Norwegian Poetry Celebration: - St Olave Church

 

Luke Kennard and Bjørn Vatne 

Bjørn Vatne and Luke Kennard
Thor Magnus Tangerås and Eley Williams
Vilde Bjerke Torset and Lavinia Singer
Sean Bell and SJ Fowler
Bob T Bright and Matthew Sokulsky
Petra Pálkovácsová and Katerina Koulouri

Norwegian Poetry Celebration
European Poetry Festival 2026
St Olave's Church, Hart Street, London
17th June 2026
www.europeanpoetryfestival.com

Thor Magnus Tangerås and Eley Williams

A special celebration of contemporary Norwegian poetry to open the 9th edition of the European Poetry Festival. Hosted in the remarkable St Olave church in the city of London, with its 900 years of connection to Norway and it’s patron saint, this event showcased over a dozen poets presenting new collaborations of literary poetry and experimental performance, all made for the night. Featuring those travelling in from Norway alongside many poets based in London, this was a unique and brilliant night of ‘Camarade’ literature. 

Lavinia Singer and Vilde Bjerke Torset

St Olave Church is dedicated to the patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II, who fought alongside the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred the Unready against the Danes in the Battle of London Bridge in 1014. He was canonised after his 1028 death and the church of St Olave's was built apparently on the site of the battle. The Norwegian connection was reinforced during the Second World War when King Haakon VII of Norway worshipped there while in exile.

SJ Fowler (Samuel Pepys) and Sean Bell

The church was a favourite of the diarist Samuel Pepys, whose house and Royal Navy office were both on Seething Lane. In 1669, when his beloved wife Elisabeth died from fever, Pepys had a marble bust of her made and installed on the north wall of the sanctuary so that he would be able to see her from his pew at the services. In 1703, he was buried next to his wife in the nave.

Bob T Bright and Matthew Sokulsky

The European Poetry Festival is the biggest consistent celebration of continental poetry in the UK. For nine years as a festival, and over fifteen years as an event series, over 1000 European poets have performed new collaborations across the British Isles. The festival celebrates, in the UK and beyond, the grand resurgence in avant-garde and literary poetry that has marked the 21st century across Europe and it aims to not only innovate what a live poetry experience might be, but to inculcate community and engagement between poets across the continent, as well as between new audiences and complex poetries. At the heart of this is our collaborative model, the Camarade events. Here pairs of poets, visiting or based in the UK, create brand new works for each event, free to create as they wish. Each event often features multiple pairings, and so our events become energised, engaging playgrounds for experimentation as well as friendships.

Katerina Koulouri and Petra Pálkovácsová

Events to come
July Weds 1st - Latvian Poetry celebration at National Poetry Library, Southbank Centre
July Sat 4th - Romanian Poetry celebration at The Poetry Society Cafe, London

August Sat 15th 2026 - Celebrating Bob T Bright and assorted book launches: an event at Torriano Meeting House, 2pm doors, Free

Sound Poetry and Sonic Literature - The Poetry Society Cafe

 

Bob T Bright

Writers Kingston
Sound Poetry and Sonic Literature at The Poetry Society Cafe
December Thursday 5th 2024

Phil Minton and Steven J Fowler
Will Rene and Emily Wood
Bob T Bright and Cameron Wade
Serena Braida and Vilde Bjerke Torset
Patrick Cosgrove
Julia Rose Lewis
Mischa Foster Poole and David Spittle

A night that celebrated the potential of the human voice and live literature - in the grand tradition of Sound Poetry, Noise Making, Mouth Music and Improvised Vocalisation - in the Poetry Society’s home in the UK, in the heart of Covent Garden, bringing Writers Kingston into central London. 

Bob T Bright is a poet, yogi and educator based in Kent, with an MA in TESOL and PGDip in Poetic Practice from RHUL. His poems have appeared in publications such as Bedford Square anthology, Vallum Magazine, Pamenar Magazine, Firmament, Permeable and the Seen as Read anthology (KUP). His debut pamphlet 'Gongfarmer, I love thee' was published in 2023 by Sampson Low. 

Steven J. Fowler or SJ Fowler (born 1983) is a contemporary English poet, writer and avant-garde artist, and the founder of European Poetry Festival. His work has become known internationally for his "innovation in the field of live literature". Concerned with the potential of liveness, as opposed to the traditional poetry reading, his repertoire spans a diverse range of experimental practices, including improvised talking performances, action painting and pugilistica.

Phil Minton

Phil Minton is a British avant-garde jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter. He is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's group, Daniil Kharms and Joseph Brodsky with Simon Nabatov, and extracts from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake with his own ensemble. He is perhaps best known, however, for his completely free-form work, which involves "extended techniques" that can be as unsettling as they can be mesmerising. His vocals often include the sounds of retching, burping, screaming, and gasping, as well as childlike muttering, whining, crying and humming.

Vilde Bjerke Torset

Vilde Bjerke Torset is a Norwegian artist and poet based in London. Her publications include the poetry books Apollinaire and Other Horses (If a Leaf Falls Press, 2022), WHAT IT MEANS WHEN YOU DREAMS : A to Z (AFV press, 2021), and the artist book PAREIDOLIA - Dotremont’s Daughter (Timglaset Ltd, 2020). Her performances, including both solo works and collaborations, have taken place at a range of national (UK) and international venues, including The British Museum, The National Centre for Writing, The Poetry Society, Jorvik Viking Centre, and London Rich Mix. She is a member of Norske Billedkunstnere and Norsk Tegnerforbund. She is the founder and curator of SCRYPTH.

Serena Braida

Serena Braida is a writer, performer and academic, interested in exploring the interrelations between the materiality of language and the body. A chorister from the age of 6, she performed extensively before earning an MA in Cultural and Critical Studies from Birkbeck and subsequently an MFA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Serena is the author of a poetry pamphlet, Blue Sheila (Dancing Girl Press, 2018), and has published poetry and prose in magazines, journals and anthologies. 

Cameron Wade 

Cameron Wade is a writer, poet and amateur astronomer working in London. He is the poetry editor of 3AM magazine and his work has been commissioned by the National Gallery. He launched his debut chapbook of poetry, I Smell Metal, in January 2023. 

Emily Wood and Will René 

Will René and Emily Wood work at the National Poetry Library in London. Will presents the Plastic Language show on NTS Radio, exploring spoken word across recorded media, spanning dub, jazz, ASMR, sound poetry & much more.

Patrick Cosgrove

Patrick Cosgrove is a London based artist. His work utilizes the body, collage, text, sound/voice, digital, moving image, paper, paint, felt tip, biro, found objects etc. His work often begins with something ready-to-hand or discarded and develops from there. In 2021 he published  SLURPS (Sampson Low) and BIROS (Hesterglock Press).

Julia Rose Lewis 

Julia Rose Lewis is a writer and teacher.  She is interested in the ways in which philosophy of science can be incorporated into poetry. She has published nine pamphlets, the most recent of which is Nearly Identical Sharks (Broken Sleep Books 2023).

Mischa Foster Poole

Mischa Foster Poole grew up in South London, and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. He has a particular interest in the arts, history, philosophy and languages.

David Spittle

David Spittle is a poet, filmmaker and essayist. Following his pamphlet, BOX (HVTN, 2018), Spittle has published three poetry collections: Decomposing Robert (Back Herald Press, 2023), Rubbles (Broken Sleep Books, 2022), and All Particles and Waves (Black Herald Press, 2020). He runs an ongoing series of interviews with filmmakers talking-about-poetry and poets talking-about-film, the first volume Light Glyphs (Broken Sleep Books, 2021) includes interviews with John Ashbery, Guy Maddin, Andrew Kötting, Iain Sinclair, So Mayer, Lisa Samuels and many others. Spittle's films have screened in festivals and been broadcast on the BBC and, alongside filmmaking, his film criticism has appeared in Sight & Sound and as part of select Blu-ray releases. He continues independent research across film and philosophy.