Christodoulos Makris

Big thanks to everyone who made  the pilot edition of re:verb   such a joyous and remarkable experience: participating poets and artists, design and technical support, venue, bookshop, audience(s). It was a genuine pleasure to organise, programme, direct and host. Wonderful also to see a full or near-full house at all five sessions. An article on Asymptote journal - a leading online platform for international literature and translation - called re:verb "a daring and much needed enterprise" and "a one-of-a-kind literary festival in Ireland (and possibly the world)." I put together a short documentary of re:verb 2026 which I hope captures something of its spirit and vibe. Though you really had to be there. You can view it on YouTube  (with accompanying information and credits) or below.

Earlier this month I contributed a performative paper at the international conference 'Poetry's Environments' organised and hosted by  Poetry@Leeds  at The University of Leeds. The conference took place over three days (9-11 June 2026) at Cloth Court Hall in Leeds city centre and the University of Leeds campus. Convened by a team headed by Kimberly Campanello , Professor of Poetry and Director of Poetry@Leeds,  'Poetry's Environments' aimed to "consider poetry that addresses the natural environment and the environments in which poetry is written, experienced, performed, preserved, and studied" by bringing together "international poets, critics, translators, archivists, activists, textual editors, digital specialists, literary professionals, and individuals, groups and organisations involved in poetry and its environments". My contribution was part of a panel called 'Marks & Materials 1' which also included readings and presentati...

Last summer I travelled to Stuttgart on an invitation from Dr Jessica Bundschuh of the Department of English Literatures and Cultures at The University of Stuttgart, where over Friday 27 and Saturday 28 June 2025 I led a series of generative poetry workshop sessions in partnership with Cork-based poet Molly Twomey for around 60 participants composed of University students and 5th grade students from Dillmann Gymnasium. The title of our collaborative workshop project was 'The Mediated Self' and it consisted of three individually-led sessions each: mine focusing on sampling, collaborative writing, ekphrasis, collaging, and related poetics. My session 'Find a Pop Icon' in particular, spread over two days, was the source of much discussion, amusement, tumult and creative engagement from the students. My reading of the 132-line long collaborative, communal 'exquisite corpse' poem in its entirety, which I set for the class at the outset and which was contributed to b...