Review: Sins of the Leopard – James Brookes

[Remember, dear reader, that this is a duplicate article. All Annexe fare goes up directly on http://www.annexemagazine.com now]

Michael Schuller reviews James Brookes’ impressive debut poetry collection.

In the practice of woodturning, the block is placed against the lathe, which cuts against it on each rotation to expose a cross-section of the grain. That image – of the revealing of a mesmerising pattern latent in the structure of the material itself – is as close as I can come to summarising the poetry of James Brookes. He is a poet who has an unusual command of the language, the sort of writer that one images sites in front of a pile of books with a scalpel, rather than a page with a pen. 

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Event – Words on Cities – Iain Sinclair, Tom Chivers, Katy Darby and Clare Fisher

We’re proud to announce that our next event will be at the end of this month. A night all about the city. Read all about it further down, and then come along, why don’t you!

The cityscape has long been an influence on modern writing. As a setting, a starting point or even a medium, the urban landscape draws a particular kind of creation from writers.

Annexe has brought together four of the finest writers working with the urban condition for an evening of talks and performances that display their hugely varied takes on the city.

Words on Cities – Iain Sinclair, Tom Chivers, Katy Darby, Clare Fisher
Thursday 25th April || 7.30pm
£7 (buy tickets here)
Toynbee Studios
28 Commercial St
E1 6AB

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On the bill we have:

With a long-standing history of poetry and prose, Iain Sinclair is sits at the leading-edge for writing that deciphers the hidden aspects and connections of London. His work has reinvigorated the call for psychogeographical exploration across the globe. For Words on Cities, Sinclair will present a talk based around his forthcoming book American Smoke: Journeys to the End of the Night. When Iain Sinclair was first setting out, it was mainly American writers that influenced him, but he never visited the USA. Locked down in Hackney, the transatlantic mass was as unreal as Kafka’s ‘Amerika’.

Tom Chivers is a poet and editor residing in London. His recent work, with the Cape Farewell project, has led Tom to investigate the changing landscape of London and unearth an urban geography that has been covered by the constant growth and renewal of the capital city. His talk will focus on his practice of ‘psychogeology’ and his migration through the lost rivers of London.

Katy Darby is a writer, an editor, a teacher and the founder of the incredible storytelling night Liars League. Katy will be reading a selection of her prose work based around London.

Clare Fisher’s current project The City in my Head is an exploration of London through fiction. Each story shows a snapshot of a particular area, constructed from human experience. Claire will be reading a selection of works from the collection.

XZ#1 – Annexe’s new online fiction series

“The idea is to dissect various genres of writing, film and drama by reconstructing them from the ground up. One story at a time.” This was the spiel we threw at writers to tell them about our new project. We expected such lofty sentences to be thrown back, tied up with a derisive sneer. However, it turns out we know some rather inventive and experimental writers!

Welcome to XZ, our new online fiction project. The aim is to get inside stories and see how different writing styles can join forces to create something fresh, but recognisable. To do this, we’re taking particular genres/styles/species of fiction and breaking them down, looking under the hood and building them back up in smaller chunks.

Each story gets six writers and each writer gets one section. They are given a bare framework to work on, everything else is up to them, and  they aren’t told what the other five writers are coming up with.

The first issue has worked out far more splendidly than we could have hoped, with a story rife with suspense and dangerous turns. It’s the classic tale of a hardboiled detective, employed by a mysterious woman to investigate a murder.

Click to dive straight in and enjoy the story, or feel free to download it at consume at your leisure.

A special thanks go to the six magnificent authors of this tale: Ben Gwalchmai, Komal Verma, Akiho Schilz, Jack Swain, Eley Williams and John Boursnell.

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Part of the project is to invite a bit of discussion from you, the reader. If you want to comment of the project in any way – maybe you have an idea about breaking the story into chapters, or you didn’t like the characters attitude, or you find yourself in sleuth-style experiences and can relate – please leave a comment below. We want to generate an active back-and-forth about the project. The most discussed topics will be added to the issue in a month’s time. 

It’s all sex and death! – An interview with The Alarmist

Only two issues in and The Alarmist has drawn quite the following! With the kind of first-rate writing and the distinctive aesthetic style that they’ve carved out and made their own, it isn’t surprising that The Alarmist has a readership that spans the length and breadth of the country. Nick Murray met up with Gary from Leeds and Mansour Chow, the creative duo that birthed The Alarmist, on the eve of the issue two launch to talk about being less stuffy, hidden genius and nihilistic publishing techniques.

Talia Randall – 3 Mile Radius

Talia Randall, a founding member of the poetry collective Rubix, has been carving it out on her own recently. She has just released her debut EP 3 Mile Radius, a spoken word epic, combining clever poetic narrative and huge musical backdrops. After the sell-out launch for the EP, Nick Murray met with Talia to chat about influences, chicken shops and growing up in North West London.

Review: Never Never Never Come Back – Kirsten Irving

It is rare to find a collection such as Never Never Never Come Back. One that is wildly varied and still feels cohesive; like the work of a single author. Irving really flexes her skill with her first collection. The different styles and methods of writing are apparent and she manages to make each one her own. What is troublesome for me is that the numerous branches leading out of the book make it hard to talk about collection without making general sweeping statements about its goodness, so instead I’ll just highlight a couple of my favourites and go from there.

Highlights of the Impending Interrobang Part 2

Continuing with the highlights of our upcoming super-celebration of stories here’s another handful of incredible acts you can look forward to. Off we go!

The Launch of Annexe Introducing

Perhaps you’ve heard that we’ve put together a little festival of spoken word, music, theatre and comedy. That’s fast approaching and is set to be a cracking event. Do come along. 
What you may not have heard is that a highlight of the festival will be the launch party for our first in-print series, Annexe Introducing.

We have been, and still are, working with three writers to bring their incredible talent to the masses. To do so, we are publishing a selection of their work in beautifully designed (if we do say so ourselves) and expertly printed pamphlets. 

Interrobang Festival

Like a proud mum, we’re showing off our latest creation! Interrobang is our festival, put together alongside EKO and Alexander Audio, that will be heaving with head-turning spoken word, music and theatre. For a whole day and across all three floors of The Betsey Trotwood (Clerkenwell) we will be entertaining your literary senses.

We’ve got a bookmaking workshop, a whole slew of poets, a handful of brilliant storytellers, some of London’s finest bands and on top of all of that, Annexe will be launching a series of minibooks there. That’s right! our first proper book launch will be taking place at our first ever festival! It’s a lot to take in.

Read all about it at our dedicated site.

Two Poems: Gabriel Moreno

We are joined by Gibraltarian poet Gabriel Moreno for this installment of Two Poems. Gabriel’s recent work has been concerned with the myth of Orpheus, a story that he has recrafted into a modern day poetry series about searching, loss and renewal. 

For this performance, Gabriel has read Ballad of the Moon by Federico Garcia Lorca, and to remain faithful to the original poem, he has read it in both Spanish and English. But to start, Gabriel has performed his own poem, Orpheus and the Maenads.