https://leserpent.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/die-leere-mitte-issue-23/ federico federici’s brilliant journal for the visual and innovative has two of my sticker poems, taken from my book with trickhouse press https://www.trickhousepress.com/product/-sticker-poems-by-sj-fowler/6
one of the poems is from a performance i gave years ago - one of my favourites - where i had someone sell me their soul, on the cheap, which can be watched below! support die leere mitte
happy to share a new publication with the brilliant paper view books
Frog Circles : a book-in-an-envelope, limited edition, of 11 concrete poems, mimicking hand-drawn ensō circles, written in Japan.
Available now, 10 euros, and launched in person https://paperviewbooks.pt/books/frog-circles/
My first pure concrete poetry publication for many years. Thanks to Naeimeh Mesgari and Babak Safari.
an exhibition at Rapla Contemporary Arts Centre, Estonia, September 20th to October 13th 2024 https://www.stevenjfowler.com/kirikuju
“A collaborative exhibition by Mathura and SJ Fowler, from Estonia and the UK, respectively, is treading the borderland of the visual and the poetic, figurative and verbal. Employing asemic writing as well as other novel forms of artistic expression, it calls to examine the presence of meaning even in an unexplained world.” A film below by David Spittle.
The largest visual poetry / art exhibition Ive had since my 2019 summer show at The Poetry Society. A dual exhibition, with my friend Mathura, the exhibition takes place at the massive Rapla arts centre in Estonia and features both new collaborative pieces made with Mathura in the asemic tradition, as well as 20 or so solo pieces of my own, in what I would term the Art Poetry or Poem Brut tradition.
The works are about poetic language and colour, legibility and the physical act of paint writing. They touch on the poster poetry tradition too, with the semantic content minimal and direct, if weird. Some of the works were made over the table between Mathura and I, and some have been produced, from my end, across this summer - this exhibition bringing me into a burst of output.
Going into the 8th year of Writers Kingston, the 2024 2025 program has been released for term one, from Sept to Dec 2024. https://www.writerskingston.com/
https://www.writerskingston.com/humanities/ Sept 20th in Kingston
https://www.writerskingston.com/kup/ Oct 17th in Kingston
https://www.writerskingston.com/spf/ Oct 25th and 26th in London
https://www.writerskingston.com/epfwinter/ Nov 14th in Kingston
https://www.writerskingston.com/kucamarade/ Nov 21st in Kingston
https://www.writerskingston.com/sound24/ Dec 5th in London
This includes brand new things for the centre, including having a space at the Small Publishers fair, an event launching a Kingston University Press anthology and two Camarades.
Dathini Mzayiya : the sound of the mark as it comes into being - a new short article I wrote on the groundbreaking asemic / visual poetry of South African artist-poet Mzayiya and his musidrawology. On the brilliant journal Herri, also based in SA https://herri.org.za/10/steven-j-fowler/
an excerpt “As long as humans have been making marks that echo writing, and the miraculous instinct we have to write and record in language, they have been doing the same with the sound of language. So from scribbles and doodles, and primal scripts, to pictograms, ideograms, logograms, to structuralist explorations and alphabets we don’t understand to lost languages, and hoaxes, we also can trace the mutterings, utterances, diddlage, scatting, chanting and other abstract non-song, non-speaking vocal expressions of human beings. There is then, a distinct poetic artistic tradition from the dawn of human culture which engages the non-linguistic but language-evoking in both marks and sound. What is the profundity then of a work that engages both?
In the written artworks of Dathini Mzayiya we encounter work of the mark that remembers the sound of that mark. It takes us into every scratch we have made on paper, even every strike our fingers have made on keys. It brings us to the sound of chalk on a board, quill on parchment, or stone on stone. Of the rhythmic incidents of writing, of the sonic consequence of our desire to make our words. Its brilliance lies in its individuality, its particularity, offering us such timeless universality. It reminds us we need not be in service to the word in order to write, and beyond that, there is another potential – that we might listen beyond the word, as it comes into being.”
Brian Catling, a guide for me and so many others in a tradition. I performed at Candid arts on the evening of Saturday August 31st for a huge program of celebration for his work curated by Richard Marshall. https://www.3-16am.co.uk/blog/30th-31st-august-brian-catling-event
Roy Fisher’s poetry has been a great influence on my work, and never too far away from me. I read him closely writing a few collections, most recently How do you do in devon, out in 2023.
I was asked to contribute to a memorial collection of poems in memory of Roy Fisher by Peter Robinson, whose introduction to the selection is here https://blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/issue-32/peterrobinsonprefacebm32
My poem https://blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/issue-32/stevenfowlerbm32
And the issue features friends Allen Fisher, Robert Hampson, Caleb Klaces, Geraldine Monk, Robert Sheppard and the late Alan Halsey https://blackboxmanifold.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/liverpool24 A finale to remember. Travelling up on a boiling hot day when England were playing in the Euros, on a saturday, in Liverpool town centre. We got a great crowd, filled out the afternoon and the quality of the collaborations were really rangey and playful. Some people left during a sound poetry duo, which was both understandable and a badge of honour. Tom Jenks and I took on our 12th live collaboration, stretching back to 2012 I believe, maybe earlier. This time, subbuteo, live, with in game commentary and VAR technology.
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/norwich24
Relocated to the forum due to the election happening in dragon hall, the audience was massive all the same. The packed out place saw some great live works, mostly from local poets, showing how rich the poetry culture is in Norwich, and visiting Czechs and Norwegians. I had the chance to work with Matthew Gregory, whom I’ve known for well over ten years. He is such a brilliant poet, and such a laugh to work with. Our piece was made close to the performance and came out really well.
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/norway24
All told, the best set of performances of the fest, as a whole. A really memorable event with hair eating and screaming beowulf recreations. Definitely worth watching the videos.
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/latvia24 A great event to add to the annals of Latvian celebrations at the fest. They are so great to work with, and again the Latvian poets visiting really threw themselves into the spirit of collaboration. My own personal favourite live work of the fest too, again with Krisjanis Zelgis, our fourth. He is so brilliant, and this was a performance I was proud of, that seemed to really resonate with people
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/austria24
the austrian poets were so lovely to work with for this event, and their collaborations ended the night on a high. lots of performance skill, experience, balanced with some more literary works. special always to be in the ACF, surrounded by the staff who are old friends, and a really full and generous crowd
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/sweden24 amazing night at hundred years gallery in hoxton. our hosts graham and monse were typically lovely and personal and set the tone. it was a gathering, all sweaty down in the basement. some brilliant collaborations, and i had a grand time as ever before improvising something with benedict taylor
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/kingston24 my students did me proud, as did many friends from the collective im a part of - popogrou. a really energised night down in kingston, it lifted me up, gave me an energy boost early in the process of a big fest, which can drain early. i had the chance to work with maria barnas again, whom i admire, and is such great fun. we went full meta sneaky on people and many bought it
https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/swiss24 the big swiss at rich mix, the fest’s home from home. some really fun works in amidst some heavy hitting. i had a bit of fun with creature gifts as my poet partner couldnt make it last minute.
Standing room only on a sweltering night in central London at the Flanders house welcoming Flemish poets to London. An especial pleasure to work with the folk at Flanders Literature, Patrick Peeters, and at Flanders House, Bart Brosius, Jeroen Deckmyn et al. We had fun putting the event on, and the hospitality supported 10 great readings and performances, including many new collaborations, including Ruth Lasters and Vanessa Onwuemezi, Peter Verhelst and Eley Williams, Annemarie Estor and Laura Davis. All the performances are online https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/flanders24
We kicked over the European Poetry Festival 2024 at the National Poetry Library with a Catalan poetry celebration as Anna Gual and Rushika Wick, Martí Sales and James Wilkes, Laia Carbonell and Mischa Foster Poole presented new live collaborations. Magic support from Chris McCabe at the library as ever before, and exceptional was the enthusiasm and encouragement of Ramon Llull staff members Marc Duenas and Joan de Sola, who were there cheering us on with a sold out audience. All the performances are online https://www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/catalan24 alongside with some great photos by Pau Ros
Three brilliant evenings in 2024 at the National Gallery Lates where I’ve had the chance to write and perform new poems on paintings in the collection, and then invite another poet writer, and some of my students, to do the same. I was joined by Elaine Mitchener, Caitlin Nugent, Holly Appleby and Eleanor Wilders, and I read on paintings Pan and Syrinx by François Boucher and Cenotaph to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds by John Constable. The audience was really sizeable and really generous. This was an exceptional all around effort, and a perfect way to cap off six commissions of this kind. Thanks go to Fiona Alderton and Joseph Kendra https://www.stevenjfowler.com/nationalgallery
The full event here with all readings.
My residency at Shaldon zoo kicked off with a great event. Ellen Wiles, Amy Cutler and David Spittle joined me reading to the animals. When I read to the bintarong and the pygmy slow loris, they came out to see me. Big thanks to the amazing staff at the zoo and the lovely folk who turned up www.stevenjfowler.com/shaldonzoo
And the full event here above.
Once again Babak Safari has done an amazing job on the poster for the 2024 festival. You can see his work and commission him here https://babaksafari.com/
