Mannix Street Preachers

The Albany, Deptford, London, 25th January 2008

I find myself in an uncaring corner of South London musing over poetry. I'm pretty conflicted with this as a form, I mean how art thou art blah blah blah, dead art form right? Sure, sceptics all around internet land are screaming into their herbal teas "yeah but what about Byron, the first rock star, or Wilfred Owen and his harrowing war stories?" Yeah, yeah, i heard it all before, and flouncing around with baggy shirt sleeves shagging your sister (deranged rock 'n roller I'll admit) or getting your head blown off by the "hun", tragic as it is doesn't make it an artform. I've read Byron, and let's face it he was no Thom Yorke, he didn't twiddle frequencies of overnourished angst within me, or find a pressure valve of release causing me to float backstroke on swampy warm seas of treacle (must have been stoned or drunk when I first heard kid a).

Anyway, Deptford, cold Wednesday night. I'm stood in a spit and sawdust boozer, minus the spit and sawdust. At least the chalky smoky atmosphere is still intact, particularly as I see most of the patrons are eschewing the smoking ban and exhaling happily to the yellowed ceiling. I'm here with an artist friend of mine who is literally coming in his pants as he recounts all the names on the bill - I forget them as soon as I hear them. A pofaced wizard Gandalph wannabe is flouncing around spreading good luck spells and cough germs far into the sweaty pub, he sees me spill my drink and rattles around me offering good karma incantations. I kindly explain to him that I'm making a collection of bad karma and am looking for one final big score. Fortunately before he can speak again we are motioned to our seats by a huge blast of atonal jazz.

The first spoken word act on is my old friend Gandalf, whispering away in a sexless Welsh accent some poem about the drudgery of the workplace. My god this guy is killing me, it reminds me of the time as an overeager 19 year old I found myself joining the socialist workers party. This reject from Arthur Scargill's ball busters conscripted me, painting a picture of fighting and looting, continually smashing his knuckles into his hand for extra emphasis. Yes, thought I, a chance to shine a light into this monochrone world, disrupt the status quo. I didn't know what they were fighting for, but it sure would piss people off. So I went to this first meeting full of bile and piss and redenned forehead, only to be greeted by the sight of this army of fabled change, which consisted of a middle aged woman with the most rotten teeth I have ever beheld (which she insisted on constantly flashing to me), a short-sighted university dropout who believed in female dominance and enjoyed a fine line of cardigans which were apparently knitted with no anatomical knowledge whatsoever by Mrs rotten teeth, Mr smash fist in hand and myself, a 19 year old kid who really only ever wanted to get laid and steal your car.

This Gandalf guy was making me have the same feelings. Nevertheless, dear reader, for you I stayed, rummaging through seaside postcard sauciness, poems about cats and vet bills, the goalkeeper Pat Jennings (cool guy, cool poem) and perhaps the coup de grace, some guy wearing an alien face mask while intoning haikus.

Intermission came and went, as I found myself pissing out the scotch and pear cider chasers I'd found myself dabbling in. Now even I had heard of John Clarke, probably London's central mover and groover within this scene, hell I'm surprised they haven't printed up 'I'm with John Clarke' t-shirts yet, that's how central the guy is. Anyway he took the stage, shaking his long hair, wizened and frozen white with age, but his words spat out like mini dervishes, cascading through the talentless and barren room like a machine gun in the hands of a fire and brimstone piss artist his poems cut in shards. But like a fine bottle of whiskey, it ended too soon, and the man took a bow, walked off the stage, and seemed frail and spent. Later, drinking together, I asked him if this was a dead art form? "Nah" he answered, "words outlive us all. I mean after all, they outlived Byron."

By Charles Malakos

Poets Robert Crawford And Peter Sansom At The University Of Manchester

The Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester continues its acclaimed first season of events with another in its ‘Literature Live’ series, which brings the best-known contemporary novelists and poets to Manchester to discuss and read from their work.

Monday 12 November, 18.30,
Robert Crawford and Peter Sansom

Robert Crawford’s work has attracted four Poetry Book Society Recommendations and two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards, and includes a Selected Poems and the collections The Tip of My Tongue (2003) in English and Sharawaggi (1990) in Scots. He was a founder of the magazine Verse and his criticism includes anthologies and essays on literature and science, Scottish poetry, the formation of the canon and TS Eliot.

He is currently Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at St. Andrew’s University.

Fellow poet Peter Sansom’s books include The Last Place on Earth, January and Everything You’ve Heard Is True. He has taught creative writing at the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Huddersfield, and is editor of The North and at The Poetry Business.

Sansom was described by the Yorkshire Post as “A serious intelligence only lightly disguised as self-mockery, and expressed via devastatingly clear-sighted observation.”

The readings will be followed by a Q & A session led by poet in residence at the Centre Neil Rollinson.

The event will take place at the University’s Martin Harris Centre (www.manchester.ac.uk/arts/martinharriscentre) and tickets cost £3 (£2 for concessions), from 0161 275 8951, www.quaytickets.com or boxoffice@manchester.ac.uk.

Everyone is welcome, and ticket prices include a complementary glass of wine or soft drink. A bookstall run by Blackwell University Bookshop will be open throughout the evening, with discounts available for ticket-holders.

Poet Portraits -Celebrating Welsh Bards In Europe

Wales has one of Europe's oldest surviving bardic traditions and, in the autumn of 2007, a series of literary events will celebrate the continued vitality of this tradition as part of the Celtic Connections Cultural Festival in Brussels.

Supported by the Welsh Assembly Government, in partnership with Wales Arts International and others, the programme will focus on Wales' rich cultural and linguistic heritage, and aims to further raise the profile of Wales among representatives from the EU Institutions and to strengthen relationships with Belgian based cultural organisations.

An evening of poetry readings at Passa-Porta, the international house of literature in Brussels, will take place on 15th November 2007. Patrick McGuinness and Gwyneth Lewis, Wales' first national poet, will read their work with Cardiff based Richard Gwyn, who is staying as a writer-in-residence in Villa Hellebosch, Flanders. The three Welsh poets will collaborate with Benno Barnard Eva Cox and Erik Spinoy, renowned writers from the Dutch and French speaking communities of Belgium in a translation workshop co-organised with Welsh Literature Abroad and the Dutch language literary organisation Het Beschrijf. The audience will experience the work in Welsh, English, Dutch and French as poems will be performed in both their original and translated versions.

Alongside the live literary events will be the 'Poet Portraits' exhibition by artist Lorraine Bewsey. The series of painted portraits of Wales' leading figures in contemporary Welsh literature in both languages will be shown at Wales House Brussels for the duration of the festival. A book - 'Poet Portraits' 'Portreadau Beirdd '- has recently been published by Wales based Seren Books to accompany the exhibition.

Welsh film Dal: Yma/Nawr will also be shown during the festival. Produced for S4C by TV company Fiction Factory, the film takes viewers on an exciting 2,000-year odyssey through Europe's oldest surviving bardic tradition. It takes in everything from Aneirin's sixth century war reportage to today's modern poetry slams, along with subtle clues to the secrets of its survival. The film features some of Wales' greatest performing talents such as Sian Phillips, Ioan Gruffudd, Matthew Rhys, Rhys Ifans, Cerys Matthews and John Cale.

This Brussels based initiative, Celtic Connections - Cultural Festival, is co-ordinated by the Scottish Executive.

Language and identity are undoubtedly one of the common themes that unite these poets from Wales and Belgium and the hope is for a long-term literary collaboration between Wales and Belgium with further residency projects, exchange of writers, and participation in festivals.

The Dylan Thomas Fringe Festival: 26th October-9th November

The 2007 Swansea Fringe has been rebranded and repositioned as the Dylan Thomas Fringe, expanding the range of the main Dylan Thomas Festival to include a more eclectic range of acts. The Fringe runs from the 26th October to 9th November with this year's line up kicking off loudly and in no little style with Led Bib, playing on the 26th October at the Swansea Institute Townhill Campus.

Stuart Nicolson of the Observer said: "We need bands like Led Bib to make the world safe for dangerous music". They have consistently appeared in just about everyone's top ten of bands to see this year, eclipsing more established performers like the White Stripes and the Artic Monkeys.

Full listings are available on the website www.dylanthomasfringe.com or you can collect a brochure from participating venues throughout Swansea.
Combined with the awarding in 2006 of the first Dylan Thomas Prize for literature, the Dylan Thomas Fringe is the latest initiative in Swansea to nurture and encourage young creative talent.

The Dylan Thomas Fringe exists to provide a showcase for the best in up and coming talent in the performing arts from Swansea and South West Wales, combined with a range of acts from further afield. Established in 2005, following a successful pilot event the previous year, the Fringe has grown steadily incorporating a wide array of performers and events. Past Fringes have featured Rob Brydon, Harry Hill, Ardal O'Hanlon, and Jimmy Carr; alongside a host of eclectic local and national performers.

Any budding writers out there would also be wise to pop along to the Dylan Thomas Centre on Tuesday 30th October where Rachel Trezise, the first winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize will be in conversation about her year since receiving the £60,000 award. With the next £60,000 about to get underway it maybe a good opportunity to take some tips on winning literary prizes!

Tim Prosser, Chief Executive, said "As well as the £60,000 Award for published writers, this time around there will also be a £1000 award for unpublished writers, which will run alongside the main competition. I hope it proves a good incentive to bring along promising local talent and get them involved in the competition".

The Fringe runs from the 26th October to 9th November at the Dylan Thomas Centre, the National Waterfront Museum, the Swansea Institute, the Grand Theatre, the Taliesin Arts Centre, the Monkey, the Chattery, the Uplands Tavern, the Brunswick, the Elysium Gallery and Sin City.

Huw Rees, Artistic Director said. "In order to work more effectively with our partners the Dylan Thomas Centre, the Dylan Thomas Festival and the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Swansea Fringe is now the Dylan Thomas Fringe. Apart from the name change all other aspects of the Fringe remain, annually providing Swansea with a range of outstanding alternative artistic events".

There is a wide range of Dylan Thomas Fringe events to choose from this year with singer songwriters and local poets appearing regularly at the Waterfront Museum most lunchtimes along with the Paul Merton sponsored Rob Conybear exhibition opening on the 27th October at 2pm. Full listings are available on the website www.dylanthomasfringe.com or you can collect a brochure from any participating venues throughout Swansea.