European Poetry Festival : 2021

The EPF burst back into live life with 7 remarkable events over 10 days, which I had to shift from summer 2021, due to travel restrictions. I essentially programmed and hosted the festival in two months, and it was a big task. In the end, just so uplifting to be around so many talented, genial, generous, clever people. The poets from Switzerland, Norway, Hungary, Sweden, Slovenia, Latvia, Austria and all over Europe performed to packed venues across London, with nearly 500 people witnessing 60 brand new made-for-festival collaborative and commissioned readings and performances. Every performance was documented on video and hosted on youtube, and remarkable photographs by Alexander Kell and Madeleine Elliott. You can find the whole thing at www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/2021

A note on : EPF Austria performance - Asemic suit and the Magnificent Butcher

Originally planned as a collaboration with the Austrian visual poet and graphic designer, Stefan Ellmer, who couldn’t come to London at the last minute due to the Omicron, this was a homage laden performance, and one i had a lot of fun doing.

It was a layered thing, with some leading intro, then audio, then a boiler suit, some asemic writing, some collaborative help… inspired by Stefan and leaving me, as a final reveal, to show the clothes under the suit as also asemic’d, written through and permanently marked.

A note on : EPF Austria, the festival ends November 30 2021

The festival for 2021 wrapped up with what was perhaps the most complete, or cohesive event. It was finalised by two remarkable collaborations between Magdalena Mclean and Verena Durr, and Cornelia Hulmbauer and Ollie Evans. Their work was clever, wry, playful, literary. Hard to do for 10 minutes and keep everyone with you, and they did. The evening was opened by a half dozen solo readings too, all of them exceptional. Well worth looking through the videos here https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/austria

The evening went on long past the final reading, a really genial, generous atmosphere and lovely for me to say goodbye to the fest with so many friends, and the lovely people at the austrian cultural forum, who have been so supportive over the years. Photos below, and at the link, by Madeleine Rose Elliott

A note on : EPF 2021, collaborating (wrestling) with Krišjānis Zeļģis November 29 2021

Krisjanis had a grand idea for our work together, our second live collaboration. Poems built on daily notes of gratefulness, with an inevitable twist, when spliced together, interspersed with wrestling. He knew wrestling had been a big part of my life, remains so, since I was young, and Krisjanis being a rock climber, that the physicality should produce a layered and strange and challenging performance. It did, I think. I thought it turned out playful, intimate, symbolic. The audience seemed a bit shellacked by it, but who can tell with one’s own work? I do know I really respect Krisjanis so much, as a person, a poet and now, as a sparring partner. Lovely pics by Madeleine Rose Elliott.

A note on : EPF Latvia at Goethe Institut

This was an intense and brilliant event. I thought well of my pairings for the visiting Latvian poets, for Krišjānis Zeļģis, Lote Vilma Vītiņa, Inga Pizāne, Jelena Glazova worked so well with their counterparts. We were in the darkened cinema space of the generous Goethe centre, on Exhibition Road, just off Hyde Park. https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/latvia

There was a sense of physicality running throughout, a touch of menace with the playfulness, though the meditative live visual poetry of Bettina Fung and Lote Vitina was a particular highlight. Worth watching the videos at the link above. Some great photos by Madeleine Rose Elliott too.

A note on : EPF Slovenia, pictures by Alexander Kell November 27 2021

Alexander Kell, who has photographed so many of my events over the last decade, produced another amazing group of snaps from Saturday night’s European Poetry Festival event at Iklectik Artlab celebrating Slovenian poetry. Loads more here https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/slovenia

A note on : EPF 2021, collaborating with Bob T Bright

Bob is a friend, and part of the Popogrou collective which has grown up around my online workshops, and we decided to contribute a piece to the EPF Slovenia proceedings. Bob and Babs, the gongboys, presenting some poems, jokes, hair and sound poetry. A bit of a quiet audience, though the venue is so superlative, so though I didn’t plan to introduce my cockney cat Babs I did, on the fly, and Bob just rolled with it. I think we touched people’s haaarts.

A note on : EPF Slovenia at Iklectik Artlab November 27 2021

On a stormy London night, in a slightly hidden yard near Waterloo, we had a really resonant memorable night at Iklectik Artlab with Slovenian poets, based both in the UK and travelling in, showing off new collaborations, alongside other pairs supporting. All the vids are up https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/slovenia and some real highlights, especially from the Slovene based duos

A note on : Alban Low's EPF illustrations

An unexpectedly lovely consequence of the EPF Sweden event down at Kingston University was new live portraits made by artist and publisher Alban Low, including this one of myself, yabbing. They are beautiful! More to be found http://artofjazz.blogspot.com/2021/11/european-poetry-festival-2021-swedish.html

A note on : EPF Sweden at Writers Kingston November 25 2021

A really great night at Kingston University, at the RIBA award winning Town House building, a packed out crowd witnessed Swedish poets collaborating with Brits, alongside other locals, who also presented new tandem works made for the night. Really such a playful, affable, succinct, interesting night of work. Great to meld this EPF event with the Writers Kingston program too.

All the performances are now on youtube, to be watched here too https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/sweden

Some amazing photos by Madeleine Rose Elliott alongside those videos. Big thanks to the Swedish Embassy for supporting the endeavour

A note on : EPF Hungary at The Liszt Institute November 24 2021

The second of a trio of European Poetry Festival events marking this week in London, this time celebrating Hungarian poetry, through the visit of Annas Vados and Anna Kata Ferentz, at the The Liszt Institute, the Hungarian Cultural Centre in the UK, who also supported the event. Their venue is really beautiful, right in the heart of Covent Garden, and the event had multiple solo readings before collaborations to finish. It was completely sold out, and really hot, so over the hour or so, it felt curiously intense, and memorable.

All ten performances are available to watch on youtube and are also up on the website link here https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/hungary

Some beautiful photos to go with the videos too, by Alexander Kell

A note on : EPF Norway at Open Ealing November 24, 2021

A really fun, intimate event out in west London, enjoying the great hospitality of Open Ealing arts centre and welcoming both UK based and visiting Norwegian poets for the 2nd event of the winter 2021 European Poetry Festival.

All videos and some piccies at this link https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/norway

There was a real range of collaborations on display, from meditative, conceptual, literary, playful, to all out experimental intensity. Great to see old friends Bjorn Vatne and Jon Stale Ritland, to see Harry Man launch his spender prize winning book and to support again by the folk at the Norwegian embassy and NORLA too.

A note on : EPF 2021, collaborating with Clea Chopard November 20 2021

An extraordinary poet and performer Clea Chopard is. I was lucky to work with her and I’m happy with how our collaboration turned out. Clea is brilliant with concepts and a really adapt improviser, so we worked up a couple of ideas and let it happen on the night, having met a few hours before for the first time. There was a levity in it, an ease, that is a credit to her skill and confidence. From translation to art poetry to talking performance to a kind of dance, and then being a poem burrito, human gift wrap, live walking poem board…

A note on : Swiss brilliance at the Rich Mix, European Poetry Festival winter 2021 opens November 20 2021

A really great night, a remarkable opening event to the winter 2021 European Poetry Festival in London, celebrating contemporary Swiss poetry with performance and collaboration. We had a pretty much full capacity audience witnessed the new works made for the night by eight pairs of poets. The audience were really generous and by the end everyone seemed proper happy. All the videos and photos are online here www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/swiss