Christodoulos Makris

As part of the two-day conference Gestures: Writing That Moves Between  to be held at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester over Friday 15 and Saturday 16 February 2019, I will present a talk incorporating a collaborative reading collectively called 'Poetry and Cultures of Feedback'. Organised by Alice Butler, Nell Osborne, Hilary White (all University of Manchester) and Dr Alicia J Rouverol (University of Sheffield), Gestures is a conference aimed at writers and artists as well as scholars. It takes the cross-disciplinary movement in writing as its focus, and explores the role of gesture - a term more usually associated with Art History and Performance Studies - within it. Keynote speakers are Renee Gladman and Maria Fusco. My contribution is part of the Collaborations panel, chaired by Nell Osborne and presenting in the Grand Hall of the Whitworth Art Gallery on the afternoon of Friday 15 February, which additionally includes presentations by Emma Bolland & Helen ...

In my capacity as Maynooth University Writer-in-Residence 2018-19, I will be hosting Ágnes Lehóczky and JT Welsch , editors of Wretched Strangers (Boiler House Press, 2018) , for a conversation on themes explored by the anthology, and readings from the book. Wretched Strangers is an anthology of innovative writing from 125 poets, assembled in response to surges in violent British nationalism and political paranoia around borders, and to related social and ethical crises. It was published on the second anniversary of the UK's June 2016 EU Referendum, with proceeds donated to charities fighting for the rights of refugees. The event takes place in the 1st floor seminar room (1.33), Iontas Building, Maynooth University, on Monday 18 February and starts at 4pm . This first presentation of the book in Ireland will additionally include readings from anthology contributors Katherine Ebury , Áilbhe Hines and Aodán McCardle . All welcome, admission free. On publication day, Dav...

Opening Monday 4 February and running until 8 March 2019, Form Ever Follows Function is a joint exhibition by gorse and The Pickled Body literary journals at Illuminations Gallery in Maynooth University, featuring specially commissioned digital works by contributors to the journals, and a display of physical material. Illuminations Gallery is a digital-visual exhibition space in the Departments of English and Media Studies at Maynooth University. It brings together work in the visual arts and in academia, celebrating innovation, ideas and creativity. The gallery space is built around eight LED screens, placed back-to-back in custom-designed cabinets. Supplemented by two display units which can exhibit physical artefacts, and a website which extends the gallery space, Illuminations aims to provide opportunities for education, investigation, and enlightenment – in and beyond the university. Form Ever Follows Function is curated by myself on behalf of gorse  along with Dim...

Section 69 from my forthcoming book this is no longer entertainment: A Documentary Poem  (due out with Dostoyevsky Wannabe in March 2019) is excerpted in issue 7 of The Tangerine . A thrice-yearly journal of new writing based in Belfast, The Tangerine includes features, reportage, commentary, fiction, poetry, illustration and photography. It is concerned with "things being various" (as per Louis MacNeice ) and "seeks to provide a space for a plurality of voices: for new creative work, thoughtful discussion, and critical engagement with culture and politics in Belfast and beyond." My contribution to the issue is the last section from the book to be excerpted prior to publication; the text makes reference to Marcel Duchamp's works and ideas, and includes tangential and occasionally unrelated discussion fragments. My thanks to poetry editor Caitlin Newby and the extended editorial team at The Tangerine for giving space to my work. Other contributors to iss...

A while ago I recorded six poems from my 2015 book The Architecture of Chance for the Irish Poetry Reading Archive, an initiative of University College Dublin (UCD) Library Special Collections, with footage now uploaded to the Special Collections YouTube channel. These recordings, along with handwritten manuscripts of some of these poems that I made specially for the reading, will form part of the collection's digital archive. The Irish Poetry Reading Archive is a central repository that holds recordings of Irish poets and writers reading their work and giving a brief overview of the context and circumstances that influenced the writing of the poems. The collection aims to capture and preserve the contemporary poetry landscape in Ireland, and includes established and emerging poets, performance and avant-garde poets, English and Irish language poets, and diaspora poets. Recordings began in April 2014, and the archive was launched in December 2015 by the Minister of Arts, H...

I was a guest on Sunday's (18 November) RTÉ Book Show  on RTÉ Radio 1, where I spoke about gorse No. 10 as part of an episode presented by Sara Baume and dedicated to artists' books. gorse 10 is the latest edition of @gorse_journal and this one comes in a box. The editor @c_makris shows Sara what's inside....coasters, stickers, pamphlets, sealed envelopes, photography (including some of Sara's own work!) and documents. It's an homage to Marcel Duchamp. pic.twitter.com/AU61TMyMpi — BookShowRTE (@BookShowRTE) November 18, 2018 Other guests on Sunday's edition were David Crowley of the National College of Art and Design , Jamie Murphy of The Salvage Press , Katie Blackwood of the National Irish Visual Archive Library , Temple Bar Gallery + Studios director Cliodhna Shaffrey, and artist Alan Phelan . You can read a full description of the episode on the show's website, where you can also listen back to it. Or you can do so on SoundCloud: I...

This coming Wednesday 7 November I'll be reading in the Arts and Humanities Institute at Maynooth University (Room 1.33, 1st floor, Iontas Building) in an event introducing myself and Paul Lynch as Writers-in-Residence for 2018-19. We start at 4pm and the event is free and open to the public.

Phonica: Nine Monday 12 November 2018 Boys School, Smock Alley Theatre 7.30pm Admission: €8.00 / €6.00 with: Adrian Crowley Ed Devane Máighréad Medbh Julie Morrissy Rouzbeh Rashidi Judith Ring Phonica   is a multidisciplinary performance series rooted in Word and Sound, with an emphasis on multiformity and the experimental. Conceived, directed, programmed and hosted by  Christodoulos Makris  and  Olesya Zdorovetska ,  Phonica  aims to explore compositional and performative ideas and to encourage a melting pot of audiences and artists from across artforms. Phonica: Nine  will feature performances and presentations from a range of exceptional, groundbreaking and award-winning writers, musicians and artists, in the realms of dramatic spoken word performance, experimental electronic music, avant-garde filmmaking, electroacoustic musique concréte, multimedia field research-based poetry, and improvisational spatial sounds w/ drones. ...

On the evening of Saturday 13 October I'll be at The Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare, as part of Kildare Readers Festival 2018 . Running over two weeks across various public library venues, but with most of the major events concentrated at The Riverbank over the weekend 12-14 October, this is the 9th edition of the festival, produced by Kidare County Libraries and Arts Service. For this event , fellow Maynooth University Writer-in-Residence Paul Lynch and I will be in a moderated conversation with  Edel Coffey Margaret Scott , discussing the residency programme and our own work. We start at 8pm. Tickets are free but booking is required .

I am delighted to have been appointed Writer-in-Residence at Maynooth University for the academic year 2018-19. Supported by Maynooth University and Kildare Library and Arts Services , the residency is based at The Department of English at NUI Maynooth and it's designed to "provide students and the broader community with the opportunity to engage with writers of distinction, as well as providing the writers with time to advance their current project(s)." As part of the residency I will arrange and host a programme of public events at various points through the year in association with the University and Kildare Library and Arts. There are two residency posts offered each year, with the novelist Paul Lynch my co-appointee for 2018-19. Previous Maynooth University Writers-in-Residence include Rob Doyle, Sarah Maria Griffin, and Joanna Walsh. The announcement was made in June but I am only beginning my residency this week, and I look forward to working with everyon...