Borrowed Bookshelves 12

The Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland

Existence Doubtful

Existence Doubtful by Tatiana Ginsberg, 2007

Last month I interviewed American paper artist Tatiana Ginsberg, whose work explores insular, oceanic and polar themes. You can read the interview over at The Island Review.

Bristol Artists Book Event 2015

I'll be showing my books at BABE on 11 and 12 April. Not so much a book fair as a big book party, previous events have seen a dress made of lettuce, a team of cake-laden 'trolley dollies' and even a rogue trader.

Check the Arnolfini website for a full listing of the many exciting things on show during the weekend, which includes the chance to see work by Mike Nicholson and Mette-Sophie D. Ambeck, Old Bear Press and seekers of lice, together with many other artists and publishers, as well as the exhibition Book Acts by AM Bruno... and if you can't decide where to start, you can join one of the free tours.

As in previous years, free surgeries will be held in the Reading Room. Bring your book arts conundrums - don't be shy, nothing is too delicate - for a 20-minute discussion on Saturday (with me) and Sunday (with Simon Goode, founder of LCBA). Pre-booking essential.

And don't miss the performances in the Reading Room! These will run all day on both days. If you come along on Sunday at 3.30pm, you'll find me presenting a new work with the BSL poet Donna Williams. (With thanks to the Arts Council for funding this commission.)

Read an interview with Tom Sowden and Sarah Bodman about the book fair here.

Exhibitions in Iceland

You are invited to view two exhibitions in Siglufjörður, Iceland.  Herhusið will be open on Saturdays in March to show my recent work Vantar | Missing and Síður í Siglufjörður | Pages in Siglufjörður, 

a selection of artists' books on the theme of coastlines chosen by Sarah Bodman. 

Watch this space for Private View details, according to weather.

UPDATE! There's a date change: exhibition will be open on Friday 13 March, 

not Saturday 14 March. It's getting snowy here…

For directions and any other questions contact me: nancy@nancycampbell.co.uk

On the road again

Cover of Vantar / Missing

London
I'll be performing poems from my forthcoming collection on the Arctic as part of Trapped in the Ice, Frozen in Time at the British Library on Thursday 5 February. The evening is programmed as part of the library's acclaimed exhibition Lines in the Ice, which examines the role of the Arctic in the making of the modern world (runs until 19 April). It will be hosted by the Library's redoubtable Interactive Fiction Writer in Residence Rob Sherman, and also features readings by the wonderful JR Carpenter and Kate Pullinger.

Oxford
It's the final meeting of Arctic Book Club on Monday 9 February. It's been a wild whistlestop midwinter tour of Arctic literature, and my deep thanks go to Dennis Harrison of the Albion Beatnik bookshop for providing such a cool venue, and to the Arts Council for generously supporting the programme. Thanks also, of course, to all our readers, including those who read the books long-distance from as far away as New York and Norway. Follow @ArcticBookClub on Twitter to keep up with plans for next winter's programme.

Reykjavik
In March I travel to Iceland where I'll be reading at Dynamics of Darkness in the North, a conference at the Nordic House which runs from 26 to 28 February. This promises to be a fascinating event, perversely celebrating the United Nations designation of 2015 as 'International Year of Light'.

Siglufjörður
Also in Iceland, my recent work Vantar | Missing is exhibited at Herhusið, open on Saturdays in March. This will be accompanied by Síður í Siglufjörður | Pages in Siglufjörður, a selection of artists' books on the theme of coastlines chosen by Sarah Bodman.

Bristol and Bedford
Back in the UK I'll be exhibiting my books at Bristol Artists Book Event on 11 and 12 April (look out for the premiere of my new Arts Council-funded collaboration with BSL poet Donna Williams on 12 April in the Reading Room). Later in the month I'm looking forward to being guest reader at Ouse Muse in Bedford on 22 April. 

Return to Siglufjörður

I am grateful to the Oppenheim John Downes Trust for a generous grant that enables me to return to Iceland this spring to complete work on a series of poems about Icelandic fishing culture. These poems will be published together with a suite of photographs by Mark Walton.

I have been invited to read my work at The Nordic House, Reykjavik in February, before spending the month of March as Writer in Residence at Herhus in Siglufjörður, a small town at the northernmost point of Iceland.

Photographs by Mark Walton

Stravaig - Call for Submissions

Calling all intellectual nomads! Stravaig is seeking submissions of essays, poems and images for Issue 4 on the theme of 'Intellectual Nomads'. Contributions are invited by Monday 12 January to the editors Nancy Campbell at nancy@nancycampbell.co.uk and Norman Bissell at normanbissell@btinternet.com.

Stravaig is the Journal of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics. Issue 3 (edited by Elizabeth Rimmer and Norman Bissell) can be read online here.