Annexe and EKO present… Et Al.

The time has come once more for us to throw one of our celebrated literary evenings! This event sees us teaming up with the brilliant EKO to bring you some of the finest live literature talent the city has to offer.

Review: Mapping Poetry at The Jolly Cricketers

Melanie Gow reviews Mapping Poetry, the latest poetry event from Fast Culture and Claire Trévien.

I spent a gorgeous, gentle evening indulging in a dissimilitude of rhythmical words that wandered a room touching the oddments with a recognition odd things share.

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.

Prose Poetry Vs Poetic Prose

Eleanor Perry delves into that grey space between poetry and prose.

Lately I’ve been thinking about prose poetry. It seems to me that, as a poetic form, it’s characterised by its lack of rules, which makes it both a wonderful and difficult thing to approach as a poet; wonderful because with such an absence of parameters it’s free to be explored without limit, but difficult for precisely the same reason – boundaries can be reassuring guidelines at times, and a navigating a place without them can be a daunting prospect.

Meanwhile…

Angry letters from fonts and malaise-filled haiku pepper this issue of meanwhile. Have a gander.

Adventures in Form – A Review

Adventures in Form, ed. Tom Chivers
reviewed by Hannah Rosefield

‘I hear ghostly Academics in Limbo screeching about form,’ wrote Allen Ginsberg in his notes to the 1959 audio recording of Howl. Lest we doubt that this is a bad thing, he follows up with ‘A word on the Academies: poetry has been attacked by an ignorant & frightened bunch of bores who don’t understand how it’s made… [and] wouldn’t know Poetry if it came up and buggered them in broad daylight.’

Ginsberg is not alone: many readers and writers of the past hundred years have regarded poetic form as the preserve of academics whose obsession with counting iambs and spotting spondees acts as a barrier to understanding. Adventures in Form: A Compendium of Poetic Forms, Rules and Constraints, beautifully produced by independent publishing house Penned in the Margins, is determined to prove form’s naysayers wrong. Featuring established (and establishment) names such as Ruth Padel and Paul Muldoon, as well as younger, lesser-known poets, it is a splendid demonstration of how the prioritization of form can provide a freedom absent from free verse.

Two Poems: Gloria Sanders

We’ve got an Annexe favourite for Two Poems today. Poetic stalwart, Gloria Sanders reads her piece, The Contortionist, and a work by Felix Dennis.

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:

Two Poems: Anya Pearson

For 2012′s first edition of Two Poems, we bring you Anya Pearson. A co-founder of the poetry publication, Inc. Magazine, and a brilliant poet and writer, Anya is reshaping London’s literary scene. Today she reads one of her own poems and one by Felix Hodcroft.

Et Al: The Podcast

Not too long ago, we held our inaugural literary event. It was a roaring success (even if I do say so myself) and we certainly had a few giggles. If you were there, well done. If you weren’t, shame on you, but not to worry. We’ve got something that will make it feel like you were almost there.

As a Christmas treat, we’re giving you the Annexe presents… Et Al PODCAST! Crafted by the talented Mr Nick Taylor, the podcast revisits some of the highlights from the night and has a ton of extra features. There are interviews with all the performers and a lovely soundtrack too.

Each performer is highlighted as a chapter so you can jump around if you like, though we think it works best in its entirety. Enjoy!