative events, pushing the potential of live literature and avant-garde poetry.

October Fri 9th: Global City at London Literature Festival
In partnership with Literature Across Frontiers & Southbank Centre.
Venue: Spirit Level - Blue Room at Royal Festival Hall. Price: £8 
Book tickets here: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/global-city-93314
An exploration of writing about London and it's culture from the perspective of the visitor, the immigrant, the outsider who is inside - London as a city of visitors, always moving, always both inside and out. Featuring discussions and new works of poetry and fiction from writers from across Europe and beyond, with Iain Sinclair, Jana Putrle Srdic, Livia Franchini and Karlis Verdins. http://www.theenemiesproject.com/globalcities

November Wed 4th: Pugilistica: a literary celebration of boxing
Apiary Studios, Hackney : 7.30pm : Free Entrance
Pugilistica will bring together poets, academics, writers, artists and photographers to celebrate the sport of boxing through talks, readings, discussion and screenings. Featuring fiction from Anna Whitwham, Poetry from Tim Atkins, Art History from Sarah Victoria Turner, Journalism from Oliver Goldstein and the event will see the relaunch of Fights, by SJ Fowler, published by Veer Books in a revised second edition. 
http://www.theenemiesproject.com/pugilistica

November Sat 7th: Nemici: an Italian Enemies project
Rich Mix Arts Centre : 7.30pm : Free Entrance
22 poets and artists, 11 Italian and 11 British-based, each present brand new collaborations in pairs, created specifically for this event. From video to performance, from poetry to prose, join us at the Rich Mix for this free evening of dynamic new collaborations celebrating the 21st century Neo-Avanguardia. Featuring Daniela Cascella. Alessandro Burbank, Christian Patracchini, Francesco Pedraglio, Andrea Inglese & many more. http://www.theenemiesproject.com/nemici

November Sunday 15th: Globe Road Festival walking tour
11am - 12.30 : Free to attend with Tickets here
A unique live walking tour performance experience, as part of the Globe Road Festival, the Enemies project presents a stroll down Globe Road itself, in the company of poets, sound artists and vanguardists. Stopping four times, at designated places on Globe Road, the artists will present a talk or performance completely original to the walk, in response to the history and culture of the road, with Elaine Mitchener, Gareth Evans, Adam & Jonathan Bohman. http://www.theenemiesproject.com/globeroad

November Fri 20th: The European Camarade
The Freeword Centre : 7pm : Free Entrance with Tickets here
A mini-festival of European poetry in collaboration, in the heart of London. Join nearly two dozen poets from across the continent presenting brand new collaborations in the literary and avant-garde traditions. British poets will write these works with visiting writers from Slovakia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Austria, Hungary, Norway and more. Featuring Michal Habaj. Christodoulos Makris, Gabriele Labanauskaite, Cristine Brache, Christoph Szalay, Endre Ruset, Ville Hytonen, Kinga Toth. Katarina Kucbelova & many more. http://www.theenemiesproject.com/europeancamarade

December Thurs 10th: The Norwich Camarade
Norwich Writers Centre : 6.30pm : Free entrance
A special Camarade event, curated in collaboration with Writers' Centre Norwich and UEA Creative Writing department, featuring nearly two dozen poets celebrating the breadth and depth of the literary culture in Norwich. Featuring: Georges Szirtes, Tiffany Atkinson, Jeremy Noel-Tod, Emma Mackilligin, Rebecca Tamas, Philip Langeskov, Jonathan Morley & more http://www.theenemiesproject.com/norwichcamarade

January Sat 30th: Ovinir: an Icelandic Enemies project
Rich Mix Arts Centre : 7.30pm : Free entrance
Óvinir brings together two generations of Icelandic poets and writers to the UK to premiere brand new collaborations with British poets, in the second iteration of an Icelandic Enemies project. With Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir, Andri Snær Magnason, Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir, Eiríkur Örn Nörðdahl, Jack Underwood & more. http://www.theenemiesproject.com/iceland

Published: Elit blog #2 - European poetry as representation of the modern nation

http://www.literaturhauseuropa.eu/?p=4078 "Every nation’s literature contains within it multiplicities. Not only are definitions of these traditions based on approximations, that which has been recorded, assigned, that which has had the fortune of being discovered, but the very concepts around what actually makes a poem or a novel is ever changing. In fact the very intransigence, and ever changing, nature of each language we utilise in Europe makes declarations and definitions fraught. That being said, I have come to realise, reading, writing and programming in many European nations over the last number of years, that certain social and political realities, certain modern histories, have an indelible effect on what kind of poetry a nation produces now, and what kind of literature a nation reads.

Recently I curated a project called Feinde, an Austrian themed Enemies project, which is all about collaboration and exchange between nations. In this case, supported by the immensely open minded and generous Austrian Cultural Forum in London, four contemporary Austrian poets came to London and collaborated, and performed, with British counterparts. In all we put on four major events in a week, heading up to European Literature Night in Edinburgh, via UNESCO City of Literature, to close out the programme.

A first difference, and a vital one. The Austrians poets, Ann Cotten, Jörg Piringer, Max Höfler and Esther Strauss, were all guests of the Austrian Cultural Forum, which isn’t just an organisation in name, but inhabits an incredible space, a building they have run for over fifty years in London. The value of this, in having a home, a locus for the project, in encouraging collaboration, and raising awareness of the iconoclastic post-war Austrian tradition of poetry is incalculable. I intend no vast conclusions here, but I know of few equivalents in London, and I know I have yet to stay in a British house in any other city outside the UK.

More importantly, and forgive my compression here, but the outstanding innovation, elasticity of methodology and range of practise the Austrian poets evidenced, while still being major figures in their nation, suggests a rather different tradition than here in the UK. It exists here, but it is not conducive to repute in the world of poetry. Why is this? Reasons are legion, but it is hard to look past what the two nations needed to face up to after 1945. Where contrarianism and a deep suspicion of language itself seemed necessary to a country who had think through its culpability, so tradition, fixedness and conservative methodology seemed apt to those who saw themselves wholly victorious or proper.

Still, now, 70 years on, my generation of poets, those encouraging consistent dialogue and collaboration across our continent, to build communities of writers and long lasting friendships in the creative act, must be aware and mindful of history, if they are not to repeat it, or be curtailed by it."