Reading with Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Oxford

New Lines | Old Maps - 16 November, Oxford

Roam cover image courtesy Éireann Lorsung

New Lines | Old Maps

Four writers read poems of maps, migrations and place: Nancy Campbell, Laressa Dickey, Carola Luther and Carol Rowntree Jones. 

Albion Beatnik Book Store, 34 Walton St, Oxford
Wednesday 16 November 2016
19:00, £2 entry, paid bar.

Nancy Campbell is a writer and book artist. Her poetry collection Disko Bay (Enitharmon Press, 2015) is shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Other books include How To Say ‘I Love You’ In Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet which won the Birgit Skiöld Award; a new edition by MIEL books will be launched at this event.

Laressa Dickey is a writer based in Berlin. She’s the author of several chapbooks including A Piece of Information About His Invisibility and apparatus for manufacturing sunset, and the poetry collection Bottomland (Shearsman). Two books are forthcoming: Roam (Shearsman) in 2016, and Twang (Backwaters Press) in 2017. Laressa will launch Roam at this event.

Carola Luther’s first poetry collection, Walking the Animals (Carcanet Press) was shortlisted in 2004 for the Forward Prize for First Collection. Her second collection Arguing with Malarchy was published by Carcanet Press in 2011. Carola was Poet in Residence at the Wordsworth Trust in 2012. Herd was published by The Wordsworth Trust in that same year. Carola now lives in West Yorkshire and works as a counsellor.

Carol Rowntree Jones’ work has been published in The North, Assent, Staple and 111O. She won the inaugural Overton Poetry Prize with her chapbook This Is Not Normal Behaviour and has a chapbook out with Dancing Girl Press in the US. As well as poetry, she writes essays and short fiction and was one of winners of the Asham Award for women’s short fiction in 2013, the award anthology being published by Virago. She runs Nottingham Poetry Series and teaches creative writing and poetry workshops.

Poets, clockwise from top right: 

Carola Luther, Carol Rowntree Jones, Laressa Dickey (by Dina Debbas) and Nancy Campbell (by Tom D. Jones)

Words for Winter: forthcoming events

Wood engraving by Thomas Bewick

Words for Winter

Welcome to the Albion Beatnik, for a hearty evening of cold poems from Theophilus Kwek, Michael Loveday, Lucy Newlyn, Lavinia Singer, Andrew Smardon and Kate Venables. I'll also be reading from - and launching - my poetry collection Disko Bay (available from Enitharmon Press).

The Albion Beatnik, 34 Walton Street, Oxford, OX2 6AA
28 January 2016
7pm for 7.30pm start
Entry £2 on the door; refreshments available.

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Eco-Poetry Evening

Readings by Nancy Campbell, Isabel Galleymore, Sophie Herxheimer and Nathan Thompson.

Academy of Music and Theatre Arts, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9LX
27 January 2016
6pm
Free, book tickets here.

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Poles Apart

I'm excited to be reading with poet and novelist Will Eaves at the legendary London bookshop.

Gay's the Word, 66 Marchmont Street, London, WC1N 1AB
3 March 2016
7pm
Entry £3 on the door, complimentary refreshments provided.

The Arctic Book Club

‘Our words are a kind of rescue team on a relentless mission to save past events and extinguished lives from the black hole of oblivion, and that is no easy task; along the way they are welcome to find some answers, then get us out of here before it is too late. Let this suffice for now, we’ll send the words on to you, those bewildered scattered rescue teams unsure of their task, all compasses broken, maps torn or out of date, yet you should welcome them. Then we shall see what happens.’ From Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson

This winter you are invited to explore the Arctic … in five books.

Starting in October, the Arctic Book Club will meet every month in Oxford. Over a traditional Greenlandic kaffemik (cakes, coffee and chat) each month we’ll read and discuss a recent piece of writing about the Arctic, from fiction and travel writing to poetry and essays, including Barry Lopez’s classic Arctic Dreams and Hannah Kent’s highly-acclaimed recent novel Burial Rites.

No specialist knowledge required – this will be a fun and friendly way to learn more about the growing genre of writing on the polar regions. As well as the main titles, I can offer suggested background reading for super-keen or speedy readers.

These meetings are free. Places are limited so booking is essential. Email me (nancy@nancycampbell.co.uk) for more information or to secure your place.

Dates:


Monday 6th October
 - Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (novel)

Monday 10th November - Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez (natural history) 


Monday 8th December - A Dream in Polar Fog by Yuri Rytkheu (novel) 


Monday 12th January
 - True North by Gavin Francis (travel)

Monday 9th February - Open forum. Bring your own favourite Arctic reads to discuss and recommend. (I'll bring a selection of recent poetry collections on Arctic themes by British poets, and read some traditional Inuit poems - in Tom Lowenstein's excellent translation.)

I am grateful to Arts Council England for a Grant for the Arts to support this activity