Poetry International 2014 brochure by Southbank Centre

P o e t ry

I n t e r n at i o n a l

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Bringing together over 100 internationally renowned poets and artists from all over the world

BOOK NOW southbankcentre.co.uk/ poetryinternational @litsouthbank #PoetryInternational Photo: Joe Roberts

WELCOME The essential solidarity of the very diverse poets of the world, despite being a mysterious fact, is one we can be thankful for, since its terms are exclusively those of love, understanding and patience. Ted Hughes, programme notes for Poetry International 1967

In his programme notes for the first ever Poetry International festival in 1967, Ted Hughes wrote that poetry: ‘is a universal language of understanding in which we can all hope to meet.’ The festival was created to get poetry out from behind the Iron Curtain and to confront people with work from abroad that would unsettle and inspire them. It is Hughes’ political and poetic vision that has formed the heart of the festival ever since: to see the world as it is now, to understand what it’s like to write from under censorship, suppression or conflict and to experience some of the greatest poetry, spoken word and rap being written today in all the ever-expanding forms we share and create it. To celebrate this summer’s Festival of Love, we have Love Each Other or Perish, a reading of the greatest contemporary love poems, plus our first ever Poetry Film competition and an event celebrating the most famous love letters. Please join us. Jude Kelly

Artistic Director, Southbank Centre

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Poetry International Highlights

Discover the world through poetry

THURSDAY 17 JULY

SUNDAY 20 JULY

Poetry International Launch

Love Each Other Or Perish

A night of magniﬁcent poetry featuring Robert Hass, Ana Blandiana, Carolyn Forché, Kutti Revathi, Nikola Madzirov, Anne Michaels and Mohamed El Deeb

50 greatest love poems read by international poets and actors See p.21 for details

See p.7 for details

FRIDAY 18 JULY

MONDAY 21 JULY

Shot Through the Heart: Poetry Film Competition Prize Giving

Poetry International Finale

Join our panel for discussion and screenings See p.10 for details

A celebration of poetry from around the world, featuring August Kleinzahler, Durs Grünbein, Sujata Bhatt, Don Paterson, Serhiy Zhadan and Bejan Matur See p.24 for details

SATURDAY 19 JULY

Do Write Immediately: Poets’ Love Letters Hear some of the most beautiful letters ever written See p.15 for details

CALENDAR Thursday 17 July 6.30pm – 8.15pm

Figures of Speech ˚

p.6 p.6

12 noon

Viewmaster: Ryan Van Winkle & Dan Gorman

6pm

Caroline Bergvall: Drift p.6

7.45pm

Poetry International Launch

p.7

p.8

Friday 18 July 10.30am

School of Poetry *

11am

One Shot from the Heart ˚

p.9

1pm

Friday Lunch *

p.9

5.30pm

Friday Tonic Takeover *

p.9

6pm

My Voice: A Decade of Poems from the Poetry Translation Centre *

p.10

6.45pm

Shot Through the Heart Poetry Film Competition Prize Giving

p.10

Saturday 19 July 12 noon

We Will Not Be Silent *

p. 11

12 noon

Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe: I Wish I Was Lonely

p. 12

12 noon

Lunch Poems *

p. 12

2.30pm

Brecht and Steffin: Love in a time of exile and war

p.13 p.13

4pm

Love after Love: Letter Writing Workshop ˚

5.30pm

Re: Turning – Rhythm and Poetry Film

p.14

6pm

Modern Poetry in Translation Magazine Launch: The Constellation

p.14

6.30pm

Filmpoem *

p.14

7.30pm

Do Write Immediately: Poets’ Love Letters

p.15

7.45pm

PoetryFilm: Sounds of Love

p.15

* Free event (some free events require booking, please check relevant page number for details) ˚ Workshop

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Sunday 20 July 11am

The Embodied Imagination ˚

p.16

12 noon

Lunch Poems *

p.16

12 noon

Poetry Picnic *

p.16

12 noon

What if not transformation: Poetry After Rilke

p.17

2pm

Responses to Rilke: Post-Show Discussion *

p.17

12.30pm

Ross Sutherland: Standby For Tape Back-Up

p.18

2pm

National Poetry Competition Reading

p.18

2pm

A Matter of Line and Breath ˚

p.19

4pm

Literary Activism: is poetry the strongest form of protest?

p.19

4.30pm

Life Writing (with Nude) ˚

p.19 p.20

5pm

Poetry Library Book Club *

5.15pm

Poetry Society Lecture: The Poet As Witness

p.20

6pm

Plurilingua - Poetry Wales 50 volume launch *

p.20

7.30pm

Love Each Other Or Perish

p.21

10am

Dance-Poetry Workshop with Helen Calcutt ˚

p.22

12 noon

Global Love Poem Opening *

p.22

Monday 21 July

12.30pm

Rilke Translation Masterclass: French ˚

p.22

3.30pm

Rilke Translation Masterclass: German ˚

p.23

4pm

David Constantine 70 Birthday Celebration *

p.23

6pm

Poetry International Finale

p.24

Free throughout the festival Thursday - Monday 10am – 11pm

I Leave This At Your Ear *

p.27

Thursday - Monday 11am – 8pm

Global Love Poem: An Exhibition of Live Writing *

p.27

Friday – Monday

10 am – 11pm

Marginalia Machine *

p.24

Friday – Monday

10 am – 11pm

Leaves of Love *

p.25

Friday – Monday

10 am – 11pm

Conversations for an Archive *

p.25

Friday – Monday

10 am – 11pm

Filmpoem *

p.26

Friday – Monday

12 noon – 6pm

Kārvān: Caravan *

p.26

Thursdays 19 & 26 June and 3, 10 & 17 July

Figures of Speech Five Thursday-night sessions in Hayward Gallery with poet Tamar Yoseloff. The celebrated poet runs a short course inspired by Hayward Gallery’s summer exhibition, The Human Factor. Author of several collections of poetry, Tamar has an interest in the relationship between art and poetry. She has also run a number of site-specific writing workshops concerned with poetry and place. Poets of all abilities are welcome on the course. Tamar offers writing tips, exercises and feedback inspired by various artists’ work in The Human Factor exhibition. Dan Graham’s Waterloo Sunset Pavilion at Hayward Gallery 6.30pm – 8.15pm £80* for five sessions

Thursday 17 July

Viewmaster: Ryan Van Winkle & Dan Gorman

Caroline Bergvall: Drift

A personal slide-show for your eyes and ears only Visit the exclusive A Room for London, the boat moored on top of Queen Elizabeth Hall, for an intimate 15-minute poetry performance with you, a poet, a sound artist and a retro stereoscope. Ryan Van Winkle is Poet in Residence at Edinburgh City Libraries. His previous poetry / theatre experiment Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel was one of the top ten best-rated shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012. Dan Gorman is an electronic artist who has done field recording in Afghanistan, Syria and an abandoned military base in Teufelsberg, Germany. Please arrive at least five minutes before your allocated time to be met at Queen Elizabeth Hall Ticket Office. A Room for London on Queen Elizabeth Hall 12 noon – 4pm and 6pm – 9.40pm Individually timed entry every 20 minutes. £15* 6

London Premiere Internationally renowned sound poet Caroline Bergvall teams up with experimental Norwegian percussionist Ingar Zach and Swiss visual artist Thomas Köppel. Drift takes you on a journey through space and time as languages mix, live percussion meets live voice and the ancient cohabits with the present. Produced by Penned in the Margins with Sound and Music. Originally commissioned for lost. las.gru by Gru/Transtheatre, Geneva.

‘Thank heaven for Caroline Bergvall, an artist and poet pushing the boundaries of language in a blogged-up and twittering world.’ (The Guardian) Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 6pm £10*

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Thursday 17 July

Poetry International Launch Hass, Blandiana, Forché, Revathi, Madzirov, Michaels and Deeb We launch Poetry International with a night of magniﬁcent poetry.

Join world-renowned poets Robert Hass, Ana Blandiana, Carolyn Forché, Kutti Revathi, Nikola Madzirov, Anne Michaels and Egyptian hip-hop artist Mohammed El Deeb.

Queen Elizabeth Hall 7.45pm £12* / £10*

*Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Ofﬁces or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

School of Poetry For young people of all ages, Southbank Centre presents School of Poetry

Friday 18 July

10.30am – 11am

Rug Rhymes for the under fives What rhymes with rug? Under fives and their carers are invited to join the Poetry Library puppets, Federico and Firebird, on their poem rug. Nursery rhymes, poems and rhyming stories are led by Poetry Library staff and a special guest poet at this short session. 11am – 11.30am

Poetry for secondary school pupils Spoken-word artist Joelle Taylor introduces an afternoon of young poetry collectives and international poets. Past winners of SLAMbassadors UK, a national spoken word championship for young people run by The Poetry Society, take to the stage.

Poetry Dance for under fives and families

They are joined by Burn After Reading, a community of young and emerging poets led by Jacob Sam-La Rose and Jasmine Cooray.

Join us for a poetry dance workshop with Morgan Cloud, a contemporary dance artist hailing from Volcano, Hawai’i, who teaches creative dance to children and adults at the Royal Academy of Dance.

Also appearing are the Spoken Word Educators, poets and educators employed as members of staff in London schools to raise levels of emotional literacy and engage students through poetry.

11.45am – 12.45pm

Finally, we are excited to welcome on stage Egyptian rapper Mohamed El Deeb.

Poetry line-up for primary schools Spoken-word artist Joelle Taylor introduces a varied group of performers including poet and performer Joshua Siegel, who pops up with his new poetry collection My Grandpa’s Beard, Cheryl Moskowitz, author of Can It Be About Me, and hip-hop educator Breis. There’s also the chance to see some fresh new poetry films for children that have been entered into our Shot Through the Heart poetry film competition. 8

1pm – 2.15pm

VJ and video artist Dannielle Harper, working with young apprentices, creates live visuals by mixing digital layers with heritage and original footage. The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Free

If you would like help to plan your perfect poetry day at Southbank Centre, email bea.colley@southbankcentre.co.uk @litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Friday 18 July

One Shot from the Heart A chance to look at a poem through the lens of a video camera. Filmmaker Kate Sweeney and poet Ahren Warner lead this session on poetry films for poets who want to create an on-screen version of their work. First, participants watch and discuss poetry films and share their own poems. Using storyboard techniques to plan the project, they then shoot and edit a film version of their chosen poem. The workshop is designed to give writers the tools and confidence to bring more of their poems to life in the future. Photo: Laura Sampson

J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall 11am – 6pm £25*

Friday 18 July

Friday Lunch

Friday Tonic Takeover

Elements of jazz, folk and storytelling combine in this very special instalment of Friday lunchtime music with a Poetry International twist.

Stand by as five poets working across text, sound, photography and mixed media take over our usual Friday Tonic slot.

Mechanical Moon fills The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall with an eclectic song cycle based on poems by the American poet Elizabeth Bishop.

Poets Jay Bernard, Yemisi Blake, Inua Ellams, Warsan Shire and Kayo Chingonyi have been commissioned by the National Theatre, Wellcome Trust, Southbank Centre and Tate Britain.

The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 1pm Free

The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 5.30pm – 6.30pm Free

*Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Friday 18 July

Shot Through the Heart Poetry Film Competition Prize Giving Southbank Centre’s first ever poetry film competition has received entries from all over the world. Join our judges Alastair Cook, founder of Filmpoem, Malgorzata Kitowski, Founder and Director of PoetryFilm and Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel, the Artistic Director of Zebra PoetryFilm Festival in Berlin, as they talk through their shortlisted films. Then celebrate with us as the winners are announced. Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 6.45pm £10*

Friday 18 July

My Voice: A Decade of Poems from the Poetry Translation Centre Book Launch Join us for the launch of a landmark anthology from the Poetry Translation Centre representing 26 countries. As this gloriously diverse selection of translations from the organisation’s first decade proves, nothing has invigorated poetry in English more than translation. Poets Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi (Sudan, Arabic), Caasha Lul Mohamud Yusuf (Somalia/ Somaliland, Somali), Pedro Serrano (Mexico, Spanish) and Reza Mohammadi (Afghanistan,

Persian) read in the original languages of their poetry. They are joined by poets Clare Pollard, Jamie McKendrick, Katherine Pierpoint, Mark Ford, Maura Dooley, Mimi Khalvati and Sarah Maguire to read their translations. Arranged on a journey from exile to ecstasy, the anthology includes original scripts and poems translated into 23 different languages from Arabic to Zapotec by 45 of the world’s leading poets.

‘This groundbreaking anthology extends the territory of English poetry’ (Carol Ann Duffy) Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall 6pm – 7.30pm Free, but ticketed Please book your free ticket online, by phone or in person (no fees apply).

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Saturday 19 July

We Will Not Be Silent Poetry International introduces a day celebrating poetry for children and young people. 12 noon – 12.30pm

3pm – 4pm

Under fives and their carers are invited to join Hilda Sheehan and the Poetry Library puppets, Federico and Firebird, on their poem rug.

We showcase work from Writer Squads – New Writing South’s flagship project to support the development of young writers across the south-east.

Rug Rhymes for the under fives

Hilda creates interactive, imaginative poetry and storytelling sessions for children of all ages and will lead a short session of nursery rhymes, poems and rhyming stories. 12.30pm – 1pm

Poetry Dance for under fives and families Join us for a poetry dance workshop with Morgan Cloud, a contemporary dance artist hailing from Volcano, Hawai’i, who teaches creative dance to children and adults at the Royal Academy of Dance.

New Writing South Young Writers

The Writer Squads also present their Young Writers Manifesto which was launched in the House of Commons earlier this year. 4.30pm – 4.45pm

Poetry Film

Award-winning filmmaker, founder of Filmpoem, and judge of Shot Through The Heart Poetry Film Competition, Alastair Cook has been working with a group of children over the course of the day. See the poetry film they have created. 5pm – 6pm

Shot Through the Heart Creativity and Climate Change – Children’s Poetry Film World Premiere of the SWITCH Competition Prize Giving Poetry Scores Southbank Centre’s first ever children’s poetry 1.30pm – 2.45pm

Melting icebergs and disappearing rainforests – climate change is affecting us now. Cape Farewell has teamed up with the Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network on the SWITCH: Youth Poetics programme to create four unique poetry soundscapes which immerse the audience in the beauty and vulnerability of our planet.

film competition has received entries from all over the world.

The four winning poems have been set to their own unique score by Hollywood composer David Julyan. Compered by Sabrina Mahfouz.

The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Free

Join our judges, alongside some of the children who helped to judge the competition as they talk through and show their shortlisted films. Then celebrate with us as the winners are announced.

* Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Saturday 19 July

Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe: I Wish I Was Lonely I Wish I Was Lonely is a participatory show about contactability in which the audience commit to leaving their phones on to investigate what it means to participate in communication – or not. There are poems, there are stories, and there is conversation. I Wish I Was Lonely is the new show from Fringe-First winners Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe (following 2011’s The Oh F*ck Moment) that asks how much of ourselves we’ve given up to the new Gods in our pockets. Chris Thorpe is a theatre-maker and Hannah Jane Walker is a poet. Together they make award-winning work that is part performance, part poetry gig and part interactive experience.

‘So cunningly and playfully constructed that it feels like a gift’ ★★★★ (The Guardian)

Saturday 19 July & Sunday 20 July

‘Challenges us to take a step back from our technology-obsessed lives’

Lunch Poems

★★★★ (Time Out)

‘A show full of cleverly-orchestrated audience participation’ ★★★★ (The Scotsman) Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall 12 noon and 2pm £12*

Listen to emerging poets who are buddying with our visiting international poets read in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden. Come and hear new poetry over your lunch break. The Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden 12 noon – 1pm Free

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Saturday 19 July

Brecht and Steffin: Love in a time of exile and war A reading of the love poems of Brecht and Margarete Steffin in new translations by David Constantine. Fleeing from Hitler, Margarete Steffin, Brecht’s lover, collaborator and close comrade, was in exile with Brecht and his family in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Soviet Union. Too ill to continue with them to safety in the USA, she died of tuberculosis in a Moscow clinic on 4 June 1941, aged only 33.

David Constantine and the Brecht translator and editor Tom Kuhn explore the relationship between the two writers in love, in exile and in parting. The poems are published in the Poetry International issue of Modern Poetry in Translation. Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 2.30pm £10*

Actors read the letters exchanged by Brecht and Steffin, accompanied by live music and readings of diaries, letters and prose.

Saturday 19 July

Love after Love: Letter Writing Workshop With Philip Cowell Write letters from the heart to all kinds of people and things, including yourself, in this writing workshop inspired by Derek Walcott’s poem ‘Love After Love’. Experiment with this flexible form that’s a great ally to writers everywhere. Bring a postage stamp or two; we’ll be sending some of your letters through the actual postal system. Philip Cowell is a writer, skipper round town, and part-time clown. He is currently training in mindfulness and he runs the project I Have A Body? J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall 4pm £15* *Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Saturday 19 July

Re: Turning – Rhythm and Poetry Film

Filmpoem

Poetry filmmaker and theorist Sarah Tremlett demonstrates how digital poetry films have revised the techniques of page poetry.

The UK premiere of poetry films of the winning poems of the 2013 National Poetry Competition, alongside four commissioned film poems for Felix Poetry Festival.

Using examples from her own work and selected others, she shows how cyclical rhythms have been integrated into the editing of digital poetry films.

Presented by Filmpoem in collaboration with Felix Poetry Festival and in association with The Poetry Society. The four commissioned poets are David Harsent, John Glenday, Helen Mort and Michael Symmons Roberts.

This event is for poets, visual artists and narrative filmmakers involved in creating and composing poetry films, and attempting to think through a shared language.

The event is hosted by Alastair Cook, Director of Filmpoem, and Judith Palmer, Director of the Poetry Society.

Spirit Level at Royal Festival Hall 5.30pm £8*

The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall 6.30pm – 7.30pm Free

Saturday 19 July

Modern Poetry in Translation Magazine Launch: The Constellation We launch the new Poetry International issue of Modern Poetry in Translation with readings by international poets, including German poet Christine Marendon and Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov. We also read from the magazine, which includes new translations by John Berger and poems from Chinese, Danish and Zapotec. Modern Poetry in Translation has always had a special relationship with Poetry International – stretching back to 1967, when Ted Hughes set up the festival and Queen Elizabeth Hall was filled to the rafters with the Poetry International audience.

Come and recreate the effect and enjoy readings from three poets in their prime, including Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov. Presented by Modern Poetry in Translation. Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall 6pm £5* @litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Saturday 19 July

Do Write Immediately: Poets’ Love Letters Discover some of the most beautiful letters ever written in this dramatised reading. ‘I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett …’ begins the ﬁrst love letter to poet Elizabeth Barrett from her future husband, fellow poet Robert Browning. Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s letters, Keats’ to Fanny Brawne, Gertrude Stein’s to Alice B Toklas, and those by the poets Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Paul Laurence Dunbar, D H Lawrence, Charles Olson, Alexander Pope, Walt Whitman, Philip Larkin and W B Yeats are among some of the most famous in literary history. These letters reveal as much about the time and their writing as they do the heat, passion and despair of courtship. Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 7.30pm £10*

Saturday 19 July

PoetryFilm: Sounds of Love An evening of sound-informed poetry films and live performances celebrating sounds of love and love of sounds. Conceived, curated and introduced by Malgorzata Kitowski, Founder and Director of PoetryFilm (www.poetryfilm.org). Spirit Level at Royal Festival Hall 7.45pm £10*

Sunday 20 July

The Embodied Imagination Poetry and Mindfulness workshop with Maitreyabandhu To write good poems you need a fit mind, since imagination grows out of direct awareness rather than the whirligig of thought. Awareness needs to be grounded in the body and in the physical senses if it is to ripen into imagination.

Sunday 20 July

Lunch Poems

This workshop, led by the Buddhist poet Maitreyabandhu, focuses on developing mindfulness as well as deepening the mind in meditation, so that poetry can emerge from that deeper, more integral space.

See p.13 for details

The workshop includes meditation and mindfulness instruction and practice – and then writing out of that.

Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden 12 noon – 1pm Free

J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall 11am £15*

Sunday 20 July

Poetry Picnic Bring your picnic and your picnic rug for an afternoon of interactive workshops. Join poets such as Julia Bird and others as they read to you, help you to write poems, and create some fabulous new poetry concoctions on a summer afternoon. Jubilee Gardens 12 noon – 4pm Free

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Sunday 20 July

What if not transformation: Responses to Rilke: Poetry After Rilke Post-Show Discussion Bhatt, Grünbein, McGuinness, Paterson and Leeder

Bhatt, Grünbein, McGuinness, Paterson and Leeder

A stellar cast of poets from Germany and UK present their poetic responses to Rainer Maria Rilke – one of the greats of European literature in the 20 th century. His life and poetry have inspired poets from Auden to Zwetayava,and that legacy continues today, 100 years after the first translations of his work appeared in English.

Rainer Maria Rilke’s influence on modern literature is inescapable and reads like a roll-call of the 20 th-century greats.

This reading includes newly commissioned work by leading contemporary poets that examine the iconic figure himself, as well as translations in the widest and most energetic sense: from versions of Rilke’s great classics, to responses which work with Rilke’s originals in a much bolder and more provocative way. Curated and introduced by Translator-inResidence, Karen Leeder. Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 12 noon £10*

His work has inspired poets from Auden to Zwetayava along with filmmakers, artists, thinkers and composers. His curious, itinerant life – and especially his relationships with a series of creative women – make his fraught biography fascinating. Though Rilke had little sympathy for the Anglo-Saxon world (he despised the English and hated America with a vengeance), he has become the German-language writer most often translated, versioned and taken up by poets in English today. Following on from the reading: What if not transformation: Poetry after Rilke poets Don Paterson, Durs Grünbein, Sujata Bhatt and Patrick McGuinness discuss with Karen Leeder what has brought them to Rilke and his work, and what the abiding fascination with him says about poetry today. The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 2pm Free

Sunday 20 July

Ross Sutherland: Standby For Tape Back Up Show And Tell Present What did Ross Sutherland discover when he found an old videotape in the loft two years ago after the death of his grandad? On the tape were the things they’d watched together – one-and-a-half films, one quiz show and two sitcoms. Somehow it became the story of his life. Inspired by the 1980s teenage experiment of matching up The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Ross Sutherland draws out a series of stories from his life, synchronising words, second-for-second, with the images behind him, using nothing but found-footage from the videotape belonging to his granddad.

Sunday 20 July

National Poetry Competition Reading

The Poetry Society Presents Winners of this year’s National Poetry Competition, Linda France, Carolyn Jess-Cooke and Tom Warner, give a celebratory reading. Over 12,000 previously unpublished individual poems are submitted annually from 80 countries for this long-running award.

‘Come and see what happens when fragments from old films and TV shows are looped, destroyed, and then re-built The poets also have a short discussion about poetry competitions, and what makes a into a powerful audio-visual poem on winning poem. memory, death and reruns’ ★★★★ (The Independent) Spirit Level (Blue Room) at Royal Festival Hall 12.30pm £8* 18

Presented in partnership with The Poetry Society. Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall 2pm £8*

@litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Sunday 20 July

Literary Activism: Is poetry the strongest form of protest? Presented by English PEN Poets from around the globe share their views and personal experiences, in discussion with Harriet Gilbert

Sunday 20 July

A Matter of Line and Breath Film and Poetry Workshop with Simon Barraclough

Join poet Simon Barraclough on an interactive journey through the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes are just some of the cinematic greats that the duo created. Selecting key scenes, Simon encourages participants to watch, discuss, and write in this interactive workshop. Presented in partnership with The Poetry School. J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall 2pm – 4.30pm £15*

English PEN brings together Tamil poet and activist Kutti Revathi (India), Kurdish poet and columnist Bejan Matur (Turkey), Serhiy Zhadan (Ukraine) and hip-hop artist, poet and reporter Mohamed El Deeb (Egypt) to discuss their different commitments to activism and how literature can most effectively be applied to political protest. Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall 4pm £8*

Sunday 20 July

Life Writing (with Nude)

Creative Writing Workshop with Philip Cowell It looks like a life drawing class, but we’ll be writing, not drawing the nude, Paul Cerigo. Bring your best I’m-cool-with-that face for this real-life writing experiment, the first of its kind in the world ever. Working with a nude model as our muse, we will challenge our words and sentences with the wriggly subtleties of the body. Philip Cowell is a writer, skipper round town, and part-time clown. He is currently training in mindfulness and he runs the project I Have A Body? Spirit Level (Blue Room) at Royal Festival Hall 4.30pm £15*

* Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Sunday 20 July

Poetry Library Book Club Sujata Bhatt: Collected Poems Our Poetry Library Book Club looks at the work of a truly international poet, Sujata Bhatt, who is reading at this year’s Poetry International. Born in India in 1956, Sujata Bhatt emigrated with her family to the United States in 1968, and currently lives in Germany. Her Collected Poems (Carcanet, 2013) gathers together four decades of work that explores this divided heritage.

She is also celebrated for the sensuality and eroticism of her poetry, making her the perfect poet to get to know during Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love. Saison Poetry Library at Royal Festival Hall 5pm Free, but ticketed. Please book your free ticket online, by phone or in person (no fees apply).

Sunday 20 July

Poetry Society Lecture: The Poet as Witness Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché gives the Poetry Society Lecture, exploring how poets have been shaped by extreme events. From William Blake caught up in the Gordon Riots, to Emily Dickinson living through the American Civil War, or Thom Gunn watching his friends die of AIDS, what has been the impact of being an eye-witness to suffering? American poet Forché examines poems composed at the limits of human endurance, using the work of John MacRae and Isaac Rosenberg, who fought on the battlefields of World War One, to dissidents who lived with surveillance, internment and exile, such as Russian’s Anna Akmatova and Osip Mandelstam. Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 5.15pm £10*

Sunday 20 July

Plurilingua - Poetry Wales 50 th volume launch Wales’ two languages and its rich literary culture offer its poets a huge range of opportunities to make it new. Join Nia Davies, new editor of Wales’ international quarterly Poetry Wales and guests to launch the 50 th volume of the magazine and hear some of the new plurilingual poetry from Wales. Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall 6pm Free, but ticketed. Please book your free ticket online, by phone or in person (no fees apply). @litsouthbank #PoetryInternational

Sunday 20 July

Love Each Other Or Perish 50 greatest love poems Hear 50 of the greatest international love poems from the last 50 years. Actors and poets from across the globe come together for a celebratory reading. What does love give us? It gives us hope, courage, deﬁance. Through these poems we look at the world as it is now, through human qualities that counteract hate: love, empathy, humanity. Royal Festival Hall 7.30pm £15* £12*

Monday 21 July

Dance-Poetry Workshop, with Helen Calcutt

Rilke Translation Masterclass: French

Écriture corporelle a ‘bodily writing’

With Patrick McGuinness

A one-day workshop looking at the physicality and musicality of words, phrases, sounds and feelings to explore how we can write with our bodies. Dancer and poet Helen Calcutt introduces new ways of thinking about poetry and dance, bringing the ideas, patterns and shapes of language to life. Participants use professional dance techniques, and are inspired by the natural rhythms and sounds of words. Suitable for poets, dancers, non-dancers and non-poets alike. Spirit Level (Blue Room) at Royal Festival Hall 10am – 3.30pm £25*

Come and learn about the ‘French’ Rainer Maria Rilke. For the last seven years of his life Rilke lived in a French-speaking area of Switzerland and wrote a body of work in French. Although nothing like as many as the German poems, collections such as The Valaisian Quatrains and the sequences ‘Windows’ and ‘Roses’ from the collection Orchards have had an inordinate impact, inspiring poets like Jo Shapcott, Paul Batchelor and Patrick McGuinness to pen translations and versions. Come and learn about the French Rilke, examine the responses of key poets to him, and try your hand at translating and versioning him in a workshop with poet, academic and translator Patrick McGuinness. J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall 12.30pm – 2pm £15*

Monday 21 July

Global Love Poem Opening Join us to see the new poem made in our exhibition in full and to hear the poets involved read the finished piece. There is also the first showing of the time-lapse film made throughout this year’s Poetry International. The exhibition continues throughout Festival of Love, Southbank Centre’s summer festival.

See p.27 for m ore information ab out

Global Love Poem: An Exhibition of Live Writing

Saison Poetry Library at Royal Festival Hall 12pm – 1pm Free 22

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Monday 21 July

Rilke Translation Masterclass: German

David Constantine 70 th Birthday Celebration

With Karen Leeder Rainer Maria Rilke is one of the most influential poets writing in German. He has inspired poets and translators for over a century and a rich tradition of poets such as W H Auden, Robert Lowell, William Gass and Don Paterson have transformed his voice for their own age. Come and learn about Rilke and the poets who have translated him and try your hand at translating and recreating him yourself in a workshop with academic and translator Karen Leeder. J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall 3.30pm – 5pm £15*

Join us for this event in celebration of a pioneer of modern international poetry, David Constantine. For 10 years, Constantine, with his wife Helen, edited Modern Poetry in Translation while continuing his own work in bringing a wide range of poets into English, including Brecht, Jaccottet, Pindar and Hölderlin. Renowned as a short-story writer and poet, his most recent collection is Elder, published this year by Bloodaxe. Join us as we raise a glass to his 70 th year and hear from David himself in a live reading. Saison Poetry Library at Royal Festival Hall 4pm - 5.30pm Free, but booking essential - email: specialedition@poetrylibrary.org.uk

* Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Installations throughout Poetry International

Monday 21 July

Friday 18 – Monday 21 July

Poetry International Finale

Marginalia Machine

Kleinzahler, Grünbein, Bhatt, Paterson, Zhadan and Matur We close this year’s Poetry International festival with a celebration of some of the finest international poetry. The finale features August Kleinzahler, Durs Grünbein, Sujata Bhatt, Don Paterson, Serhiy Zhadan and Bejan Matur. Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall 6pm £10*

The Marginalia Machine is a drawing robot which reproduces archival margin notes from the Bloodaxe Archive of poetry. The Bloodaxe Archive is an important record of contemporary poetry which is currently being catalogued and digitised at Newcastle University. The Marginalia Machine is one output of a research project which, amongst other things, is looking at new and innovative ways of allowing people to engage with the archive. As new items are scanned in, the machine redraws the marginalia without the original text and provides a reference number for the new item. By doing so, it is intended to provide new ‘paths’ allowing for speculation and creativity. Level 2 Foyer (Green Side) at Royal Festival Hall 10 am – 11pm Free

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Friday 18 – Monday 21 July

Leaves of Love

Conversations for an Archive

Artist Kirsty Harris invites you to enter her forest of love. Taking inspiration from some of the greatest love poems of all time and the seven types of love being celebrated for this summer’s Festival of Love, we invite you to leave your leaf of love on a tree. Level 2 Foyer (Green Side) at Royal Festival Hall 10 am – 11pm Free

An innovative collage-film, presenting extracts from new interviews with leading British, American and Irish poets. The film offers insights into the lives, works and preoccupations of some of our most celebrated poets, all of whom share the common ground of being published, or having been published, by Bloodaxe Books. Drawing on the Bloodaxe Archive – housed at Newcastle University and the subject of a major AHRC research project based in the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts – this film explores the process of writing as well as offering up poems in process, with poets reading from their own work. Level 2 Foyer (Green Side) at Royal Festival Hall 10am – 11pm Free

* Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Installations throughout Poetry International

Friday 18 – Monday 21 July

Friday 18 – Sunday 20 July

Filmpoem

Kārvān: Caravan

Filmpoem was founded by artist Alastair Cook in 2009 and is dedicated to the filming of words.

Together we travel – find out how...

The combination of film and poetry is an attractive one. For the poet, perhaps a hope that the filmmaker will bring something to the poem: a new audience, a visual attraction, the laying of way markers. For the filmmaker, a fixed parameter to respond to, the power of a text sparking the imagination with visual connections and metaphor. Here presented on screen are some of the poetry films created by Filmpoem. Level 2 Foyer (Green Side) at Royal Festival Hall 10am – 11pm Free

Traditionally, a ‘caravan’ or ‘kārvān’ would be a group of people travelling together, experiencing the open road, encountering new and challenging things. The ‘kārvān’ would embrace the changing landscape, unknown people and their trades, it would taste different foods, learn new skills and acquire languages from other cultures. Today, you too can travel with the ‘kārvān’. Welcome to a world of many literary adventures where boundaries melt into lands of the spoken word, where islands rise out of the sea, and mountains reach up towards lyrical blue skies. All you need to pack is a desire to travel off the beaten track and a compass which never settles in a single direction. Welcome to the kārvān! Southbank Centre Square Doors 12 noon – 6pm Free

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The Saison Poetry Library The Saison Poetry Library is the largest collection of modern and contemporary poetry in the UK and includes poetry in translation from all over the world. The library has been described as ‘one of the great libraries of the world’ and is open throughout the festival, with two special events on the final day (please see p. 22–23 for details). Come along to find books on display from the poets taking part in the festival and browse the collection of over 200 current poetry magazines. The library is open to all and free join on proof of a UK address.

Global Love Poem: An Exhibition of Live Writing During Poetry International the Poetry Library’s exhibition space is turned into a giant page. Visiting poets from all over the world are being asked to contribute a line towards a new collaborative sonnet. The poem grows throughout the festival as lines are added by hand and the poem takes its visual form. Come along to see the poem take shape and see poets adding their words to the wall. The exhibition also includes PoetryFilm Blackboard, a participatory text/art project devised by Malgorzata Kitowski. Visitors are invited to participate by writing words on a blackboard using chalk. A photograph is taken of each line and a poetry film created using a selection of photographs taken from the project. This participatory exhibition is on display Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 12 noon and 2pm in the Poetry Library when visiting poets can also be seen writing their lines on the wall. Saison Poetry Library at Royal Festival Hall Open 11am – 8pm Free

FRIDAY 18 – Monday 21 July

I Leave This At Your Ear For the Saison Poetry Library’s 60th birthday celebrations in October last year, over 80 contemporary poets recorded one of their poems for the library’s archives. We invite you to sit at our listening wall and hear poets reading their own work and some of the greatest love poems of all time. Includes new work by Andrew Motion, Mimi Khalvati, Alan Hollinghurst, Emily Berry, Vahni Capildeo, Heather Phillipson and Carol Rumens. Royal Festival Hall Foyer 10am – 11pm Free

See p.2 2 for how to view th new po e em in f ull and to hear the poe ts involve d read the finishe d piece

* Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Workshops during Poetry International Thursday 19 & 26 June and 3, 10 & 17 July

Figures of Speech

A short poetry course with poet Tamar Yoseloff inspired by Hayward Gallery’s summer exhibition, The Human Factor. -> p.6

Friday 18 July

One Shot from the Heart Look at a poem through the lens of a video camera and learn to make on-screen versions of your work. -> p.9

Saturday 19 July

Love after Love: Letter Writing Workshop With Philip Cowell

Sunday 20 July

Life Writing (with Nude): Creative Writing Workshop with Philip Cowell Learn how to write, rather than draw, the nude. -> p.19

Monday 21 July

Dance-Poetry Workshop, with Helen Calcutt: Écriture corporelle a ‘bodily writing’ Explore new ways of using the physicality and musicality of words, phrases, sounds and feelings. -> p.22

Monday 21 July

Experiment with the ﬂexible form of the love letter. -> p.13

Rilke Translation Masterclass: French

Sunday 20 July

With Patrick McGuinness

The Embodied Imagination

Poetry and Mindfulness workshop with Maitreyabandhu Cultivate your poetic imagination with this Buddhist poet. -> p.16

Sunday 20 July

A Matter of Line and Breath Film and Poetry Workshop with Simon Barraclough

Learn about, translate and respond to the ‘French’ Rainer Maria Rilke. -> p.22

Monday 21 July

Rilke Translation Masterclass: German With Karen Leeder Learn about, translate and recreate one of the most inﬂuential poets writing in German.

-> p.23

Watch, discuss and write around key ﬁlm scenes from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. -> p.19

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Poetry International features Ahren Warner Alastair Cook Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi Ana Blandiana Anne Michaels August Kleinzahler Bejan Matur Breis Burn After Reading Caasha Lul Mohamud Yusuf Caroline Bergvall Carolyn Forché Carolyn Jess-Cooke Cheryl Moskowitz Chris Thorpe Christine Marendon Clare Pollard Dan Gorman Dannielle Harper David Constantine Don Paterson Durs Grünbein El Deeb Hannah Walker

Helen Calcutt Hilda Sheehan Ingar Zach Inua Ellams Jamie McKendrick Jay Bernard Joelle Taylor Joshua Siegel Julia Bird Karen Leeder Kate Sweeney Katherine Pierpoint Kayo Chingonyi Kutti Revathi Linda France Maitreyabandhu Malgorzata Kitowski Mark Ford Maura Dooley Mechanical Moon Mimi Khalvati Morgan Cloud New Writing South Writing Squads Nikola Madzirov

Patrick McGuinness Paul Cerigo Pedro Serrano Philip Cowell Reza Mohammadi Robert Hass Ross Sutherland Ryan Van Winkle Sabrina Mahfouz Sarah Maguire Sarah Tremlett Sasha Dugdale Serhiy Zhadan Simon Barraclough SLAMbassadors UK Spoken Word Educators Sujata Bhatt Tamar Yoseloff Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel Tom Kuhn Tom Warner Warsan Shire Yemisi

* Transaction fees applicable, £1.75 online, £2.75 over the phone, no transaction fee for in-person bookings at Southbank Centre Ticket Offices or for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

Notes

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Grateful thanks to: Ledbury Poetry Festival for their generosity and for enabling us to invite Robert Hass Modern Poetry in Translation magazine, the official and treasured magazine partner of Poetry International The Poetry Society for both the Poetry Society Lecture and National Poetry Competition events English PEN for their boundless energy, ideas and for co-organising the discussion on Literary Activism The Poetry Translation Centre for the launch of MyVoice anthology and ten amazing years Poetry Wales for organising and launching their magnificent 50 th issue Karen Leeder, Poetry international Translatorin-Residence and curator of all the Rilke events and workshops. The Poetry Film Committee who generously gave their time and ideas to this year’s poetry film programme. The Saison Poetry Library and Southbank Centre staff who helped make this happen: the Poetry International Team, including Jude Kelly, James Runcie, Shân Maclennan, Anna Selby, Bea Colley, Chris McCabe, Rachel Mellor, Patrice Gerrard, Sunita Pandya, Beth Burgess, Emily Webb, Helen Faulkner, Susannah Stevenson, Eleanor Stevenson, Nathalie Alburjas, Katie Toms and Amber Price-Rees.

How to book Online & phone: southbankcentre.co.uk/ poetryinternational 0844 847 9910 9am – 8pm daily Transaction fees apply (excluding free events). No transaction fees for Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

In person: Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office 10am – 8pm daily

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