Mapping Poetry

Tomorrow evening sees the launch of Mapping Poetry, an evening of performed poetry devised by Claire Trévien. As the title suggests, the themes of the evening are maps, location and place.

When Claire invited us to put together a printed piece for the event our creative ears pricked up and we set to work designing exactly what the event called for; a map.

A Pigeon, A Kitchen & An Annexe: Sites of Alternative Publishing – Opening Night

Our exhibition with Pigeon, Very Small Kitchen and Ladies of the Press* opened last Friday to a massive crowd. We couldn’t have hoped for a better turn-out.
A huge thanks to everyone who came along, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve still got until March 4th. We’re also having an evening of talks on the nature of alternative and independent publishing on the 3rd at X Marks the Bökship.

And now, a few snaps from opening night:

In Pictures – Cass & Penguin: Design Your Own Book Cover

The blank ‘Design Your Own Cover’ editions from Penguin are certainly not new. (They brought out the first six titles in 2006.) However, it seems like the partnership with Cass Art is much newer indeed and they certainly missed a trick by not making this connection back then!
Cass, in partnership with Penguin, are running weekend workshops (for kids and adults alike) in which you can take and design a book cover in-store absolutely free. We went along to flex our arty muscles.

Inc. Magazine’s 4th Issue is a Hit

Inc. Magazine has its 4th issue release later this week with a huge launch party to celebrate.

As with each issue of Inc. so far, number 4 is immense fun from cover to cover, and this time Anya Pearson and Will Coldwell, co-founders, co-editors and contributors, have really taken their magazine to an incredible new level. Though, don’t think that this came about by chance. Pearson and Coldwell have been hard at work coordinating this mammoth project with all the poets and illustrators involved and the final product reflects that.

The Cartography of Reading

Are you’re still searching for that logophile’s haven that suits your tastes just perfectly? Do you sometimes find yourself with an hour to kill and wondering where the closest bookshop to you is? Perhaps you’re a little more ambitious and you’re trying to visit every independent bookshop in London. Whatever your reason for looking, the search just got volumes easier. The indie booksellers of London have banded together and the community, long formed, has now been visualised. Literally.
The last few months have seen the emergence of a series of bookshop maps. That is, maps specifically focusing on pin-pointing the bookshops of our fair city, and this literary cartography shows, first and foremost, that independent bookselling is still as prominent as ever.

See more maps and read more words after the jump.

Stephanie Tillman – Embroidered comics that’ll leave you in stitches

As you can see from the title, I love one-liners. Often is the time that my horsey guffaw fills a crowded tube as I read a terrific pun. Probably more than I care to admit. However, here is something that I would share with world. The work of Stephanie Tillman. An American living in London, Stephanie fuses wit with craft in her embroidery pieces. They are like beautifully wrought, one panel comics. Drawing her humour from day to day life, she shapes a unique brand of observational comedy, surreally abstracted by the fact that it is delivered by hip, street-savvy animals.

See more and read a few choice words from the artist herself after the jump.

Two Tales: Komal Verma

Today is an auspicious day for Annexe as it marks the first prose addition to what was previously the Two Poems series. You can still divide the two if you are that way inclined; Two Tales and Two Poems will still have their own categories, but if you’re an all-encompassing lexiphile you can click on the Two Texts category to get both in one delightful bundle.

The first author to read some prose for you is the exception Komal Verma. We spoke to Komal a little while ago about her upcoming novel The Sword and The Scion. Ever the versatile  writer, Komal also crafts stories in a more bitesize length. Today she is reading her short piece The Warning and an extract from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.

The Warning – Komal Verma

Cities & Desire – Italo Calvino

More about both works after the jump

The Lost Art of the Letterpress

As it may have been mentioned in a previous post, I have been loudly singing the praises of block printing in the Annexe HQ recently. The art of the printing press has been a long standing love of mine and any chance to share it is readily  jumped upon.

Now, while I could bore you batty with an intricate history of printing through the ages, the main reason for this article (and the reason I’ve become a source of annoyance in the HQ) is the discovery of a collection of artists working with block printing today. Are you sitting comfortably, then let’s begin.

The Word According to Abe Christie

It’s that time again. are you sitting comfortably? then let’s begin.

(remember, all it takes is a click to see the comic in a gargantuan new way.)
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you can visit Abe’s page here and see his daily comic blog here.

The Word According to Abe Christie

We’re a little late bringing this installment of Abe’s fantastic comic this week, but we will be making it up to you. Before the week is up we’ll have a chat with the man himself and find out what makes him tick. Watch out for the results.

Click the image to see it bigger. As if you’re seeing it up close. Really close.