Play-poems and bardbots!
Advent is upon us, and we’ve been celebrating over at Sidekick Books! Every day we’ve opened a new window of poetry mishmashery, featuring: i) Hybardrid Twitterbots, mixing famous poets with other poets and other texts…
Poets Are So Excited – but does anybody care?
You can’t sit on your laurels as a writer, they say. Get out there on social media, they say. Plug your work. Brag your achievements. Promote promote promote. And they’re right. Sort of. Poetry doesn’t…
What a piece of work: poetry and technophobia
About a month ago, a contact on LinkedIn posted a link to a TED talk by writer Oscar Schwartz, titled “Can a computer write poetry?” Schwartz is one of the co-creators of the site Bot…
Chain reactions: Found in Translation at Club Inegales
Thursday 17th March 2016 saw one of the most exhilarating poetry performances I’ve ever witnessed, let alone taken part in. Club Inégales in Euston hosted Found in Translation, in which poets, illustrators and musicians came together…
Does poetry need genre boundaries?
In a book shop, poetry is at most divided by single author v anthology, or by time period. Most times, it is not divided at all, simply arranged alphabetically by author, which means unless you…
Haul Monitor: Collage, Tomboys and Crows
I’ve received a couple of fantastic things through the post of late, and thought I’d share the excitement. Pamphlet: Tomboys by Jon Stone. The pamphlet is an ode to three anime heroines: Utena from Revolutionary…
Bad ad poetry? HIRE POETS.
Living in London, we’re surrounded by TFL’s abominable Travel Better London posters, with their godawful doggerel. First, you spot one and sigh gently to yourself. Then you notice another. And another. Ye gods, they’re all…
Poem: I’ve less than a minute to convince you
The poetry of choice, or, bookshop blues
A confession. I hate shopping for poetry. At least in physical shops. Don’t get me wrong. I love and adore bookshops. They are a joy and absolutely crucial to the publishing industry. And I love…