Showing posts with label Writers’ Kingston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writers’ Kingston. Show all posts

Thursday, 20 March 2025

National Gallery Poetry Lates - Writers Kingston

Stewart Lee


Lily Ferret
Zara Auckbarallee
Stewart Lee
SJ Fowler

National Gallery
Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
14th March 2025

A remarkable project which allows Kingston University students and guest poets to write new performance works about paintings in the National Gallery, supported by curator Joseph Kendra and WK director SJ Fowler. Performed to full and generous audiences during the Friday Lates program, this is a perfect example of how Writers Kingston provides Kingston University students with a chance to engage with opportunities at world respected institutions and large audiences.

Zara Auckbarallee

For centuries, the artforms of painting and poetry have been in dialogue, with each informing the other, or attempting to translate what makes them unique as their own media into another. Poet and performer SJ Fowler has pioneered this gallery project with new ekphrastic poems, chosen from the National Galleries world renown collection, offering alternative interpretations of their meaning, history and standing. 

SJ Fowler

The audience join the hundreds of late night gallery goers as they wander the rooms of the National Gallery. Invited guests from Writers’ Kingston, students and staff from Kingston University, as well as further afield, wander from painting to painting experiencing the poetry performances in front of the chosen artworks.

Lily Ferret



Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Storytelling Poets - Kingston Curzon

Sinnead Singson

An event celebrating the Writing Cultures’ Festival of Storytelling in the Cafe space of the Kingston Curzon Cinema (The Bentall Centre).

30th January 2025

Eleanor Wilders,
David Spittle,
SJ Fowler,
Marcia Knight Latter,
Simon Tyrrell,
Cameron Wade,
Matt Sokulsky,
Danica Ignacio,
Bob T Bright,
Bella Weerasinghe,
Julia Rose Lewis,
Sinnead Singson

Eleanor Wilders

It was a night of performances that explored the many ways we can tell a story, how we might turn a tale, be it tall or short, into a journey and sometimes a destination. The Café at the Curzon Cinema in Kingston-upon-Thames provided free popcorn for the audience at the Writer's Kingston poetry night, and it proved to be a huge success. Eleanor Wilders kicked off proceedings by launching her dazzling debut poetry pamphlet Offal, from Sampson Low Ltd, buy a copy at sampsonlow.co/2025/01/29/offal-eleanor-wilders/

The night was part of Writing Cultures’ Festival of Storytelling, which continues to run until the March 14th 2025, with events at The National Gallery, workshops and happenings across Kingston University, as well as an exhibition. The performance of the night belonged to Sinnead Singson with her sheep in wolf's clothing tale, which ended with the dynamic poet walking out into the wilds of the Bentall's Centre. She will be launching her debut pamphlet ‘hot milky’, at the The Poetry Society Cafe on February Thursday 27th 2025 (7pm start, Free event).

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. His story was an macabre estate agents' eye view of an apartment painted in tins of blood, leper coloured paint, and a menagerie of pests and creepy crawlies. 


Bob T Bright

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. 

Simon Tyrrell

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 and last year published the critically acclaimed 'Proceedings of the Remediators' alongside Jane Partner, Sarah Messerschmidt, and Sylee Gore. 

Steven J. Fowler 

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.

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.

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).

Marcia Knight-Latter 

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.

Matthew J. Sokulsky


Matthew J. Sokulsky studied creative writing as an undergraduate at Kingston University, London, and in March of 2023 was commissioned by The National Gallery for his literary work. A selection of his poetry has also been published under the banner of Sampson Low Publishers, London.


Danica Ignacio is a Filipino writer currently studying at Kingston University. In January 2024, her work was commissioned by the National Gallery and can also be found on @eventualantiques on Instagram & danicaignacio.substack.com. Her writing often explores themes of anthropomorphism as well as other sorts of fantastical concepts that enhance less fantastical realities through poetry & prose.

Bella Weerasinghe

One of the most exciting new poets on the Kingston University creative block, Bella Weerasinghe has already chalked up an impressive list of performances, most recently at the National Gallery in January 2025.



Wednesday, 11 December 2024

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.


Tuesday, 26 November 2024

The Kingston Camarade - Kingston University Town House

 

Matthew Sokulsky and Cameron Wade

Writers Kingston event #82 :
The Kingston Camarade

November 21st 2024 - Kingston University Town House 

Brand new performative and literary collaborations, made for the night. The Camarade is a dynamic event model, asking pairs of poets, writers, artists and other creative practises to come together and explore the potential of collective innovation and playful experiment. This time staff from Kingston University, students and alumni, from a wide range of backgrounds and specialities, present their new collaborative live works with colleagues and other invited performers. 

Harper Stringer and Tye Rajapura 

Featuring Martin Dines and Nicola Field / Cameron Wade and Matthew Sokulsky / Caitlin Nugent and Bella Weerasinghe / Safia Kamel and Marcia Knight Latter / Oscar Rodriguez and Sinnead Singson / Eleanor Wilders and Danica Ignacio / Harper Stringer and Tye Rajapura / Lily Ferret and Zara Auckbaraullee / Nick Foxton / Steven J. Fowler.

Nick Foxton

Nick Foxton is lecturer at Kingston University where he teaches a final year special study in 'Environment and Literature'.

Nicola Field and Martin Dines

Martin Dines is a lecturer in English Literature at Kingston University. His research interests are focused on two areas: the place of the suburbs in Anglo-American writing; and gay and lesbian culture and politics, and particularly, the interconnections between national identity, space and sexuality. 

Nicola Field is a writer, researcher, artist and socialist activist who has lived in south London for 30 years. Her creative, political and arts writing have been published widely and her book Over the Rainbow is published by Dog Horn Publishing. Her painting, drawing, ceramics and video have been exhibited at spaces across London including the BFI Southbank and the V&A.

Steven J. Fowler

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.

Safia Kamel and Marcia Knight Latter


A number of the poets performing at The Kingston Camarade (November 21st 2024) have published pamphlets with Sampson Low as part of the Writers Centre Kingston series. These included MOLD by Oscar Rodriguez, The Book of Matthew by Matthew J. Sokulsky, I Smell Metal by Cameron Wade, Smrt by Safia Kamel, RAMBLINGS EXTERNAL by Marcia Knight-Latter, and most recently moral cavity by Danica Ignacio.
https://sampsonlow.co/wck-pamphlets/

Sinnead Singson and Oscar Rodriguez

Oscar Rodriguez is a Salvadoran American poet based in Kingston. Avid writer since childhood, his migration to London for studies was a manifestation of resilience. Their poetry reflects on trauma, religion, identity, and queerness. He collaborates with Writers Kingston frequently and in the past with Spotify Radar. 

Bella Weerasinghe and Caitlin Nugent

Lily Ferret and Zara Auckbaraullee

Eleanor Wilders and Danica Ignacio



Monday, 18 December 2023

Football and Literature - Writers Kingston


SJ Fowler and Jules Sprake

Jules Sprake and SJ Fowler
Tom Jenks
Peter Dunkley and Ian Brady
Matt Sokulsky
Marcia Knight Latter
Julia Rose Lewis
Safia Kamel

Kingston University Town House
Courtyard Space
12th December 2023

Matt Sokulsky

The game of games, the great game, the beautiful ball game - a night of weird and heartfelt literary celebration! Writers of all kits shared poetry, fiction, non-fiction and performance on the world’s most popular sport, in all its facets, from the abstract to the obvious. With local and visiting writers alongside students and staff of Kingston University, it was a memorable night in the RIBA award winning Town House in Kingston. 

Marcia Knight Latter and Julia Rose Lewis

This event will also saw the launch of the collaborative poetry pamphlet, by Sprake and Fowler, A Seasons of Seasons from Sampson Low publishing.
https://sampsonlow.co/2023/12/12/a-seasons-of-seasons-sj-fowler-jules-sprake/ 

A Seasons of Seasons

A unique document in experimental poetry that celebrates the bone deep passion and pain football inflicts upon its followers. Written ostensibly to follow the turbulent 2022 / 2023 premier league season from the perspective of two lifelong fans of Crystal Palace and Everton respectively, A Seasons of Seasons then spirals out in the mass language ether of the world’s most popular game. Unusual for it’s methodology as well as its content, dragging in British poetry revival stalwarts alongside Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roy Hodgson and Sean Dyche, this book is a fusion of poetry, found text, collage, illustration, redaction and ground up collaboration.

Tom Jenks

“Football, like poetry, is an artform that not so much encourages obsession as demands it. The back and forth between Fowler and Sprake perfectly captures this baroque particularity. Talking about football with a poet is usually like talking about tofu with a mountain lion: they know what it is, but they don’t see how it applies to them. So it’s a pleasure to read A Seasons of Seasons, a text, at last, for the intersection of the Venn diagram, perfect for a cold, wet Tuesday night in Stoke.”
Tom Jenks

 Ian Brady and Peter Dunkley
Julia Rose Lewis
Safia Kamel

Thursday, 2 November 2023

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.