Back Room Poets

will be reading

on 3 December

at Art Jericho

(http://artjericho.com)

Featured guest poet:

Vahni Capildeo

(http://www.eggboxpublishing.com/authors?page=3)

Final Botanic Garden Reading on 5 September

The last Back Room Poets reading in the Great Story Picnic Season series at the Botanic Garden of Oxford on Saturday 5 September at 2:30 p.m. (near the fountain).

The subject this Saturday is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

Readers will include David Burridge, Tim Greenwood, Louise Larchbourne, Laura King, Inge Milfull, and (probably) Jenyth Worsley. They will be reading poems on caterpillars and related subjects, from gluttony to butterflies.

Back Room Poets at Elder Stubbs

Back Room Poets will be reading at Elder Stubbs Festival (http://www.elderstubbs.org.uk/Festival.html) on Saturday, 22 August, from 3 pm to 4pm in Clerks Wood. We will be showcasing work by our own members, but there will also be an open mic component.

Third Botanic Garden Reading

At the Botanic Garden at 2.30 pm on Saturday 15 August, five BRP members (plus possibly Philip Pulman if he's around) will be reading a mixture of poems by ourselves and others that relate to the themes of His Dark Materials (including extracts from Paradise Lost). It should be an interesting event, so do come along if you are free!
The readers are: Tina Sederholm (MC), Mark Leech, KV Skene, Louise Larchbourne and Jenyth Worsley.

Second Botanic Garden Reading

Our second Botanic Garden reading is coming up on the afternoon of Saturday 18 July:

1-1.30 pm Tim Greenwood, Louise Larchbourne, Inge Milfull, K.V. Skene & Averil Stedeford present a selection of verse old and new, on the theme of Jack and the Beanstalk and on giants, plants, geese etc. more generally.

We will be reading near the fountain again.

First Botanic Garden reading

Back Room Poets on Alice Day (4 July) at the Botanic Garden, Oxford

1-1.30 pm: Tim Greenwood, Mark Leech, Richard Mason, KV Skene & Jenyth Worsley - present a selection of verse old and new, including the original versions of some of the poems in Alice.

(For details on the whole series see previous blog entry)

Botanic Garden readings this summer

Back Room Poets are planning to read at the Botanic Gardens on 4 July, 18 July, 15 August and 5 September.
These readings will be part of the following series of events:

The Great Story Picnic Season
Gardens have inspired many stories and tales. Join us for live music, story sessions plus family craft and word workshops in the beautiful setting of the Garden. Don’t forget your picnic!
Saturday 1.00 – 4.00pm (drop in at any time)
This event is free with entry to the Garden. No need to book.

http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmJvdGFuaWMtZ2FyZGVuLm94LmFjLnVrL0V2ZW50cy9vYmctZXZlbnRzLWZhbWlseS1mcmllbmRseS5odG1s

Upcoming Event in May

Back Room Poets in association with Vahni Capildeo present:

Poetry Reading:

Peter Robinson and Brian Catling

with the Back Room Poets

Liz Birchall and Josephine von Zitzewitz

and

Vahni Capildeo

(accompanied by Oxford Improvisers)

Venue: St Mary Magdalen, Magdalen St., Oxford

Date: 14 May 2009, 7:00 P.M. for 7:30 PM

Tickets: £6.- (£4.-)

Refreshments will be served.

______________________

Information on the invited poets:

PETER ROBINSON has published nine books of his own poetry, the latest of which is *The Look of Goodbye: Poems 2001-2006* (Shearsman Books, 2008) as well as a collection of aphorisms and translations from Italian and Japanese. He has also engaged with poetry as a critic and an editor. His own poetry has been described as exhibiting “the urgencies of new creations” (Roy Fisher) and as “some of the most courageous poetry written in English” (Adam Piette). His most recent work has been praised for its “intense but nuanced detail”, the subtlety of its syntax, and its “unconventional rhythmical virtuosity” (Jacket Magazine). Having held a variety of academic posts in the UK and Japan, he currently teaches at the University of Reading.

BRIAN CATLING “has been exhibiting and publishing internationally since the 1970s, haunting zones mostly unregulated by institutions or the art market” (frieze). He says of himself: “I am obsessively engaged in the collision of separate activities that sometimes fuse together in a hybrid event - they being the writing of poetry, the constructing of sculptural installation and the action of performance”. He has published eight books of poetry and a collection of his poetry, *A Court of Miracles*, is due soon from Etruscan Press. He is a professor at The Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Linacre College.

VAHNI CAPILDEO is “one of the most exciting and ambitious young Caribbean writers at work today” (Antilles). Her debut collection of poems, *No Traveller Returns* (2003), was praised for its elegance and originality. It was followed by *Person Animal Figure* (2005), a series of dramatic monologues.Her third book, *The Undraining Sea*, will be published in 2009. She currently lives in Oxford, where she previously completed a DPhil in Old Norse in 2000. She will be reprising a successful collaboration with members of the well-known local Oxford Improvisers group, which was originally launched at this year’s Oxfringe Festival.
________________________________

Information on our members who are reading:

After a working life spanning the UK from Somerset to Inverness and Derry to Colchester, that included four years as a Wren air mechanic but then turned to social work and social policy research, Liz Birchall returned to Oxfordshire in retirement and sharpened her pen more for poetry. Her work has been published in several anthologies and a range of poetry magazines, including Rialto, Acumen, The North and Orbis. Her book *The Forest that Sailed Away*, which arose from a community arts project celebrating Wychwood Forest and led by Jane George and Jenny Lewis, was published by the Wychwood Press in Charlbury. She has been a member of Back Room Poets, Oxford, since the group's formation.

Link to one of Liz's poems published in Interpreter's House: http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=15648

Josephine von Zitzewitz is currently working on a DPhil onRussian literature of the 1970s at St John's College, Oxford University and hasbeen a member of the Back Room Poets since 2004. Link to Josie's poem 'Hourglass', published in Parameter: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnBhcmFtZXRlcm1hZ2F6aW5lLm9yZy9wb2V0cnlfMi5odG0=

Back Room Poets at Oxfringe

On 2 April 2009 Back Room Poets presented:
April Follies
at the Vaults and Garden Cafe, Radcliffe Square, Oxford (7:00 p.m. for 7:30 p.m.)

Folly, mundane and extravagant, frivolous and solemn - a seasonal evening of poetry and music from members of Back Room Poets.
To support the Oxfordshire mental health charity RESTORE.

Entry: £6.-/£4.-

Art Jericho reading

This reading went very well - we're very grateful to Patricia for making her gallery available to us as a venue for a reading:
http://artjericho.com/home/index.php
We enjoyed the exhibition of work by Karien van Assendelft and found much to interest us, so we are happy that it was so favourably reviewed in the Oxford Times:
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/search/4120822.Trailing_Conversations__Art_Jericho/

Reading at Art Jericho, 21 February

Trailing Conversations in the City of Text: Poetry Reading

Art Jericho
6 King Street Oxford OX2 6DF
Sat 21st Feb, 5:30 for 6:00 p.m.
(free entry)

Back Room Poets are collaborating with Art Jericho and artist Karien van Assendelft to stage a poetry reading to accompany the current exhibition: Trailing Conversations in the City of Text. Like the exhibition itself, the poems read will deal with the experience of working and reading in the library (especially the Bodleian) and also reflect on encounters with texts and language in general.

Readers will include: Liz Birchall, Matt Bright, Mark Leech, Laura King, Christine Koutelieri, K.V. Skene, Jane Spiro, and Pat Winslow.

City Centre Workshop: change of venue

The City Centre Workshop has moved. It is now at G & D's (George & Danver) on St. Aldate's (opposite Tom Tower) - in the basement, if we can find a space there. The time remains the same: 7:45 for 8 p.m. on 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month.

Upcoming Event in April

Back Room Poets at Oxfringe:

April Follies

2 April 2009
Vaults and Garden Cafe