Christodoulos Makris

The Ash Wednesday Poetry Series is part of the Ash Sessions initiative , a poetry and music showcase (named after a Leonard Cohen quote) curated by Dimitra Xidous and taking place at Nick's Coffee Company in Dublin's Ranelagh village. This year the series examines "the line, real or perceived, between the page and the stage, the written and the spoken, and how and where these two worlds collide (and whether or not they are best conceived as two worlds at all)." Taking its cue from Cohen’s ‘How to Speak Poetry' (from his book  Death of a Lady's Man ) the series will feature the work of 8 poets and their thoughts on Cohen’s positions on speaking poetry. The series began on Wednesday 8 January. Each week it showcases the work of one featured poet on the chalkboard at Nick’s Coffee Company. In addition, the 'How to Speak Poetry' series blog includes a small interview with each poet, as well as a soundcloud link of a performance of the poem showcas...

It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that SJ Fowler  has charged the poetry scene in London (and elsewhere) with a fresh vitality. Since he entered the ring of writing, editing and, particularly, event-organising some years ago, the diverse factions that poetry habitually splinters into seem to have converged that little bit. The scene(s) have brightened that little bit. It's probably for his relentless curatorial efforts that he is known best - for Steven a worthy and totally valid way to grapple with poetry. The byproduct being that he has created fertile ground for those working under the umbrella of avant-garde and literary writing to begin conversing anew. His poetics, residing squarely in the avant-garde, are not altogether distinct from his role as event organiser.  Enemies , his recently-published book from Penned In The Margins, which collects extracts from his numerous collaborations, is a comprehensive statement on his perspective on writing. Benefit...

More than two years on from publication,  Spitting Out the Mother Tongue continues to receive attention (I'm happy to note). A "rigorous" review by Paul Stewart, an author and professor of Literature at the University of Nicosia, appears in the latest (Fall 2013) issue of Cadences , 'a journal of Literature and the Arts in Cyprus.' Stewart chooses to focus on what he calls "the real issue concerning this volume, which is not how it deals with the Cypriot exilic, dislocated experience, but how it deals with the business of poetry," and attempts an analysis of the craft of the poems ("upon which Makris has placed such store," as he contends). The review is not available online, but subject to clearance from the journal's editor I intend to archive it in its entirety on this site's  relevant 'what they said' page . You can always construct your own reading of  Spitting Out the Mother Tongue by buying a copy directly from Wu...