The winners of these were announced over the weekend at a book fair and event in Oxford (I think), and Nine Arches Press, who have published my last two collections, enjoyed a very successful night, winning the Most Innovative Publisher award.
They also came runner-up in two more categories - in Best Anthology, for The Apple Anthology, edited by Yvonne Reddick and George Ttoouli, and in Best Magazine, for Under The Radar. Now of course, I would say this, but hooray for Nine Arches!
Great, too, to see Michelle McGrane's Against Rape project win Best One-Off - thoroughly deserved recognition for some really important work.
The awards generally, though, deserve praise, for shining a light on publishers, poets and events that might otherwise go unrewarded. Liars' League, Sidekick Books' Riotous and WN Herbert's Murder Bear are among them, but there are lots more.
Showing posts with label George Ttoouli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George Ttoouli. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Friday, 29 June 2012
Being Human
Not the TV show, though. Let's get that straight right from the outset. Anyone who's landed here expecting discussion of that, you'd best bail out here and now.
No, I'm talking about the theatrical production based on the Bloodaxe anthology. I haven't seen it yet, but over at Gists & Piths, George Ttoouli has posted this excellent review of the show, which makes me want to make sure that I do, and soon.
I know the anthologies - Staying Alive, Being Alive and now Being Human - have divided opinion in poetryworld at times, but then so does pretty much every anthology that comes along. I'm not mad about the packaging, I suppose, and I can take or leave the division of them into chapters, with little essays introducing each one. When all's said and done, though, all three have contained plenty of poetry that I'm glad to have encountered, and which I might well not have done otherwise. George has a point about some of the more non-mainstream voices generally being represented by their least left-field work, but even so, it puts them in front of a potential new audience.
There's more about the show, including dates and venues, here. I think I'll probably catch it at Uppingham School in October (who thought it would be a good idea to call a festival Up The Arts, though?)
No, I'm talking about the theatrical production based on the Bloodaxe anthology. I haven't seen it yet, but over at Gists & Piths, George Ttoouli has posted this excellent review of the show, which makes me want to make sure that I do, and soon.
I know the anthologies - Staying Alive, Being Alive and now Being Human - have divided opinion in poetryworld at times, but then so does pretty much every anthology that comes along. I'm not mad about the packaging, I suppose, and I can take or leave the division of them into chapters, with little essays introducing each one. When all's said and done, though, all three have contained plenty of poetry that I'm glad to have encountered, and which I might well not have done otherwise. George has a point about some of the more non-mainstream voices generally being represented by their least left-field work, but even so, it puts them in front of a potential new audience.
There's more about the show, including dates and venues, here. I think I'll probably catch it at Uppingham School in October (who thought it would be a good idea to call a festival Up The Arts, though?)
Labels:
Being Human,
George Ttoouli,
Gists and Piths,
Poetry,
Theatre
Friday, 11 February 2011
While I remember...
I meant to post this when it appeared on Gists & Piths last week, but late's better than never. Some excellent points about Luke Kennard's Planet-shaped Horse, and scroll down to the bottom where George Ttoouli helpfully breaks my book book title down into its constituent parts.
Labels:
George Ttoouli,
Gists and Piths,
Luke Kennard,
Poetry
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Sweet sole music
Monday night saw a book launch with a difference, as Mark Goodwin's new Nine Arches Press collection Shod was unveiled at The Looking Glass in Leicester.
Rather than the traditional format - poet reads selection of pieces from new book - Shodfest saw a number of Midlands poets (Steve Carroll, Pam Thompson, Lydia Towsey, George Ttoouli, Simon Perrill, Stevie Blue, Katie Daniels and myself) picking four pieces each from the book (which tells the story of shoe messiah Sidney Realer), then reading them in turn. If the poet before you read the piece you'd been planning to read, you moved on to your next piece, and so on. It'd be hard to pick out highlights, although Simon's breathless recital was great, while Lydia injected real tension and drama into the proceedings.
It worked really well, I thought. It was fascinating to hear different people's takes on the book, and I only hope we did Mark some sort of justice. The collection, incidentally, is terrific - you can read more about it here.
The open mic was excellent, too, with some familiar faces and some new, the latter including conceptual poet Ira Lightman, who was passing through Leicester and popped in. All things considered, a triumph, not at all dampened by an absolutely torrential downpour as I drove home.
Rather than the traditional format - poet reads selection of pieces from new book - Shodfest saw a number of Midlands poets (Steve Carroll, Pam Thompson, Lydia Towsey, George Ttoouli, Simon Perrill, Stevie Blue, Katie Daniels and myself) picking four pieces each from the book (which tells the story of shoe messiah Sidney Realer), then reading them in turn. If the poet before you read the piece you'd been planning to read, you moved on to your next piece, and so on. It'd be hard to pick out highlights, although Simon's breathless recital was great, while Lydia injected real tension and drama into the proceedings.
It worked really well, I thought. It was fascinating to hear different people's takes on the book, and I only hope we did Mark some sort of justice. The collection, incidentally, is terrific - you can read more about it here.
The open mic was excellent, too, with some familiar faces and some new, the latter including conceptual poet Ira Lightman, who was passing through Leicester and popped in. All things considered, a triumph, not at all dampened by an absolutely torrential downpour as I drove home.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Static Exile, by George Ttoouli
Penned In The Margins, 2009, £7.99
I could offer the same excuse here as I did with Michael McKimm's collection, as regards actually getting round to reviewing it. If anything it's even harder to get a handle on, with the result that I've started and almost finished this piece half a dozen times, before changing my mind and going right back to the beginning. Although you wouldn't, admittedly, be too far wrong if you concluded that I'm just bone idle.
So, where to start this time? Well, the beginning's as good a place as any, with opening poemGists and Piths straight away exploring the inherent slipperiness of language and meaning. It serves as notice that Ttoouli's work is going to take some getting your head round. It also fizzes with energy, and it's fun. I mean, laugh out loud, read-it-again-and-again fun.
That Ttoouli manages to maintain that acute seriousness of purpose alongside a willingness to, above all, entertain the reader, is one of the great pleasures here.
Take the title poem, this book's centrepiece, in which Godzilla is re-imagined as a satire on our post-9/11 society. Paranoia and confusion reign ("if only someone knew what was happening / & could say it / & couldn't be ignored"), and the language moves from the brutal to the absurd via all points in between. It's a surprise, and a cause for complaint about modern poetry, that too often it fails to engage with politics in any meaningful way, but that's not an accusation you could level here. This is satire, and often genuinely caustic satire, too - if, as I suspect, it's about to make a comeback in UK poetry, then I'll be applauding all the way, and cheering Ttoouli's place in the vanguard.
Then there's Ghosts, a superbly taut and deceptively simple piece that considers the lives of immigrant workers overlooked and shunned by the society they're helping to build and maintain. It ends with the poet swimming:
with the ghosts in the pool by the flats,
their wakes skimming behind their empty shapes
their wakes skimming behind their empty shapes
It's a memorable image, but there are no easy answers offered, no escape or consolation.
Elsewhere, Ttoouli's Greek heritage is a strong strand running through the collection, with myths reworked, and a strong sense of past and present existing alongside each other ("Into the bar walks a minotaur, / orders whiskey sours and waits for his paramour"). Again, his gaze is as unforgiving and occasionally dizzying as a midday Mediterranean sun.
Finally, there are forays into the personal, too, with This Poem All The Time a particular favourite, managing to be tender, funny and questioning at the same time.
It's getting late now, really late, and I'm uncomfortably aware that, yet again, I haven't done this book justice, but I'm determined I won't scrap the review this time. Your best option at this point, I'd suggest, is to buy it yourself, enjoy its many very considerable strengths, write your own review, and show me how it's done. My best option, I suspect, is to read it all over again.
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Shindig! reminder
A final reminder that the latest Leicester Shindig, part of Nine Arches Press's ongoing series, takes place at the usual venue, The Looking Glass (on the corner of Braunstone Gate and Narborough Road), next Monday, 14th June.
As usual, it's all free and there are readings from Jacqui Rowe, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and George Ttoouli.
Jacqui Rowe’s poems have been published extensively in magazines, including Mslexia, Tears in the Fence and Poetry Review. Her latest collection is Apollinaire (Perdika Press). She is co-editor of Flarestack Poets, one of whose titles is shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award and also an independent producer of literature events and works as a writer in schools.
Deborah Tyler-Bennett’s first collection was Clark Gable in Mansfield (King’s England, 2003). Her latest collection, Pavilion, is set in Brighton and on Dandies Pavilion and is published by Smokestack Books. She had work included in Shoestring’s Take Five (2003), and has published over 400 poems and short fictions. Recently, a selection of her work has been translated and broadcast on Romanian radio.
George Ttoouli is an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Warwick Writing Programme. He co-edits Gists and Piths with Simon Turner, an experiment in poetry e-zining, and he is Reviews Editor for Horizon Review. His debut collection, Static Exile, is now available from Penned in the Margins.
There'll be plenty of open mic slots available - sign up on the door. The first couple of Leicester Shindigs have been notable for the quality of the open mic-ers, including plenty of first-timers, so give it a go.
As usual, it's all free and there are readings from Jacqui Rowe, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and George Ttoouli.
Jacqui Rowe’s poems have been published extensively in magazines, including Mslexia, Tears in the Fence and Poetry Review. Her latest collection is Apollinaire (Perdika Press). She is co-editor of Flarestack Poets, one of whose titles is shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award and also an independent producer of literature events and works as a writer in schools.
Deborah Tyler-Bennett’s first collection was Clark Gable in Mansfield (King’s England, 2003). Her latest collection, Pavilion, is set in Brighton and on Dandies Pavilion and is published by Smokestack Books. She had work included in Shoestring’s Take Five (2003), and has published over 400 poems and short fictions. Recently, a selection of her work has been translated and broadcast on Romanian radio.
George Ttoouli is an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Warwick Writing Programme. He co-edits Gists and Piths with Simon Turner, an experiment in poetry e-zining, and he is Reviews Editor for Horizon Review. His debut collection, Static Exile, is now available from Penned in the Margins.
There'll be plenty of open mic slots available - sign up on the door. The first couple of Leicester Shindigs have been notable for the quality of the open mic-ers, including plenty of first-timers, so give it a go.
Labels:
George Ttoouli,
Nine Arches Press,
Poetry,
Readings,
Shindig
Monday, 7 June 2010
Shindig! in Leicester
The latest Leicester Shindig, part of Nine Arches Press's ongoing series, takes place at the usual venue, The Looking Glass (on the corner of Braunstone Gate and Narborough Road), next Monday, 14th June.
As usual, it's all free and there are readings from Jacqui Rowe, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and George Ttoouli.
Jacqui Rowe’s poems have been published extensively in magazines, including Mslexia, Tears in the Fence and Poetry Review. Her latest collection is Apollinaire (Perdika Press). She is co-editor of Flarestack Poets, one of whose titles is shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award and also an independent producer of literature events and works as a writer in schools.
Deborah Tyler-Bennett’s first collection was Clark Gable in Mansfield (King’s England, 2003). Her latest collection, Pavilion, is set in Brighton and on Dandies Pavilion and is published by Smokestack Books. She had work included in Shoestring’s Take Five (2003), and has published over 400 poems and short fictions. Recently, a selection of her work has been translated and broadcast on Romanian radio.
George Ttoouli is an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Warwick Writing Programme. He co-edits Gists and Piths with Simon Turner, an experiment in poetry e-zining, and he is Reviews Editor for Horizon Review. His debut collection, Static Exile, is now available from Penned in the Margins.
There'll be plenty of open mic slots available - sign up on the door if you fancy taking part. The first couple of Leicester Shindigs have been notable for the quality of the open mic-ers, including plenty of first-timers, so give it a go.
In the meantime, I'll be posting a review of George Ttoouli's Static Exile at the weekend - keep reading...
As usual, it's all free and there are readings from Jacqui Rowe, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and George Ttoouli.
Jacqui Rowe’s poems have been published extensively in magazines, including Mslexia, Tears in the Fence and Poetry Review. Her latest collection is Apollinaire (Perdika Press). She is co-editor of Flarestack Poets, one of whose titles is shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award and also an independent producer of literature events and works as a writer in schools.
Deborah Tyler-Bennett’s first collection was Clark Gable in Mansfield (King’s England, 2003). Her latest collection, Pavilion, is set in Brighton and on Dandies Pavilion and is published by Smokestack Books. She had work included in Shoestring’s Take Five (2003), and has published over 400 poems and short fictions. Recently, a selection of her work has been translated and broadcast on Romanian radio.
George Ttoouli is an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Warwick Writing Programme. He co-edits Gists and Piths with Simon Turner, an experiment in poetry e-zining, and he is Reviews Editor for Horizon Review. His debut collection, Static Exile, is now available from Penned in the Margins.
There'll be plenty of open mic slots available - sign up on the door if you fancy taking part. The first couple of Leicester Shindigs have been notable for the quality of the open mic-ers, including plenty of first-timers, so give it a go.
In the meantime, I'll be posting a review of George Ttoouli's Static Exile at the weekend - keep reading...
Labels:
George Ttoouli,
Nine Arches Press,
Poetry,
Readings,
Shindig
Friday, 19 February 2010
Coming soon...honest
I've not got round to writing that much of substance about poetry on here recently, for one reason and another, but I promise to do better over the next few weeks.
I'll have reviews of Michael McKimm's Still This Need, George Ttoouli's Static Exile, Karen Solie's Pigeon, and a number of chapbooks, and I might even manage to finally finish a piece I was writing about poetry on the page as a sort of musical notation for poetry read aloud. You'll be begging for mercy, I warn you...
I'll have reviews of Michael McKimm's Still This Need, George Ttoouli's Static Exile, Karen Solie's Pigeon, and a number of chapbooks, and I might even manage to finally finish a piece I was writing about poetry on the page as a sort of musical notation for poetry read aloud. You'll be begging for mercy, I warn you...
Labels:
George Ttoouli,
Karen Solie,
Michael McKimm,
Poetry
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Poets on fire
Last night, it was straight down the A46 to Royal Leamington Spa for the launch of David Morley's The Night Of The Day, from Nine Arches Press.
A couple of hecklers, one of them particularly persistent and totally irrational, could have spoiled things, but David was unshaken and gave a very energetic, celebratory reading that was an absolute pleasure to hear. There was excellent support from Myra Connell, Matt Nunn, George Ttoouli and Simon Turner, too, and some good open mic-ers. I bought copies of David's pamphlet (a limited edition version, in fact) and of George's new collection, Static Exile (from Penned In The Margins), and both made me think about how much better poetry books look these days, even before you get to the contents. I feel a long blog post coming on, but it will have to wait until another day.
Today, the new issue of Sphinx arrived, and a real cracker it is too. So far I've only had chance to read the interview with Tony Frazer of Shearsman, which is worth the cover price alone. Shearsman have being going from strength to strength these last few years, and there are quite a few of their books that I'd number among those volumes I always like to have to hand, so it's great to hear just how Tony has managed such a prolific, and high quality, output.
Also today, a woodcock flushed almost from beneath my feet in Cademan Woods, another flying across the road at Copt Oak, and owls, owls, owls at Cossington.
Labels:
Birds,
David Morley,
George Ttoouli,
Matt Nunn,
Myra Connell,
Nine Arches Press,
Poetry,
Readings,
Shearsman,
Simon Turner
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Happy birthday!
Nine Arches Press celebrated its first year last night, and a very busy year it's been, what with books by Jane Holland, Liam Guilar, Tom Chivers and David Hart, and two issues of Under The Radar (a third is imminent), plus a number of readings. Oh, and books by Peter Carpenter and press founder Matt Nunn are on the way later in the year.
Anyway, the birthday party at the University of Warwick last night was excellent, with good music (Fan Tan Jack, as Jane Commane has reminded me), good cakes, and of course good poetry. There were readings by Jane Commane, Matt Nunn, Jane Holland, Sian Hughes, Simon Turner, George Ttoouli and myself, and plenty of chat. It would be unfair to pick out highlights, really, but a couple of George's poems (Ghost and another whose title escapes me just now) kept going round my head all the way home. I also bought a copy of Sian's book, The Missing, having enjoyed her reading and remembering several of her poems from magazines.
For the record, my 'set list' was:
At Home
Things Left In Hotel Rooms
The Memory Of Water
Worst Case Scenario
Oh, and many thanks to Matt for mentioning both Walkers Crisps and Englebert Humperdinck when introducing me! Chuck in Gary Lineker too and you'd have the Holy Trinity where us folk at the north end of the M69 are concerned.
Anyway, the birthday party at the University of Warwick last night was excellent, with good music (Fan Tan Jack, as Jane Commane has reminded me), good cakes, and of course good poetry. There were readings by Jane Commane, Matt Nunn, Jane Holland, Sian Hughes, Simon Turner, George Ttoouli and myself, and plenty of chat. It would be unfair to pick out highlights, really, but a couple of George's poems (Ghost and another whose title escapes me just now) kept going round my head all the way home. I also bought a copy of Sian's book, The Missing, having enjoyed her reading and remembering several of her poems from magazines.
For the record, my 'set list' was:
At Home
Things Left In Hotel Rooms
The Memory Of Water
Worst Case Scenario
Oh, and many thanks to Matt for mentioning both Walkers Crisps and Englebert Humperdinck when introducing me! Chuck in Gary Lineker too and you'd have the Holy Trinity where us folk at the north end of the M69 are concerned.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Birthday party
Nine Arches Press celebrates its first birthday next week with a party/reading/shindig at The Capital Centre, Milburn House, Milburn Hill Road, University of Warwick (actually nearer Coventry).
It’s on Tuesday (May 5th), from 7pm-10pm, it’s free, and will mark the press’s first year in the poetry-publishing business. There’ll be a selection of Midlands poets, including the likes of Jane Holland, George Ttoouli, Matt Nunn and Simon Turner, and there’s an open mic for any up and coming poetry talent.
Oh, and as if that’s not enough, there’s cake too.
It’s on Tuesday (May 5th), from 7pm-10pm, it’s free, and will mark the press’s first year in the poetry-publishing business. There’ll be a selection of Midlands poets, including the likes of Jane Holland, George Ttoouli, Matt Nunn and Simon Turner, and there’s an open mic for any up and coming poetry talent.
Oh, and as if that’s not enough, there’s cake too.
Labels:
George Ttoouli,
Jane Holland,
Matt Nunn,
Nine Arches Press,
Poetry,
Simon Turner
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