Christodoulos Makris

On 5 March 2007 a bomb was exploded on Baghdad's Al-Mutanabbi Street, located in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and 100 wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic centre of bookselling in Baghdad, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, tea and tobacco stores. It has been the core of Baghdad's literary and intellectual community for many centuries. The Al-Mutanabbi Street coalition was formed in response to the bombing by poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil in San Francisco. It initiated and completed a broadside project with contributions of 130 broadsides from 130 letterpress printers, some of which were exhibited at the Market House in Monaghan and the Central Library in Dublin last March. It's now in the process of compiling 'An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street', a project for which over 250 writers and artists worldwide have committed to producing three books each in a symbolic attempt to "re-assemb...

Below is a video of my reading at OPEN Ealing's highly-successful inaugural poetry evening on Wednesday 15 February. Here are those by the other guest poets: Marcus Slease, SJ Fowler and Cherry Smyth. And a couple from the open-mic session: Michael Zand and Amy Evans.

The third Seven Towers anthology, Census 3 , will be launched at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin on Wednesday 22 February 2012 at 7pm, with readings from many of its contributors. The anthology brings together work in many genres by 94 writers who have all at one time or another performed at a Seven Towers event, and is available both in print form and as an extended e-book. More information, including a list of the writers featured, from the Seven Towers website - where you can also order a copy. Census 3 includes my poem 'M ö tley Cr ü e', from Spitting Out the Mother Tongue .

The OPEN Ealing Arts Project (113 Uxbridge Rd, London W5) presents its first OPEN poetry event  on Wednesday 15 February 2012, which will comprise readings from guest poets plus an open-mic session. I was asked to put together the line-up for this inaugural event - which OPEN aims to turn into a regular series - as well as read at it myself, so am delighted that SJ Fowler , Marcus Slease and Cherry Smyth have all agreed to join me. I look forward to a great evening. Start time is 8pm and admission is free.

On Monday 6 February 2012 I'll be performing at the Kilmainham Arts Club , a monthly event showcasing work from artists from a range of disciplines. I'll be reading the full text from my forthcoming short book Muses Walk, accompanied by the projection onto a screen of many of the photographs I took for the project (not all of which will make the finished book). It's an opportunity for me to test the poems a month or so before publication, while the audience gets to experience the work in a live audio-visual format the immediacy of which print cannot replicate. February's edition of the club also includes comedy and music performances, as well as photography exhibitions. The venue is the Patriot's Inn, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, and start time is 8pm. Admission is free.