Bibliopoe : A Retrospective
The Small Publisher’s Fair Exhibition 2022
The exhibition at the Small Publishers Fair 2022 - October 28th and 29th 11am to 7pm, at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London. http://smallpublishersfair.co.uk/small-publishers-fair-exhibition-archive/
"Bibliopoe showcases books by poet, writer and performer SJ Fowler. With over fifty publications since 2010 made with many different imprints, Fowler’s books reveal the strength and diversity of British small press publishing. Ranging from formal poetry collections to innovative collaborative selections, from letterpress limited editions to poetry stickers, bags and posters – Fowler’s unique engagement with the British indie publishing scene has seen him reimagine the process of disseminating experimental literature.
Bibliopoe captures his distinctive approach, where publications reveal context and process as well as content and product. Fowler’s prolific output suggests poetry not just as a rarefied act of self-reflection but as an active and collaborative means of understanding the world around us through language.
“A wonderful experience, so much hospitality and care and respect from the team behind the SPF and all who visited. Succinctly put, having everything I’ve published out in the cases of the Small Publisher’s Fair did give me pause. Should a retrospective of fifty plus publications not be reserved for the more experienced (I’m 12 years in), or the dead (as a visitor lightly remarked)? And would this drain me, or appear egotistical, or would I feel deflated, seeing all I’ve done in one lump? It was the opposite, as it was the middle. Not too high or low. The generosity of people, that comes from the culture of this fair - the curation of Helen Mitchell and the team, and the melding of poets, fine presses, indie publishers all together - was such that it really felt like a moment of recognition, but also encouragement to keep on going the way I have. Distinctly, accidentally, my own way through.. I had so many friends helping me with my book table too, over a dozen, and sold a lot of books. I had the chance to give a lot of performances, share my work in person, and had a sense of it being part of something open, collaborative, communal, continual, and about the process rather than legacy. Which is what I have done, writing and publishing actively and continually because that’s how it emerges for me, and because I like working with people on poetry. I have a great debt of gratitude to the many who made this so special for me.”
The Exhibition itself
Friends and collaborators at the Fair
Readings from Small Publishers Fair 2022
A set of grand performance documentations from the remarkable Small Publishers Fair 2022. My readings with Angie Butler and Egidija Ciricaite in the hallowed Conway Hall Library and my launch of MUEUM as well as the brilliant Andrew Kotting in the Green Room the day before. From the Library above and from the Green Room below
Books launched at the Fair
Show Me The Original November 9, 2022
So happy to share the buying link for my first collaborative publication of 2022 - SHOW ME THE ORIGINAL: nine thoughts on poetic language (2022) made with (but entirely by) the remarkable Egidija Ciricaite. We made this for the Small Publisher’s Fair and the process was so smooth, fun, inspiring - a proper collaboration. And what a job Egidija did making this rare, beautiful, elegant limited edition
Are You Keeping Cardboard? JOAN publishing
https://joanpublishing.org/Project-Are-You-Keeping-Cardboard
Are You Keeping Cardboard? by SJ Fowler, Mireille Fauchon, John Hughes, Rachel Cattle
Newspaper poster
Comes in orange internal mail envelope, 37cm x 52cm, produced for the Small Publishers Fair 2022, Conway Hall, London
£5 + £2 p+p
A pleasure to write with John, Mireille and Rachel, and have my second collaborative publication of 2022 out in the world. Below a full reading of it, launched at the publishers fair
Reading MUEUM at Small Publishers Fair, Green Room
November 9, 2022
The fourth launch of MUEUM, I spun in a chair. Such a lovely, intimate green room reading during my extraordinary experience having the exhibition at the Small Publishers Fair while also launching a novella. I felt feel fortunate. I wanted to monkey but not challenge, so I moved about. And so nice to read alongside Kyra and Cristina, and what a great job Dominic Jaeckle at Tenement has done with this film, full of mood
A bibliography of everything that has been printed, with anthologies I’ve edited and e-books excluded.
MUEUM - Tenement Press (2022) … a novella
The Great Apes - Broken Sleep Books (2022) … a poetry collection
Come and See the Songs of Strange Days : Poems on Films - Broken Sleep Books (2021) … a conceptual poetry collection
Bastard Poems - Steel Incisors Press (2021) … a collage poetry collection
Sticker Poems - Trickhouse Press (2021) … a visual poetry collection
Cock and Bull : 25 Poems - AB Press / Nomad Letterpress (2021) … A letterpress limited edition poetry publication
Flowers Won’t Grow with Karenjit Sandhu - Sampson Low Ltd (2021) … A collaborative poetry pamphlet
I will show you the life of the mind (On prescription drugs) - Dostoyevsky Wannabe (2020) … a conceptual poetry collection
Crayon Poems - Penteract Press (2020) … a visual poetry collection
Crowfinger with Bard Torgersen : Sampson Low Ltd (2020) … A collaborative poetry pamphlet
The Car Giant - Sampson Low Ltd (2020) … A fiction pamphlet
Nemeses - The selected collaborations of SJ Fowler 2014 - 2019 - Haverthorn press (2019) … A volume of selected collaborations
Unfinished Memmoirs of a Hypocrit - Hesterglock Press (2019) … a visual poetry collection
I Stand Alone By The Devils and other poems on films : Broken Sleep Books 2019
Beastings : Sampson Low Ltd 2019
Aletta Ocean’s Alphabet Empire : Hesterglock Press 2018
The Wrestlers : Kingston University Press 2018
It Won’t Go Well : Kingston University Press 2018
The Selected Scribbling and Scrawling of SJ Fowler : ZimZalla 2018
I fear my best work behind me : Stranger Press 2017
Subcritical Tests w/ Ailbhe Darcy : Gorse Editions 2017
The Guide to Being Bear Aware : Shearsman Books 2017
Wormwood in Old Oak : Sampson Low Ltd 2017
House of Mouse w/ Prudence Chamberlain : Knives Forks & Spoons press 2016
40 Feet w/ David Berridge : Knives Forks & Spoons press 2016
Tractography : Pyramid Editions 2016
{Enthusiasm} : Test Centre 2015
1000 Proverbs w/ Tom Jenks : Knives Forks & Spoons press 2015
Oberwildling w/ Colin Herd : Occasions | Austrian Cultural Forum London 2015
The Rottweiler’s Guide to the Dog Owner : Eyewear Books 2014
Whale Hunt : Annexe Press 2014
Enemies: the selected collaborations of SJ Fowler : Penned in the Margins 2013
Twins w/ Matteo Patocchi : Stuff Press 2013
Vikings : POW Editions 2013
Gilles de Rais: Like This press 2013
Elephanche w/ Marcus Slease : Department Press 2013
The Estates of Westeros w/ Ben Morris : Like This press 2013
Ways of describing cuts w/ Sarah Kelly : Knives Forks & Spoons press 2012
Art Gallery Bouncer w/ Patrick Coyle : Gauss PDF 2012
Primarchs : Bear Press 2012
Recipes : Red Ceilings press 2012
Leaves : VerySmallKitchen 2012
Minimum Security Prison Dentistry : Anything Anymore Anywhere press 2011
Fights : Veer Books 2011
Red Museum : Knives Forks & Spoons press 2011
Johnny Tapia : Oystercatcher press 2011
The Songs of Salvador Sanchez : Red Ceilings press 2011
Antonio Margarito : Arthur Shilling press 2010
Klitschko (Zimzalla 2010)
Arthur Abraham : Knives forks & spoons press 2010
Saint Augustine of Hippo : Kitt press 2010
Animal Husbandry : Kitt press 2010
Poggel Intricate : Writers forum press 2010