Maintenant #82 - João Luís Barreto Guimarães

With a precision and focus that seems to mirror the requirements of his profession, a surgeon, the poetry of João Luís Barreto Guimarães is representative of the finest work in contemporary Portuguese letters. Concise, eloquent and immediate, his work is concerned with phenomenological clarity and an engagement with a language of presence, of excavated intimation, and a wholly personal reality that hinges on a fundamental act of communication with the impersonal. For over two decades he has been a leading light in a poetry tradition often underappreciated outside of its borders, but from which giants of modern poetry like Fernando Pessoa and João Miguel Fernandes Jorge have emerged. In an extremely generous interview, we are pleased to present João Luís Barreto Guimarães as our first Portuguese edition of Maintenant.

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-82-joao-luis-barreto-guimaraes/

Accompanying the interview are five translations by Ana Hudson. These poems form part of Ana’s remarkable project http://www.poemsfromtheportuguese.org/ in which she has pioneered the translation and elucidation of a vast number of contemporary poets writing in the Portuguese language.

Maintenant #81 - Valerio Magrelli

For over thirty years Valerio Magrelli has represented Italian poetry to the world. Inarguably the most influential poet of his generation in Italy, the oeuvre he has thus far established has ensured his place as one of the few poets able to look eye to eye with his nation’s iconoclastic predecessors. And yet, this language of grandeur does not seem apropos in describing a work built on agility of thought, deftness of expression, a modest, good-natured gesturing to the immense power of poetry which, in and of itself, locates that very power. Valerio Magrelli is a poet whose work has the authority to wake his readers, to bring their focus back to the poem itself, as a thing, not as a product of a poet first and foremost. Consistently, it is this eloquent and energetic intellect which resonates through his work and reminds us of the heights that the Italian language and the Italian poetry tradition can reach. For the 81st edition of Maintenant, Valerio Magrelli. Thanks to Jan Wagner, Federico Italiano & Jamie McKendrick.


Accompanying the interview are four poems, taken from the book 'Valerio Magrelli: The Embrace' Faber & Faber 2009, translated by Jamie McKendrick. For this remarkable undertaking, Jamie McKendrick won the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize and the John Florio Prize.

Maintenant #80 - Arnoud van Adrichem

A poet whose inventiveness and incisiveness is architectural in its care - witty, adventurous, circuitous and at ease with its own intelligence, the work of Arnoud van Adrichem, one of the most remarkable poets and critics Holland has produced in the last decade, stands as an example of how international traditions, multiple languages and a shift in political culture, will not waylay a brilliant poet from writing brilliant poetry. If anything it will only add context to the work of a poet like van Adrichem, recognised across the Netherlands and beyond as one of the most considered and necessary agents for poetry currently at work, and with no sign of lagging. Editor of the international journal Parmentier and a specialist and translator of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, it is hard to look past Arnoud van Adrichem as a fundamental part of the future of Dutch letters. Another exceptional addition to the Maintenant series, edition #80, we are privileged to have his work translated into English for the very first time thanks to the generosity of the Nederlands Letterenfonds with thanks to Jan Pollet.


A poem in five sections, Corner, accompanies this interview. This is the first time Arnoud van Adrichem’s poetry has been translated into English and was only made possible by the generous support of the Nederlands Letterenfonds (the Dutch Foundation for Literature) and of Thomas Möhlmann. Translations by Willem Groenewegen, 2011. http://www.willem-groenewegen.nl/

Cemal Süreya & Turkish video-poems

I've just visited Istanbul, for the third time in the last three years. Again, I used the time to read as much Turkish poetry in translation as possible. As ever Nazim Hikmet, Edip Cansever, Ilhan Berk and Cemal Sureya have infused themselves into my reading and work in general. In searching for a reading of Sureya I found a massive spate of videos on youtube featuring Turkish poets being read over image montages and background music. Ive not seen anything like this before, at this frequently anyway, there are hundreds of these videos.

Nominated for the pushcart prize

Chosen from over 1000 poems, my poem 'oar fish' from my Taxidermy series has been nominated for a pushcart prize by Vox poetica and its editor Annmarie Lockhart. http://www.pushcartprize.com/

"The Pushcart Prize - Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in the pages of our annual collections.

Writers who were first noticed here include:
Raymond Carver, Tim O’Brien, Jayne Anne Phillips, Charles Baxter, Andre Dubus, Susan Minot, Mona Simpson, John Irving, Rick Moody, and many more. Each year most of the writers and many of the presses are new to the series."

Minimum Security Prison Poetry - the readings online

A huge thanks to everyone who read and attended and supported on Wednesday night. It was another unique and memorable reading, the 17 voices of the poets spilling together like the contents of a magic intestine. It was a lovely evening to launch my new book and the venue, the Horse Hospital, was really exceptional. Special thanks to Catherine Carncross, Livia Dragomir, David Kelly and Andy Spragg for helping out. And to Colin Herd for the book.






Maintenant #79 - Emanuella Amichai


Perhaps Emanuella Amichai represents the ethos of the Maintenant series more succinctly than any of the other 78 poets that have gone before her. The question of what is poetic is akin to the question of what is European. Both are fluid, unanswerable, and all the more essential for that unresolvability. Working in the medium of moving image, of dance, theatre and film, she has taken groundbreaking strides towards what can only be called a video poetry, a form of visual poetry. Working in tandem with some of Europe’s finest writers, including Jan Wagner, she has shown her absolute control of both mediums, both poetry and film, utilising the grammar of motion to remarkable poetic effect. If this places her outside the poetic mainstream, what might be deemed The definition of a poet, then the fact she is the daughter of one of the 20th century’s greatest poets firmly roots her back into the tradition of European letters. For the 79th edition of Maintenant, Israel’s Emanuella Amichai.


A video poem of Emanuella's will soon follow on the 3am website, but for now can be viewed here, on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0e1GAqvk24


Holly Pester, one of the most exciting poets working in the UK right now, and Maintenant interviewee, has published her first collection with the remarkable If P then Q press, edited by James Davies. The book, called Hoofs, is a radical and original collection, really worth buying. It can be purchased here for 8 quid. - http://ifpthenq.co.uk/books/pester-holly-hoofs/

Also Maintenant interviewee Marcus Slease has just published a chapbook called Smashing Time, as part of the MIPOesias Chapbook Series. It is available for free digital download or print purchase of 9 quid. http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/299099 The artwork is by the Polish punk poet artist Grzegorz Wroblewski.

I am happy to say the Maintenant Camarade 2 event is now fixed for February Saturday 11th 2012 at the Rich mix centre, near Brick Lane, in London. This will be the first event of ours not themed with international poets but focusing primarily on the paired collaborations that were such a success at the last event. Pairs confirmed so far include:
Sean Bonney & Keston Sutherland
Maria Fusco & Andrea Brady
Jeff Hilson & Philip Terry
Colin Herd & Patrick Coyle
James Davies & Stephen Emmerson
Todd Swift & Matthew Gregory
Sam Riviere & Sophie Collins
Katerina Kashchavtseva & Lucy Harvest Clarke
Tom Jenks & Chris McCabe
Marcus Slease & Peter Jaeger

London Sinfonietta newsletter


Blue Touch Paper collaborators announced

We are also very pleased to announce the successful applicants to our Blue Touch Paper programme. They are:

- Steve Potter (composer) & Kélina Gotman (writer/dramaturg), who will be working on a music-theatre piece exploring the reality of dreams.

- Elspeth Brooke (composer), Seonaid Goody (puppeteer) & Anna G Jones (director) will work with music, puppetry and film techniques to create a re-imagining of the Greek myth of Persephone.

- Philip Venables (composer) & Steven J Fowler (poet) will be exploring the violence, sanctioned by society, that is boxing, through music and poetry.

Click here for more information about Blue Touch Paper click here.