Poem-A-Thon for Refugees

The initiative of poet Jacqueline Saphra, the Poem-A-Thon for Refugees began as an attempt ‘to do something to raise funds and awareness to make a small contribution to alleviating this terrible humanitarian crisis.’ In the last few weeks over £5000 has been raised.

At the Poem-A-Thon sixty poets will each read for eight minutes in the course of a day. All donations will go to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its work with refugees in the Mediterranean. 

How can you help? Sponsor me or another poet of your choice or drop in (for a quick coffee or a long cocktail) during the day to cheer on the poets.

Poem-A-Thon for Refugees

Saturday 5 December 2015

Vout-O-Reenees, 30 Prescott Street, London E1 8BB (‘a gorgeous private members’ club owned by the amazing Sophie Parkin’)

Free entry

12 noon to 10 pm

Poetry makes nothing happen? Thanks to Jacqueline and her committee for this opportunity to make a small difference.

Autumn reading: features, reviews and poems

• I reviewed Tricks of the Trade: Confessions of a Bookbinder by Jamie Kamph for the Times Literary Supplement
• I interviewed Finnish artist Kristian Krokfors for a feature in Printmaking Today to coincide with his major retrospective at Bukowski’s, Helsinki 
• I wrote about the artist Richard Long RA's new print series, The Spike Island Tapes, also in Printmaking Today
• My poems The night hunter, Summer song and Giving up on capitalism appeared in an issue of Moving Worlds (a journal of transcultural writings) dedicated to The Postcolonial Arctic.

Book launch

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