Poetry Camarade - Kingston University Town House

Benedict Taylor and SJ Fowler

Pairs of poets and writers presented new collaborations, all made especially for this event! Works of live literature, from the literary to the performative, marked a night that showcased the energy and potential of collaboration for writers. Drawing from staff, students, alumni, local and visiting writers, this event continued the grand tradition of the Camarade, which has seen over 500 events of it’s kind across the world. 

Featuring : Katerina Koulouri and Alban Low / Cameron Wade / Safia Kamel and Marcia Knight Latter / Emma Jeremy and Simon Tyrrell / Matt Sokulsky and Martin Wakefield / SJ Fowler and Benedict Taylor / Virna Teixeira and Mark Rutter / Jieyi Sun / Tim Atkins

Benedict Taylor works in contemporary composition, modern string performance and improvised music in the British and European new music world. The central focus of his work is in new composition for live performance, film, theatre, contemporary dance, art installation, and electroacoustic composition. In performance, he predominantly works within improvisation, new composition and 20th/21st century music. SJ Fowler is a contemporary English poet, writer and avant-garde artist, and the founder of European Poetry Festival. He has produced a diverse body of work across poetry, performance, experimental theatre, visual poetry, concrete poetry and sound poetry, short stories and non-fiction. 

Virna Teixeira and Mark Rutter

Virna Teixeira is a Brazilian poet, writer, translator and publisher based in London. She is the editor of independent poetry project Carnaval Press and the literary magazine Theodora. Her poetry books and poetry pamphlets were published in Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and the UK. Virna has presented her work in several poetry festivals in South America, U.S. and Europe, and has experience as a curator in international poetry festivals in São Paulo and Lisbon. The poems of Mark Rutter have appeared in magazines throughout the English-speaking world. He lived in Maine from 1990-2002, and two collections of his poetry were published during that time. In 1995 he began collaborating with book-artist and printer Walter Tisdale, of Tatlin Books on a series of artist’s books, illustrated folios, and broadsides. Their most recent work is Homage to Andrei Tarkovsky, and they are currently collaborating on a new artist’s book, Swimming in Spruce Cove.

Emma Jeremy and Simon Tyrrell

Emma Jeremy poems have appeared in Poetry London, Magma, Rising and Poems in Which. In 2018 she was a winner of The New Poets Prize, and her pamphlet Safety Behaviour was published by The Poetry Business in 2019. Her debut collection sad thing angry is forthcoming in 2023. Simon Tyrrell has participated in exhibitions and performances at the Poetry Society Café, Westminster Reference Library, Rich Mix, Willesden Gallery, and at The Museum of Futures with Writers’ Centre Kingston. He published his debut poetry collection 'Presently' in 2022. He is part of the PoPoGrou collective.

Martin Wakefield and Matt Sokulsky

Martin Wakefield is a poet from London. He has published books and pamphlets with Hesterglock Press (Jungle Gym / Poems You Can't Colour In), Steel Incisors (Handsfree with Bob Modem) and Sampson Low (Emptpy Poems). Matthew Sokulsky is poet and writer, born in Muswellbrook, New South Wales in 1999. He currently lives in London, having studied at Kingston University. Commissioned by The National Gallery, he published his debut pamphlet The Book of Matthew in 2023.

Marcia Knight Latter and Safia Kamel

Marcia Knight-Latter is a poet and writer, who studied Creative Writing with Psychology at Kingston University. She published a chapbook with Sampson Low titled ‘Ramblings External’ in 2019, and has performed her poetry at venues such as Rich Mix, Rose Theatre and The Museum of Futures. Safia Kamel published her debut pamphlet Smrt with Sampson Low in 2022, and has performed her work across London, including at the National Gallery.

Cameron Wade

Cameron Wade recently launched his debut pamphlet, I Smell Metal, at Waterstones in Kingston upon Thames.

Jieyi Sun

Jieyi Sun is a contemporary jewellery artist-researcher and multidisciplinary maker. Her artworks are based on experiential life, placing the self in the social-cultural context to be investigated, and thus obtain the inner-outer connection of "dialogue", meanwhile, exploring the value of art and survival, whose artworks reflected the philosophical consideration and future foresight.

Tim Atkins

Tim Atkins is a Poet, Playwright, and Prose Writer, and his work has been widely published in the USA, Canada, UK, and Europe. His writing has been studied at postgraduate level in Harvard University and at the Sorbonne.