Poetry Book Society

Posted: 21 September 2011

You are warmly invited to the Poetry Book Fair in London this Saturday, to see the latest in independent poetry book publishing and to hear a wealth of poets reading throughout the day.

Entry to the fair and all readings is free. It will be held in the Exmouth Market Centre, Clerkenwell from 10am and will be opened by Michael Horovitz.

For the first time in too long, a number of the smaller poetry presses will come together to display their wares and sell direct to the public. The 23 presses taking part are: Anvil, Arc, Carcanet, CB editions, Donut, Egg Box, Enitharmon, flipped eye, HappenStance, if p then q, New Departures, Nine Arches, Penned in the Margins, Rack Press, Reality Street, Salt, Shearsman, Shoestring, Sidekick, Ward Wood, Waterloo, Waywiser, zimZalla.

The book fair celebrates the variety and vitality of contemporary poetry. It is also a response to the decision of Arts Council England in March 2011 to cut its regular funding of two organisations (the Poetry Book Society, the Poetry Trust) who for many years have helped make poetry books available to more readers than they'd otherwise get to, and of a number of publishers whose work (translations, new writers and neglected older ones, local writing) was in accord with ACE stated priorities. A table at the book fair is being made available to the Poetry Book Society, free of charge, to publicise its work.

Benjamin Zephaniah, June 2011: ‘I was first published by a small publisher, Page One Books in East London. They received an Arts Council grant which in real terms has been paid back tenfold. Small publishers are the backbone of our creative body and now there is a great need for them to come together to consider survival strategies.'

Readings

Sue Guiney and Peter Phillips

Happenstance Press

Jon Stone, Kirsten Irving, Lorna Dowell, Peter Daniels, Clare Best and D A Prince

Ruth Larbey and Matt Merritt

Jim Goar and James Davies

Roisin Tierney, Nicholas Murray and Katy Evans-Bush

Christopher Reid and Nancy Gafford

Will Eaves and Ian Pindar

Lucy Harvest Clarke and Tom Jenks

Max Wallis and Kate McLoughlin

Gemma Seltzer and Siddhartha Bose

Jeremy Reed, Niall McDevitt and Philip Ruthen

Categories: Poetry News

« Back to news