Small Publishers Fair

Small Publishers Fair (Photograph: Caspar Evans)

Nancy Campbell: Books and Printed Matter is the 2015 exhibition at the Small Publishers Fair in London on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November.

It is a real honour to be invited to occupy the exhibition space at the fair which in previous years has shown the work of artists and publishers including herman de vries, Granary Books, Martin Rodgers and Les Coleman.

This exhibition will present a selection of works from the last decade, from artist's books produced under my own imprint - Bird Editions, collaborations with other artists, including Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck, Sarah Bodman, and Roni Gross, and titles from publishers such as Enitharmon Press and MIEL. I hope that the variety of media on show will demonstrate the many forms the printed word can take, from pochoir-illustrated artist's books to letterpress-printed broadsides and print-on-demand paperbacks.

The Small Publishers Fair (which has run since 2002) is a lively occasion, and a fascinating day out for anyone interested in books and publishing. More information can be found on the event website and you can read 'Conversations and Collaborations', my short statement about the work I'll be showing, here.

‘The Debate’ Commended

‘The Debate’, my poem about the geographic boundaries of the Arctic, has been commended in the 2015 Four Corners Poetry Competition judged by Mimi Khalvati and Giles Goodland. The competition’s theme was inspired by the motto of St Cross College: ‘Ad quattuor cardines mundi’. The prizewinners and other commended poets are listed here.

An anthology of the winning and commended poems will be launched with a drinks reception and reading at St Cross College, Oxford on Tuesday 13 October. The event will open at 5.30pm, with readings from the judges and several commended poets starting at 6.00pm. All are welcome - please inform Ella Bedrock if you are coming: ella.bedrock@stx.ox.ac.uk

Disko Bay

Copies of Disko Bay can now be reserved on the publisher's website: http://www.enitharmon.co.uk/pages/store/products/ec_view.asp?PID=728

Some advance reviews:

‘Disko Bay is a beautiful debut from a deft, dangerous and dazzling new poet writing from the furthest reaches of both history and climate change.’ – Carol Ann Duffy

‘Nancy Campbell crafts severe, beautiful founding myths which merge fragments of story with song in a poetry which has refreshingly sharp edges. Strong women and talented male hunters there are, but all are vulnerable before human caprice and this lyrically evoked world of ice.’ – Richard Price

Disko Bay will be available from November. The launch event will be on Tuesday 1 December at the Enitharmon Press premises in Bloomsbury. Please contact Lavinia Singer on info@enitharmon.co.uk to reserve your place.

ARKIR Book Arts Group, Reykjavik

On my way through Reykjavik last week I gave a presentation to ARKIR, an Icelandic book arts organisation. I opted to show and discuss The Night Hunter and Tikilluarit, two works from Z'roah Press, each of which responds to a different poem from my forthcoming collection Disko Bay.

It was a great pleasure to meet members of ARKIR and I was glad to be able catch their current exhibition ENDURBÓKUN ('Re-Book') in Spöngin Culture House, which continues to 3 October 2015. A few examples of their work follow and you can see more over on the ARKIR blog (which has its own post about my visit here).

Vefur by Ingirinður Ódinsdóttir

Ævintýri by Áslaug Jónsdóttir

Ilulissat Kunstmuseum, Greenland

Ilulissat Kunstmuseum

During August I was Writer in Residence at Ilulissat Kunstmuseum on the North-West coast of Greenland. The museum holds a major collection of oil paintings and sketches of the Greenlandic landscape by the Danish artist Emanuel A. Petersen, and this became a focus for my own work. 

I was able to deepen my own experience of these landscapes, which were hidden under winter snow on my previous visit in 2010. I hiked the mountains around Ilulissat, visiting Sermermiut, an ancient settlement dating to 2400BC, and the Ilulissat Kangerlua (or icefjord). 

I gave presentations on my work at the Groenlandica Collection at the National Library of Greenland, which has acquired a copy of How To Say 'I Love You' In Greenlandic, and to the artist group Seqineq in Ilulissat. Watch this space for details of a new publication arising from the residency.

During my travels I met many remarkable people. Special thanks are due to Ole Gamst-Pedersen, Director of Ilulissat Kunstmuseum, and his wife Thrine, who made me very welcome in Ilulissat, and to Charlotte D. Andersen, Director of the Groenlandica Collection at the National Library of Greenland for her help with my research. My deep thanks also go out to all 67 supporters of my Kickstarter campaign, who generously covered the travel costs for this residency.

Summer reading: poetry

 

Thanks to the editors of The Interpreter's House and The Rialto for including my unseasonably icey poems in their summer issues.

• The Interpreter's House No 59  – available here – launch reading 16 July at The Albion Beatnik, Oxford
• The Rialto No 83 – available here – launch reading 22 July at The King & Queen, London

Summer reading: new essays and reviews

Filming Ófærð

• I wrote about the experience of sharing a small Icelandic town with a film crew working on the Nordic Noir drama Ófærð ('Trapped') for the Times Literary Supplement ('Freelance', 19 June issue or available online to subscribers). 
• A feature on Emma Stibbon RA's drawings of polar ice (current exhibition at The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute) has been published on the Royal Academy Blog. (You can read a lengthier assessment of Stibbon's work over at The Island Review.)
• I reviewed Confessions of a Comma Queen, a riotous memoir by The New Yorker's copy editor Mary Norris, for Editing Matters the journal of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders.
• A review of Printmaking on the Edge - the history of St Michael's print workshop in St John's, Newfoundland - is out in the summer issue of Printmaking Today. (Lovely book, available here.)