Beyond Text Innovative Poetry Festival: Friday

Beyond Text is filled with events for poetry aficionados and lovers of experimental art, but is also extremely accessible to people who don’t have much (or any!) experience with poetry. Check our innovative poetry workshops for beginners.

This event will feature two poetry readings with Fran Lock, Matt Martin, Stephen Emmerson and SJ Fowler. It will conclude with an expert panel that will discuss the techniques of writing for performance.

6-6.50pm
Reading 1 - Fran Lock, Matt Martin

7-7.50pm
Reading 2 - Stephen Emmerson, SJ Fowler

8-8.45pm
Writing for performance
Expert panel with Stephen Emmerson, SJ Fowler, Fran Lock and Matt Martin.
Hosted by Michał Kamil Piotrowski.

Download the full programme and view the festival website here (suitable for desktop and tablets).

Stephen Emmerson is a lyric poet whose work is often described as innovative or experimental. He is concerned with form and the boundaries of language. His most recent practice explores personal history, trauma, and the nature and geography of Romney Marsh.

SJ Fowler is a writer, poet and artist who lives in London. His writing has explored subjects as diverse as prescription drugs, films, fight sports, museums, prisons and animals. As of summer 2021, he has published nine collections of poetry, six of artworks, six of collaborative poetry plus volumes of selected essays and selected collaborations.

Fran Lock is the author of numerous chapbooks and nine poetry collections, most recently Hyena! Jackal! Dog! (Pamenar Press, 2021) and Final Hyena! (Poetry Bus Press, 2021). The Hyena! cycle is concerned with therianthropy – the magical transformation of people into animals, as a metaphor for the embodied effects of sudden and traumatic loss.

Matt Martin researches and teaches at Birkbeck, University of London, where he is working on uses of dialect in avant-garde poetry. He loves exploring forms that transgress the norms of lyric poetry: creating a new dialect out of the dialect of his native Yorkshire; writing poetry for inscription on unusual surfaces such as scrolls, geometric shapes, or fungi; or collaging material from science, economics and pop culture.

Age recommendation:
18+

This ticket does not include the 'Erase to Create' experimental poetry workshop that explores erasure poetry. To attend this workshop with Michał Kamil Piotrowski at 5-5.45pm book here.

Beyond Text's COVID-19 policy

We want to make sure that everyone is safe. We would please encourage you to do a lateral flow test before attending and do not come if you show any symptoms. We would also encourage you to wear a mask to keep others safe. Thank you for your understanding!