Mon 26th July, 7pm for 7:30: the launch of my first collection The Janus Hour, along with a performance by terrific singer/songwriter Janis Haves. The event is at The Charterhouse Bar & Restaurant, 38 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6JH. It’s a very nice pub at the heart of Smithfield, happy hour all night(!), and the kitchen is open until 9:30pm… nearest tube is Barbican. The collection is published by Oversteps Books and is available from me for £8 (£9, incl p&p), or from the Oversteps Books website.
8th August: I’ll be reading from The Janus Hour, along with a reading from Josh Ekroy, at The Torriano Meeting House, 99 Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town. The first part of the evening is a presentation of ‘readers from the floor’ and this is an important poetry venue so, if you’re a poet, please do come along and take the opportunity to read a poem. Entry £5 (or less if you’re strapped for cash).
1 to 3 Oct: I’ll be in Italy, Lake Orta, Isla St Giulio: Poetry on the Lake are celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year, making for an extra-special festival. I have a poem commended in the competition and am hoping there will be a dual language anthology of ‘Mediterraneam’ poems – I’m in two of the others and am hoping to make it a hat trick! – there will be readings, workshops, prize-giving and celebration dinner – and more. Link to Poetry on the Lake website
12th Oct: I’ll be reading with other poets at a Haiti Benefit event in Blackheath (details t/f)
28 Oct to 1st Nov: I’ll be one of several presenters at the Torbay Poetry Festival, talking about presenting poetry online – and there will be lots of great events, lots of great poets reading… try to make it if you can! (Thu to Mon)
link to poetry p f events listing
link to Torbay Poetry Festival website
The International Notebook of Poetry (published in the US) is focussing on women poets this year (as they did also in 2008) and it will include some of my poems and a short introductory piece from me on the female/male balance in publishing…
A couple of poems…
Head full of Antjie Krog after reading
and reading without breakfast, suddenly
I’m hungrier than I’ve ever been, suddenly my head
is a hive of returning bees, an aria, a bulging larder filled
with everything that I might reach for;
bread,
the bees are shouting for, for tiger loaf cut thickly
and spread thickly with butter and honey or dripping egg yolk,
a mound of ripened brie, but I know
here in this house today there is no bread,
there is only compromise and cereal which,
if I must eat, is what I must eat – but still
the frantic opera of the bees crowding loaded
into the hive, I reach for the big dinner plate,
perfect for cutting on, and the broad flat knife
that feels good in the hand, and I reach into
the small bread bin for the big box of cereal.
My hands
are empty, confused, breadless.
They stand back from each other
and stare and when they identify the problem, recognise
the expanse of wanting, they whisper
to each other, unpleasant things about me, about
why I do not fill the house with it, hustle the thrill
of fresh-baked bread into every room, reach and take it
whenever I want to. They don’t talk about you.
© Anne Stewart
Published in anthology, Genious Floored, ed. Ruth O’Callaghan, 2009, Soaring Penguin Limited, ISBN 978-0-9552871-6-9. £9.99. Proceeds from sales of the anthology go to support two Cold Weather Shelter projects in Camden; also in collection The Janus Hour.
Weekdays, it’s him. Up and down and brings
the morning in a glass as though it’s his.
This is the only time he chooses fizz
and sparkle, and I pass. My morning wings
are folded still. I shift. I pull some strings
and chance an arm on risk-free promises,
the simple generosity of this;
his gift of water and awakenings.
Weekends, it’s me, cherry-pink and fast,
so much to do, so let him sleep, so what?
My turn: two kinds of everything I touch
(I’m reconciled to differences at last,
becoming glad he’s everything I’m not).
The tray is full and nothing is too much.
© Anne Stewart
Published in the Bridport Prize 2008 anthology, ISBN 978-1-906593-18-6, available from Bridport Prize website
Listen to poem (also on Bridport Prize website); also in collection The Janus Hour
My first collection The Janus Hour is published by Oversteps Books and came out in July 10.
Comments:
“Anne Stewart’s poetry is characterised by a view of the world that is quizzical, appraising, unflinching yet non-judgemental: this is how things look from here, it says; take it or leave it. Her poems address, with the same deft lightness of touch, both uncomfortable truths about our time and the surreal in the everyday, achieving a rare consistency of expression without ever being predictable.”
Jeremy Page, editor, The Frogmore Papers.
“The Janus Hour is strong, resourceful and varied, dominated by its music and a sense of quest for survival, for the light behind the clouds. Mercurial, like a Fellini film.”
Katherine Gallagher
“Anne Stewart is a highly skilled poet whose poetry can be highly disturbing. Her sonnets, terza rima and other poems are beautifully wrought, yet her subject matter is very near the bone. Mothers, sisters, deaths in the family and a ‘list of cruelties’ are prominent in this book, which is essential reading for all interested in women’s poetry.”
Merryn Williams, editor, The Interpreter’s House.
Copies available from me now for £8, or soon from the Oversteps Books website.
Anne is a poet, reviewer, and provider of services to poets and poetry organisations.
In 2000, she began working towards a life with poetry at the centre of it, joining the Post-graduate Creative Writing programme at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2003, she was awarded an MA with Distinction and in 2005, was selected as one of the "Ten Hallam Poets" represented in the anthology published by Mews Press (eds. Sean O’Brien, Steven Earnshaw and EA Markham). The anthology attracted high praise from top-calibre poets (Don Paterson, Julia Darling, Helen Dunmore).
In 2008, she won the Bridport Prize for her sonnet, Still Water, Orange, Apple, Tea. Judge, David Harsent, said of it "…what marks it out is the way this emotional commonplace is adapted to language … no line lacked a surprise … I liked its briskness – celebratory, but never cloying – and liked too, the fine-tuning: … a tone of voice that promotes brevity … where the notes in question sing and tease and intrigue … "
Her first collection, The Janus Hour (Oversteps Books, 2010), “is characterised by a view of the world that is quizzical, appraising, unflinching yet non-judgemental: this is how things look from here, it says; take it or leave it. Her poems address, with the same deft lightness of touch, both uncomfortable truths about our time and the surreal in the everyday, achieving a rare consistency of expression without ever being predictable.” – Jeremy Page, editor, The Frogmore Papers.
She has a 25 year background in commercial work: Accounting, Project Management, Training & Mentoring, IT & Systems Development. This has given her a wide range of skills and, whatever poets needs doing, Anne works on the basis that ‘if she can, she will’ …
She created and maintains the poetry p f and SecondLightLive web-sites and is a part-time (1/2 day a week) administrator for Second Light Network. She tops up her poetic income (!) with commercial work on a consultancy basis, currently including a few hours a week at the publishing house, Enitharmon Press and Enitharmon Editions.
links:
Frogmore Press
poetry p f
SecondLightLive
Enitharmon Press & Enitharmon Editions
She lives in Kent with partner, Richard Stern, an architectural technician.
In 2005, she founded poetry p f, with the idea of creating a focussed and organised space to showcase today’s poets and to provide them with a searchable and contactable internet presence, with the overall aim of promoting poets and poetry to a wider audience.
The poetry p f website receives an average of 140,000 hits per month and is currently (2010) the basis of collaborations with project partners in Romania – poetry pRO and Germany – poetry tREnD.
The online shop went ‘live’ in 2008, principally selling Poem Cards and books with whose publishers there is some association. The Poem Cards are published by poetry p f with the idea that more ‘real’ poetry can be put in front of a wider readership by using a medium that’s generally well-received, being borne out of a spirit of generosity and good wishes.
The Poem Cards feature poems by members, poetry p f commissions artwork and pays royalties, and some shops and galleries now carry these cards in their range. There are over 50 designs for Anytime, Special occasions, Christmas and New Year and the ‘12 poems, 12 poets’ Christmas and New Year set includes poems by Mimi Khalvati and Carole Satyamurti, whose generous support for this project is hugely appreciated.
poetry p f’s publishing imprint is yet to find its true direction, but has published one collection, "Talking of Pots, People & Points of View", by Leicester poet Alice Beer, and, in 2009, a bilingual anthology (English/Romanian) of poetry by poetry p f members with translations by MA and PhD students at the University of Bucharest. The anthology, "And the Story Isn’t Over…", and its companion CD, "And the Story So Far…" present, between them, the work of 49 poets (a representative selection of work recently published by both mainstream publishers and in literary journals) and 46 translators. Also see Romanian Connections.
Poem Cards, Alice Beer’s collection, and the And the Story… anthology and CD can all be bought from the poetry p f online shop, and there are links there to read the poems on the cards.
Anne is a part-time administrator for Second Light Network, a network for older women poets, founded by Dilys Wood. She (Anne) serves on the Committee, created and manages the SecondLightLive website and assists with the technical aspects of managing the membership, 300 strong and on the increase. She co-edited, with Dilys Wood, the pre-launch issue and Issues 1 to 4 of the bi-annual publication ARTEMISpoetry, from Second Light Publications.
SecondLightLive
Shortlands Poetry Circle was formed by Miss Catherine Punch in 1911 with the aim of encouraging appreciation and enjoyment of poetry (isn’t that what every poet wants?). The group meets regularly to read and share poems new and modern, themed topically or by focus on particular poets. Anne is Vice-president and, again, manages their web-page and email list, and helps with some of the administration work. She is also a member of the Circle’s writers’ group.
link to Shortlands Poetry Circle on poetry p f
Anne is the Kent North West ‘Stanza’ Rep for the Poetry Society. The Stanza group holds 7 meetings a year – discussion, readings, workshops – in The Two Doves, 37 Oakley Road, Bromley Common, generally on the 3rd Tuesday of the month (excluding Dec, Jan & Jul/Sep) but in October, meets on National Poetry Day for a more ‘glitzy’ event.
The poetry p f poetry pRO project continues to extend and expand and, having worked with Romanian translators as ‘polisher’ on, amongst other things, Lucian Vasilescu’s long poem, close. so far away, “it was very exciting to receive a signed copy of the finished, and beautifully designed, book (integral/vinea, 2009) at the start of 2010, which is turning out to be another ‘very good year’ for poetry”.
Prof Lidia Vianu has initiated a newer and better Translation Café and Anne has joined her on the boards of, not only Translation Café, but of her new online publishing imprint, Contemporary Literary Press and the new bilingual Eng/Rom journal, Contemporary & Literary Horizon (Director: Mihai Cantuniari).
Janis is a terrific singer/songwriter and is very happy to perform at poetry events. Do pay a visit to her website and sample the music there…
www.janishaves.com
Vanbar Multimedia: gave me all the training I needed to create the SecondLightLive website (and wrote the clever bits) and is advising on the redevelopment of the poetry p f site. He creates websites from scratch and he asks all the right questions before he starts … What could be better?
www.vanbar.co.uk
Silbercow: specialises in graphics and design and layout and will tackle anything related to it that you need for poetry projects. He’s experienced and expert, very connected with poetry organisations, and comes highly recommended. He’s also co-editor of Brittle Star poetry magazine.
Contact: Silbercow, Hiltongrove Business Centre, 12-15 Hatherley Mews, London E17 4QP
www.silbercow.co.uk email: info@silbercow.co.uk
He sorted me out a date for a reading at very short notice, gave good advice on putting it together, liaised directly with the performer about equipment etc, and helped promote the event… And all this for a lovely venue that doesn’t charge a room hire fee. A great place for a poetry event.
www.charterhousebar.co.uk
Anne Stewart, 20 Clovelly Way, Orpington, Kent, BR6 0WD. UK.
Tel: +44(0) 1689 811394 Mobile: +44(0) 7850 537489
e-mail Anne
on poetry p f photo, biography and poems.
on SecondLightLive poem, profile & Committee Member profile.
at Oversteps Books, publisher of first collection, The Janus Hour in July 2010.
Still Water, Orange, Apple, Tea on the Bridport Prize website, audio file of the winning poem in 2008.
in Brittle Star, Issue 17 Tom Raworth: Three close reading
(Poetry Library digital archive)
in Brittle Star, Issue 19 Star Questions interview
(Poetry Library digital archive)
in The Frogmore Papers Iss 68 poem, As Well As Can Be Expected
(Poetry Library digital archive)
on the Frogmore Papers web-site poem, Winter Loving
on nth position poem Heath, September 2001
at Tongues and Grooves (and select 'Tongues') – poem And the boat upon the water
at Strix Varia article on the writing of poem, Body Language, published in The Interpreter’s House and submitted for the Forward Prize, 2004
at EyeWear reviews of C L Dallat’s The Year of Not Dancing and Dorothy Molloy’s Long-distance Swimmer
at D I C H T H A U E R poem The Truth About My Mother and German translations
at Translation Cafe poems and Romanian translations
audio, Romania Cultural broadcast by National Broadcasting Corporation (after the burst of song!), poems and Romanian translations
Jun 10: The Haiti Benefit Concert in Broadstairs, organised by Maggie Harris. I have a poem in the specially commissioned anthology, 60 Poems for Haiti, and read with others of the poets included. The event was called Inscribing the Island Literature, A Concert for Haiti – “words, song, music & dance”. For copies at £9 and to support the cause, e-mail Ian Diaffenthaller at Cane Arrow Press.
1 & 2 July 10: Aprilia Zank, co-ordinator of the poetry p f poetry tREnD German translation project has initiated a festival, hoped to become an annual one, at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. 11 poets, all members of poetry p f, attended as readers and workshop presenters and a celebratory bilingual anthology POETRY TREND was launched. We read at the Literaturhaus and Lyrik Kabinett, alongside our translators, all very young and clearly with high-flying careers ahead of them! Academic price for the anthology, so 35 euros, but it’s 335 pages and beautifully produced. To enquire for copies, e-mail Aprilia Zank at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich.
and earlier in the year: Readings at The Troubadour (six poets) and Second Light’s May Madness festival (lots of readings, 3 really inspiring workshops) went down well. I have ‘words and images’ on the back cover of ARTEMISpoetry Issue 4, which came out at the end of May, as did Acumen 67, which includes an interview (of me with my poetry p f hat on) by William Oxley.
Links:
The Troubadour
Second Light Network
Buy ARTEMISpoetry poetry p f shop online (and type ‘Issue’ into the filter box)
Acumen
and this is a photo by Philippa Lawrence, taken when we were working on her pamphlet collection, From Memory’s Wardrobe. Speaking nicely to misbehaving machines works more often than you might think! Or is it the ‘laying on of hands’?
to buy From Memory’s Wardrobe: poetry p f shop online (and type ‘Wardrobe’ into the filter box)
Copyright © 2008 Anne Stewart. All rights reserved.
