Uncut Poets: Julie Sampson and Alwyn Marriage on Thursday January 30th at 7.30pm in the Exeter Phoenix Black Box

Springing from their winter torpor, the management of Uncut Poets are looking forward to throwing open the doors of the Black Box and discovering what colour it’s going to be this year. Our guests on January 30th will be Julie Sampson, whose first collection ‘Tessitura’ has just come out from Shearsman, and Alwyn Marriage, whose ‘festo’ is the latest of her several widely-admired books. Julie, who grew up in mid-Devon, now lives in Taunton; as well as writing poetry, she has researched and published on Devon women writers and the imagist poet HD. Alwyn is Managing Editor of Oversteps Books; last year she was Poet in Residence at the Winchester 10 Day Festival,
and took part in the prestigious post-AGM reading at the Poetry Society.

Alasdair Paterson and Gemma Green continue as hosts/ keepers of the peace. There will be the usual number of Open Mic spots, one of which can be reserved (if you’re quick) by contacting Gemma on 07855 809394. Admission is £5 (£3 concessions and open mic). There’s a bar, I believe.

A Night at the Museum Part 1: Exeter Poetry Festival October 5th 2013 – Launch of ExLibris Press and the ‘Making History’ pamphlet

Saturday 5th October 2013

EXLIBRIS launches ‘Making History’
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 6pm
By invitation only – if interested email contact@excitepoetry.org

ExLibris is the publishing arm of ExCite Poetry, this is its launch event.

We plan to publish a series of pamphlets in both hand-sewn, beautifully produced and designed limited editions and as iBooks with voice recordings of each poem and other added features.

‘Making History’ is our first publication, in partnership with Royal Albert Memorial Museum

It features poems from Lawrence Sail and Harry Guest.

It poems from Devon poets Mark Totterdell, Becky Gethin, Graham Burchell, Sally Flint, Denise McSheehy, Ian Chamberlain, and Simon Williams the winning entrants in an open competition judged by Damian Furniss and Julie-Ann Rowell.

It contains ten poems and ten illustrations from pupils at Redhills Community Primary School who worked with poets in education Phil Bowen and Liz Adams at Royal Albert Memorial Museum

INFORMATION FOR PRESS

ExCite Poetry, the UK Poetry Society stanza for Devon, cordially invite you to attend the launch of ExLibris, the first UK poetry press to produce high quality electronic poetry pamphlets using Apple technology, with full voice recording of poems by their authors, as well as limited editions in hand-stitched hardcopy.

The launch will debut the first pamphlet; an anthology response to the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, by local school children and established and emerging poets basedin Devon. The museum will be closed to the public, however exhibition spaces will remain open for your perusal.

Prosecco and soft drinks available.

Date: Saturday 5th October 2013

Time: 6:00 – 7:00

Location: The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3RW

We look forward to seeing you on the 5th. Please RSVP by responding to press@excitepoetry.org. Thank you.

Exeter Poetry Festival 30th September to 6th October 2013 Programme

ExCite and its partners are delighted to announce the Exeter Poetry Festival 2013 programme.

The festival programme was launched on September 5th 2013 at the Exeter Phoenix when a packed house enjoyed readings by Carol Ann Duffy and Ann Gray.

The festival will take place from Monday 30th September 2013 to Sunday 6th September 2013 at venues around Exeter.

We’ll be featuring the poets performing at the festival over the next few weeks in the build-up to festival week.

Monday 30th September 2013

THE BROADSHEET with the Bard of Exeter Simon Williams City Gate Hotel, Cellar Bar, 7.30pm – £2, free to readers

Thursday 3rd October 2013

NATIONAL POETRY DAY with Sean O’Brien and Jo Shapcott Exeter Barnfield Theatre, 7.30pm – £12.50 Book at the Barnfield box office online or phone 01392 271808

Friday 4th October 2013

BEYOND BORDERS with Roddy Lumsden, Peter Finch and Hannah Silva Exeter University Queen’s Building – Lecture Theatre 7.30pm – £9 Book at the Exeter Phoenix box office online or phone 01392 667080

preceded by

EXETER UNIVERSITY MA SHOWCASE with Barbara Farley, Isabel Galleymore, Louise Jenkins, and Naomi Williamson Exeter University Queen’s Building – Senior Common Room 6.30pm – Free Event

Saturday 5th October 2013

FESTIVAL WORKSHOP with Greta Stoddart Exeter (Temporary) Library, 2pm-5pm – £12 To book contact barbara@excitepoetry.org

EXLIBRIS launches ‘Making History’ Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 5.45pm By invitation only – if interested email contact@excitepoetry.org

TRIPLE BILL with Lemn Sissay, Dizraeli and Benin City Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 7pm – £12 / £9 (concessions) Book direct from the museum or via undergroundtickets.net

Sunday 6th October 2013

STUDIO 36 with Marcus Wylie (workshop), Rachel McCarthy and Alasdair Paterson Gallery 36, Denmark Road, Exeter – £5 (workshop), £5 (reading), £8 (all day) Pay on the door, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

EXETER POETRY SLAM 2013 hosted by Morwenna Griffiths and Tim King The Bikeshed Theatre, 7.30pm – £5 Tickets from The Bikeshed box office or phone 01392 434169 To take part email slam@speakinsong.co.uk

RAMM Pamphlet Competition 2013

ExCite Poetry, the Poetry Society Stanza for Exeter and Devon, will launch a poetry publishing arm on the 5th October, during the Exeter Poetry Festival 2013 (3rd – 6th October 2013).

ExCite Poetry will publish single-author poetry pamphlets and anthologies with a focus on supporting emerging and established poets in Devon. Pamphlets will be in both print form and, uniquely, electronic form with voice recording, for sale via Apple iBooks.

The inaugural pamphlet will be an anthology response to items in the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. Contributions will be from local school children, renowned poets in Devon and via open submission to find the best emerging talent.

Terms and conditions for open submission are below.

The deadline for entries is August 24th.

An invitation only launch event will be held in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum on the evening of the 5th of October 2013, at 6pm, with readings from contributing poets. Press queries should be directed to press@excitepoetry.org or via  phone on 07854 598552.

Terms and conditions for open submission to RAMM pamphlet project

• Poems must respond to an item(s) in the collection(s) housed in galleries 2 (‘Down to Earth’) and 3-4 (‘Making History’) in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in central Exeter.

• Any style of poem is allowed but it must not exceed 25 lines including the title and spaces between stanzas.

• Poems must be typed, single-spaced, on A4 size paper

• Poems will be selected anonymously; your name, or any other mark of identification, must not appear anywhere on the poem.

• Provide a separate cover sheet with your name, postal address, phone number, email address, title of your submission(s) and the item(s) in the museum’s collection to which your poem responds.

• You can enter up to 3 poems. There is no charge for entry.

• No alterations may be made once a poem has been submitted.

• The successful entrants will be contacted by post during the first week of Sept 2013

• Selected poems will be published as part of a limited edition pamphlet launched on the 5th October 2013, at 6pm, at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, as part of Exeter Poetry Festival 2013. In submitting a poem(s) you guarantee that you will be available to read on the 5th October at RAMM and will have previously made yourself available for an audio recording of your poem during September 2013.

• The copyright of the poem, both text and recording, remains with the author, but ExCite reserves the right to publish or broadcast the work in its entirety or in part in the UK during 2013-14for PR purposes.

• The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

Eligibility:

• Entrants must have a Devon postcode.

• Entrants do not need to be a member of ExCite Poetry in order to submit a poem, but agree to having their details stored by ExCite Poetry for future reference.

• Poems should be in English or English dialect, and the original work of the author.

• The poems may not have been previously published or broadcast.

How to Enter:

• Deadline for entries is August 24th 2013. Entries are by post only. The address for entries is: Exeter Poetry Festival, FAO Rachel McCarthy, Flat 2, 50 St David’s Hill, EX4 4DT. Your work will not be returned, so please keep a copy. If you wish acknowledgement of receipt, include an SAE.

• Entry indicates acceptance of these rules. Entries failing to meet all these conditions will be automatically rejected.

Graham Burchell at Exeter Poetry Festival 2012

It is my pleasure to be able to formally confirm that Exeter Poetry Festival will be taking place this year from 4th-6th October at a variety of venues across the city. This year, Cyprus Well is working in partnership with ExCite Poetry Stanza and Apples and Snakes to produce the third annual festival. This year’s primary funder is Arts Council England, with additional support from the Ronald Duncan Literary Foundation. Exeter University’s Andy Brown is also due a mention, both in his capacity as organiser for the PhD poets event, and as a poet in his own right. More detail on the full programme will be provided imminently.

In the meantime, I wanted to announce that we’ll be hosting a special book launch for South West Poet, Graham Burchell. His collection The Chongololo Club is of particular interest to us, given the fact that Graham was awarded a TLC Free Read from Cyprus Well, and we are proud to say we played a small part in helping him develop as a writer. The hard work was down to him though, and we’re delighted to see the fruits of his labours in this exciting new collection.

The Chongololo Club is a compelling recreation of the poet’s time in Zambia in the early 1980’s; a series of vivid snapshots that captures the people, the wildlife, the politics with colours ‘brash enough’ for this ‘dark continent’ as we slide down it alongside him – ‘glass in hand, whisky gone, just a melting ice-cube cold’ against our teeth.

‘These poems have the virtues of close observation and personal engagement in their accounts of living and teaching in Africa. Flora, fauna, people, loneliness, culture-shock, compassion and humour all contribute to making this collection haunting and coherent. The poet sustains triumphantly the demands of his particular subject material.’

–       Penelope Shuttle

‘Graham Burchell’s ‘The Chongololo Club’ is a wonderful book. Full of the sights and sounds of Africa he clearly loved, he is not blind to its occasional horror; nevertheless he convinces us of its beauties through his careful observation, his ear for its many languages and his eye for telling detail. His style of writing serves his subject matter, but he is not afraid of demanding forms such as the pantoum. If you want your poetry to be pleasurable, you will enjoy this book.’

–       Ian Duhig

Join us for South West launch of Graham’s book on Saturday 6th October in Exeter Central Library at 2pm.

Book Launch for Ronald Tamplin’s ‘Checkpoint’

There will be a book launch for Ronald Tamplin’s new chapbook, Checkpoint, at Exeter Central Library on Tuesday 23 March. The evening begins with some good old mingling from 6.30 with a 7pm start. Admission is free, and it would be great to see you! Checkpoint costs £5.

Checkpoint Ronald Tamplin, Exeter Poetry Festival, ISBN 987-0-9564920-0-5

UPDATE

Checkpoint is now for sale – you can email us to buy a copy, or get one here.