Poets For Pussy Riot

Poets for Pussy Riot

Wednesday August 29th 2012 - 7pm until late - Free entrance

at the Rich mix arts centre, main space venue

35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA 020 7613 7498

http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/event/poets-for-pussy-riot/

http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/events/readings/?id=7916

With the news that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich of the Russian punk collective, Pussy Riot, were sentenced to two years in prison for a wholly necessary and valid political protest, contemporary poets in London will come together in a unique evening of readings, featuring original poetry and text, as well as the words of Pussy Riot themselves. This event is an act of solidarity through the medium of poetry - a celebration of the courage and spirit of fellow writers of this generation, writing for real political change in a country that needs it.

The event will feature over 30 poets, including Tim Atkins, David Berridge, Harry Burke, Becky Cremin, Nia Davies, Amy Evans, Ollie Evans, Irum Fazal, SJ Fowler, Charlotte Geater, Jeff Hilson, Kirsty Irving, Keith Jebb, Antony John, Marek Kazmierski, Robert Kiely, Francesca Lisette, Chris McCabe, Mendoza, Reza Mohammadi, Sandeep Parmar, Claire Potter, Nat Raha, Will Rowe, Connie Scozzaro, Antonia Seroff, Andy Spragg, Jon Stone, Philip Terry, Jack Underwood, MJ Weller, James Wilkes, Jenny Wong and Michael Zand.

Index on Censorship will also have a presence at the event. You can follow their work regarding the Pussy Riot case here.

http://www.indexoncensorship.org/tag/pussy-riot/ / http://uncut.indexoncensorship.org/tag/pussy-riot/

Modern Poetry in Translation have also provided remarkable translations of the testimonials of the three women who have been sentenced, and the punk prayer song that was performed in Christ the Saviour cathedral in Moscow in February, completely free, thanks to the diligence and endeavour of MPT editor, Sasha Dugdale. I urge you to read the testimonies especially.

http://www.mptmagazine.com/article/pussy-riot-trial-in-moscow-30/

http://www.mptmagazine.com/feature/pussy-riot-testimonies-59/

http://www.mptmagazine.com/poem/virgin-mary-mother-of-god-591/

Please come along, the event is free and spread the word if you can.

Comments

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se. What do I mean by smart?

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

IRISH POETIC GENIUS KEVIN HIGGINS HAS DIED

Terrible sad news - the major Irish satirical poet of his generation, and a poet of comedic genius, and powerful authentic resonance, Kevin Higgins, has died yesterday in Ireland. Higgins, the author of many poetry books, most published by Galway-based Irish press Salmon, was known and admired world-wide, but nonetheless deserved even more recognition from the established great and the good - i.e. the prizes, medals, crowns, gongs and other titles thrown at many many lesser lights - except, he was so brilliantly biting, critical, and scathing of all that he spied as dishonest, unfair or wretched. Sweet-natured and hilarious in person, on paper, he was terrifyingly sharp-witted, and sparing of no prisoners. In a just world, he would be seen as the greatest of recent Irish poets, and even so, is recognised in anthologies and critical studies everywhere as the most acute, savagely clever, and startling of Irish political poets. The measure of his unexpected reach - a 'Heineken poe

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Search This Blog