Sunday, May 26 2013
By coffee_girl
| General
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There are many things that it is inadvisable to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Going to the swings and slides, for instance. Attempting to take up jogging. (It is never advisable to take up jogging.) Oh, and arguing with me about poetry. My arsenal is great (or that's what I like to think) and my persistence, at least until you distract me with chocolate (preferably Green and Blacks' honeycomb variety), never ending. This was the lesson that Trevor, the digital publisher of literary magazine Far Off Places, learned to his chagrin when he attempted to tell me that he 'doesn't much like poetry'. Nothing irritates me more than when people say they ‘don’t like poetry’. It’s like saying you don’t like music - as if there’s no difference between Mozart and Madonna. As I assume most readers of this blog are followers of the cause, I won't attempt to preach to the converted. But if you like a good fray, check out our argument on Far Off Place's blog.
Over the next few weeks and months, Trevor and I will be fighting teeth and claw (Ahem. Debating in a civilised fashion) over some of our favourite/most loathed pieces of poetry on the poetry round. Watch this space to see who comes out on top.
Monday, May 20 2013
By coffee_girl
| General
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In a chilled St Andrews’ church hall near a coffee shop where a banner claims that ‘Will met Kate (for coffee)’, a strange constellation of still figures meets the eyes. Seemingly unmoved by the bustle of booksellers surrounding them, a young girl in a white dress stands massaging her neck and an elderly woman rests her head on the girl’s shoulder. For a moment the woman seems to frown, straining to hear something, and then she smiles, as if she has just grasped the meaning of a foreign phrase.
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Monday, May 13 2013
By coffee_girl
| European Personalities
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There are a thousand things to say about Armand Gatti, and a thousand questions to put to him - his output is vast and his enthusiasm great. Born in Monaco, the son of immigrant Italian parents, he joined the French resistance in the second world war. During this time, he was sentenced to death but pardoned, and was taken prisoner in Germany but escaped. He has since taken on the mantle of journalist, anarchist, scriptwriter and social activist.
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Sunday, May 5 2013
By coffee_girl
| General
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Poetry and all things scientific are often portrayed as irrevocably opposed to one another. Recently though, we've been enjoying a few projects that have intertwined technology and tetrameters. Here are a few of our favourites.
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Tuesday, April 23 2013
By coffee_girl
| Poetry for today
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I met Sally Crabtree, appropriately introduced as a 'one-woman poetry universe' in the guise of the poetry postie at StAnza, Scotland’s foremost poetry festival, as she delivered edible poetry to the hard-workers at the poets’ market. Sally brings poetry to unexpected places, be it supermarket tins or fish festivals. Our interview is punctuated by frequent exclamations of “One moment, I’ll show you!” as she jumps up to rummage through her postie's box.
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Sunday, April 7 2013
By coffee_girl
| Diary
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The poster for the Kosmopolis International Literature Festival taking place at Barcelona's Contemporary Culture Centre (CCCB) between 14-16 March is illustrated, in typical Catalan cool fashion, by an alert racoon about to crawl up something unsavoury. The ‘amplified literature festival’ is quite unlike the Salon du Livre due to take place in Paris the weekend after, which turns out to be typically expensive and high-brow, although ironically hosting ‘Barcelona’ as its theme of the year. This exhibition promises tasters of Chilean writer's Roberto Bolaño’s work in science fiction, slam poetry and comic books.
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Thursday, March 21 2013
By coffee_girl
| Post-it poets
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We bumped into Thorben Schulte at a poetry slam in Göttingen. Or two, Or three. He's currently studying for a masters in chemistry at Göttingen university, when he's not representing the city at regional and national poetry slams, that is. Take a look at one of his performances from November last year here
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Monday, March 11 2013
By coffee_girl
| Libraries
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Hardly a week goes by without an arts editor somewhere reminding us that our libraries are in decline. To show our solidarity with our favourite beacons of light and learning, we'll be profiling some wonderful and whimsical library projects over the next few weeks. First up: The Itinerant Poetry Library
It is a late November evening in Edinburgh, and the dark and the damp of the air have long since crawled into our bones as my friend and I stride along the city’s cobbled Grassmarket and into West Port, looking out for friendly chinks of light. After an age, we turn into the tiny, warren-like Armchair Books. Squeezed between the shop’s usual stock of second hand books, a selection of well-thumbed poetry books and pamphlets are laid out on a table. Behind the table is a personage of severe aspect: ill-fitting suit, round glasses, and hair scraped back into a ponytail, this is The Itinerant Poetry Librarian.
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Thursday, February 28 2013
By coffee_girl
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We're taking a backseat this week, with a guest blog post on the relevance of poetry from Edinburgh's enigmatic poetry doctor, Isabella Flanders. You can find her solving more problems with the power of poetry here. Do you think poetry is relevant to everyday life? Let us know how!
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Thursday, February 21 2013
By coffee_girl
| Post-it poets
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We met the lovely Pauline Füg at a poetry slam in Göttingen in December. As well as slamming at events from Hanover to Munich, Pauline leads poetry workshops, and has brought out a collection 'Die Abschaffung des Ponys'. Take a look at some her work on her website
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Wednesday, February 13 2013
By coffee_girl
| Diary
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In a recent article, British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy called the sonnet, renowned for its form as a love poem, the little black dress of poetry. However, with little black dresses getting rather a lot of attention at the moment, we thought we’d take a look at the well-loved but sometimes forgotten hoodies, pyjama trousers and baggy t-shirts which can be just as beautiful
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Thursday, February 7 2013
By coffee_girl
| News
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The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed we have a new writer - we're delighted to welcome the lovely Lia Sanders on board. When not sailing the seas in beautiful pea green boats, Lia studies English literature at the university of Edinburgh, where she writes, dances and dreams between classes. You can read her article about Scotland's upcoming poetry festival here
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Tuesday, February 5 2013
By Wilde Life
| Diary
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Here at the poetry round we’re getting excited about StAnza, Scotland’s annual poetry festival which is creeping up on us fast. We went along to the festival’s programme launch on 30 January to whet our, and your, appetites
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Tuesday, January 29 2013
By coffee_girl
| General
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Can creative writing be taught? Courses in creative writing are increasingly popular, but it's a topic that can prompt pursed lips and passionate diatribes. Jennifer Williams completed a masters in creative writing at Glasgow university and now works as the programme manager at the Scottish poetry library. She tells us about the merits and pitfalls of doing an MLitt
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Thursday, January 17 2013
By coffee_girl
| Interviews
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I caught up with Scottish poet and novelist John Burnside while he was in Germany promoting his latest novel 'A Summer of Drowning'. Over a beer before his reading at the Literarisches Zentrum in Göttingen (‘I’ve stopped drinking coffee before readings, because I get too nervous’), he put on his poet hat to talk to us about why Brits don’t like mentioning the soul and how to mix politics and poetry
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Tuesday, January 8 2013
By coffee_girl
| Post-it poets
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As promised, post-it poets have finally gone Babelian and have landed in Göttingen, Germany, where the brothers Grimm once collected their fairy tales. We were delighted to meet some fantastic young slam poets in December. First up is Anne Makes, who makes poetry political at slams throughout Lower Saxony
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Wednesday, January 2 2013
By coffee_girl
| General
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Just a quick message to wish you all a happy new year and to apologise for going AWOL. Present shopping, mulled wine, university assignments and long missed friends all caught up with me in December, meaning that my laptop has felt rather neglected these last few weeks. However, we'll be back in action soon! Our resolution for 2013 is to be more Babelian. So far it's looking good: we're getting excited about upcoming interviews with some wonderful German slam poets and have a tentative love letter to Dante in the pipeline too. If you have any ideas for articles you'd like to write (or read!) send us a mail on poetry@cafebabel.com. Or write to us anyway - we love to get post.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this great poem on new year's resolutions from the talented Elspeth Murray.
Wednesday, December 12 2012
By coffee_girl
| Diary
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Is it the best day of the year, or materialist mayhem? Have you already decked the hall with boughs of holly, or are you secretly waiting for it all to be over? A selection of favourite Christmas poems picked by Babelians is by turns joyful, world-weary and quietly optimistic
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Monday, December 3 2012
By coffee_girl
| Interviews
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Poetry is often conceived of as pure language, mere words on a page. Alongside more traditional work, the US-born, UK-based Jennifer Williams breaks down the barriers between poetry, music and scent. A chat about proustian moments and falling between the cracks
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Tuesday, November 27 2012
By coffee_girl
| General
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The decision to be a writer can be a daunting one and the process is strewn with frustration. Words of advice and encouragement from three established European poets and novelists
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