Christodoulos Makris

I'm pleased to be programming and introducing  a  gorse poetry showcase  for the April edition of Poems Upstairs, featuring readings by  Colin Herd , Robert Herbert McClean and Doireann Ní Ghríofa . Produced in association with Poetry Ireland. Wednesday 6 April 2016, 7.00pm Books Upstairs , 17 D'Olier Street, Dublin 1 Tickets €6 (includes a glass of wine) Colin Herd ( gorse No. 1 ) is a poet and Lecturer in Creative Writing at The University of Glasgow. His books include too ok (BlazeVOX, 2011), Glovebox (Knives, Forks and Spoons, 2014) and Oberwildling – with SJ Fowler (Austrian Cultural Forum, 2015). Collaborative artist books with the artists Cat Outram ( The Open Wound in My Living Room ) and Susan Wilson ( blots ) have been shown at the Royal Scottish Academy and Edinburgh Printmakers. He is co-director of The Sutton Gallery and regularly hosts poetry events there. Robert Herbert McClean ( gorse No. 4 ) is an experimental writer and audio-visual artist

I'm happy to note that more than a year now since publication of The Architecture of Chance  the reviews keep coming. This latest one is from Sabne Raznik, a writer, editor and book reviewer based in Kentucky in the US. In what is a generous reading , Raznik calls the book "an exciting collection" where "the rewards are substantial". She focuses on some of the more conceptual and process-based material, particularly on 'Heaney after Rauschenberg' of which she writes: "while soothingly familiar in vocabulary, it decenters Heaney's careful poetics almost completely ... it serves as an eerie, aching tribute of sorts - even as it seeks to shatter the comfortable traditionalism of Heaney's legacy". My thanks to Sabne Raznik for the attention to the book, and for her continued interest in my work: along with this review she republished  a review on my previous books  from an old blog.

On Monday 14 March I'll be giving a talk at York St John University as part of the Faculty of Arts  visiting speaker programme, for which "artists and curators come to YSJ to give one-off artist talks, lead focussed tutorial and critique sessions or work alongside a full-time academic member of staff to design and deliver a project or module." My thanks to  Lucy O'Donnell  for the invitation. I'll be speaking on the interconnected strands of my practice - compositional, editorial & curatorial - with various visual aids and material as suggested further reading. With that in mind (and also looking ahead to a forthcoming event next month) here's James King & Ellen Factor performing at the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry in 2014 as part of Yes But Are We Enemies :  

some mark made is a new limited edition publication that considers hybrid, material and intellectually rigorous literary practices. Edited by  Sue Rainsford , it features "experimental and speculative writing in the veins of poetry, prose and criticism from Claire Farley, Shauna Barbosa, Caroline Doolin, Michael Naghten Shanks, Michelle Hall, Jonelle Mannion, Christodoulos Makris, Julie Morrissy and Sue Rainsford." Rainsford writes in her editorial: "Often, when literary activity foregrounds its visual or tactile elements, when it embraces process or takes place away from the immediate terrain of the page, it’s ascribed titles such as ‘hybrid’, ‘performative’ or ‘experimental’. These terms seem to soften boundary lines so that bodies of writing can be intuitive rather than narrative, sensory rather than descriptive. It is worth remembering, however, that literature is by nature expansive, tactile and interrogative." My contribution to some mark made  bears the