Knives, Forks and Spoons

Check out Knives, Forks and Spoons, it's a new Manchester-based poetry press. They focus exclusively on linguistically innovative/experimental work.

It's great to see a small press that's confident enough about the fantastic Manchester lit scene to get out work they feel passionately about. I think it's especially appropriate to have this sort of work being published here because our very own John Rylands Library houses the dom sylvester houédard archive, which has the most beautiful examples of concrete poetry.

Knives, Forks and Spoons are currently accepting manuscript submissions, and you can see their site for a list of the things they like and what they don't like. They say they intend to publish pamphlets, chaps and perfect bound books. They already have one publication out (Richard Barrett: backyard poems) and have another one from Tom Jenks in the works.

Central Library Readings

I went to a reading yesterday at central library. It was a poetry reading from Carmine Starnino and Patrick McGuiness and it was absolutely great. I'm working in town this week, archiving the papers of Elaine Feinstein at John Rylands, Deansgate. I just popped out on my lunchbreak and enjoyed some truly wonderful poetry.
There were spare seats in the room, which I thought was a shame, since it was such a great free event. I know that it's a little more effort to go to these readings when you don't work in town. I myself am guilty of not wanting to travel into the busy city centre for just an hour long reading, but I'm going to try harder to do so from now on and I'm going to encourage everyone I know to do it as well.
Manchester Libraries puts out a booklet of all their upcoming events which you can get in hard copy from a library or download from here. There are some great events coming up, don't miss out.

Elaine Feinstein

For the next couple of weeks I will be delving deep into the immense Elaine Feinstein archive at the John Rylands Library. Much of this has not been explored as yet, and my job during my internship at the library is to describe the contents of some a portion of it for the library's records. I will also be writing something based on my work with the archive. I've had a small glimpse at the archive and the few letters that I saw were tantalising in the extreme.

I want to recommend the John Rylands 'Course for the Public' that is looking at the Elaine Feinstein archive, specifically its Ted Hughes based content. The course is on Thurs 25th June and I can promise it will be amazing.

Obviously, much of the archive contains things relating to real, living people. As such, it is protected and I can't discuss what I see with anybody. However, I will be writing about the parts that I am permitted to reveal on my other blog, which I just today found out that Elaine Feinstein herself reads. Catch up with my archival adventures there.

A Small Eternity

I went to the sonnet reading at John Rylands Deansgate on Thursday in celebration of Shakespeare's birthday. It featured some of the UoM students who have contributed sonnets to the small anthology that accompanies the beautiful exhibition in the Christie Gallery there at the moment.

The exhibition is called A Small Eternity: The shape of the sonnet through time, it's there until the 27th of June. You can pick up a copy of the anthology, which is very enjoyably and beautifully presented, and you can contribute your own sonnet to the exhibition. If that's not sold you on the exhibition, here's what the university has to say to tempt you to visit:

Crossing time, continents and cultures the sonnet as a poetic form has always captured the imagination of poets. So, what kind of poem is a sonnet and where did they come from?
Using sumptuously illuminated books, rare and early printed editions, unique literary manuscripts and writers' letters, this exhibition traces some of the stories told by the sonnet and explores why poets have felt compelled to write them.It contains examples of the work of a diverse range of sonneteers from Petrarch to Vikram Seth and Wilfred Owen to Lorna Goodison who have employed the form to speak of love-lost, found and forbidden, solace in war, and the nature of being and belonging in a complex world.
The exhibition will pay special attention to the sonnets of William Shakespeare five hundred years after their first appearance in print and offers you the opportunity to contribute to this anniversary by writing sonnets of your own.