Now in its eighth year, the annual Surrey University Poetry festival is curated by this year’s Poet in Residence James Davies. A day-long wonder blast of innovative poetry from the following takes place in Guildford, a stone's throw away from London.
Featuring rare readings by American legends Tina Darragh and P. Inman.
Programme for Poetry Festival
In the Foyer: 11:00 (until 1.30): Peter Jaeger durational performance
All below in Comedy Room: 11.10: Introduction to the festival 11.20-12.00: Surrey students & Scott Thurston 12.10-12.50: Rob Holloway & Rebecca Cremin 1.40-2.20: Sharon Kivland/Clémentine Bedos & Tina Darragh 2.30-3.10: Lila Matsumoto & P. Inman 3.30-4.10: Amy Cutler & Philip Terry 4.20-5.00: Emma Cocker & Emma Bennett
From 7:00 in Glass Room: Tom Jenks performs in the evening soiree – exact time TBA
Clémentine Bedos is a multidisciplinary artist whose recent shows include a solo exhibition at the Constance Howard Gallery, London ‘Contagious Hystories’. Currently exploring themes of identity, binaries and the Other
Emma Bennett’s recent performances include durational piano pieces, an exploration of pining for soft things and interpreting the words of birdsong
Emma Cocker is a writer-artist whose work explores the slippage between writing on page, to performance in time, between still and moving image, between individual and collective action
Rebecca Cremin draws on traditions of live art, Fluxus, performance writing and site-specific work using language as an object to expose, to investigate, to locate
Amy Cutler is a multi-disciplinary practitioner with a special interest in geohumanities – the engagement between geography and arts/humanities
Tina Darragh is one of the original members of the Language group of poets. Her work explores class, race and ecology
Rob Holloway is currently exploring sonnets and prose poems, and has been a DJ on Resonance FM
P. Inman is associated with language and minimalist poetry. His work has been described as ‘thick with meanings that never quite complete themselves; full of social ironies and a sly and biting humor’
Peter Jaeger will perform a durational version of his latest book Midamble, on the lawn at G Live. The book concerns his recently completed walk on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela
Sharon Kivland is an artist who has recently been called a poet, five times, to her surprise. Her work considers what is put at stake by art, poliics, and psychoanalysis
Lila Matsumoto’s poetry explores dailyness through allegory and literalness
Tom Jenks is often verbivocovisual and always hilarious
Philip Terry uses Oulipian methods and translation to examine the crimes of bureaucracy and management
Scott Thurston’s current work responds to ongoing encounters with various dance and movement practices including Five Rhythms, Movement Medicine and Open Floor work
Students from The University of Surrey have been exploring a range of poetic strategies during the workshop series Making Things Happen including the use of diaries, minimalism, Oulipo and collaboration.
