Alison Grace Koehler is a stained glass poet. These two mediums cross, fragment, break, and get rebuilt in her work. In live, reflective, evolving ways. Making windows with words, and soldering poems into spaces. She has performed or exhibited at festivals, galleries, and other environments including Marché de la Poesie, Slant Events, Cité International des Arts, Irruzioni, The Bloomsday Festival, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, Stillpoint Spaces, Carbone 17, and the Edinburgh Art Festival. Alison lives in Paris, and her first book, Stained Glass Poetry, was published in 2020 by Paris Heretics. Her work can be found at alisonkoehler.com, @alisongracekoehler (instagram & facebook), and @AGraceColor (twitter)

Indran Amirthanayagam produced a “world’ record in 2020 by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose,Press, New York) Sur l’île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo(Mesa Redonda, Lima). He has just published Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese,Haitian Creole, and has twenty poetry books; a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly (www.beltwaypoetry.com) and helps curate http://www.ablucionistas.com. He won the Paterson Prize; received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, and US/Mexico Fund For Culture and the MacDowell Colony. Hosts the Poetry Channel on Youtube (https://youtubm/user/indranam). e.co

JENNIFER BLOWDRYER got her dumb name from her SF punk band, the Blowdryers, in 1977. She’s written columns for Maximum rock’n’roll, New York press, and downtown, and her books include: white trash debutante, modern English : a slang dictionary, and Good Advice for young trendy people of all ages. She remains a band singer/writer, recent releases include Blowdryer Punk Soul: Pinot Grigio and 4 Essays – the most harmless person you are ever going to meet in your life, Bent Boy Press, SF, 2018. She lives in NYCs East Village.

SpokenWord theme (should you want to follow it): Thieves

If you’re having trouble signing up for the mailing list, text me your email and I’ll add you.

+33 626 90 13 26

Cheers,

David (Organiser)

Theme: Trouble

Sign up from 8pm

SpokenWord begins 8.45pm

Theme – Ghosts / les phantoms

Theme – MASKS

We’re back.

For the first time in 16 months, back at the Chat Noir.

Coming home.

For the last 2 Mondays in July.

SpokenWord:

Performance poetry. Lire vivant. Poésie sonore. Stand up. Monologue. Stories. Beat poetry. Spoken word. English. Français. Your own original texts. Old texts from Rimbaud to Dr Seuss, Beowulf to Gil Scott-Heron. Chacun a son mot à dire. Make the words come alive. All languages welcome. Acoustic songs also welcome.

WICE have asked me to run my successful poetry class again,

Writing Poetry – Craft and Inspiration

starting 30th September.

This will be a hybrid class – you can attend either in person or online. That way we can run it successfully despite Covid, strikes or bad weather. You can attend any or all of the classes online, whether it’s just that you’re outside Paris or it’s because you need to self-isolate.

Course description:

A poet needs both something to write about and skill in writing. We will focus on these two themes so important in strong poetry – finding inspiration and mastering elements of craft. Each week we will do some writing in class and a homework task will be set so that we can share what we’ve written the following week. Teaching will cover how to write stronger poetry and where to find sources of inspiration. All levels of experience welcome.

I’m confident the class will thrive as it has in previous years – developing a strong sense of mutual support and community around the writing and sharing of poetry.

Maximum of 7 participants.

Dates and times:

It will be 3.30pm – 5.30pm every Wednesday for 6 weeks.

• Sept 30th
• Oct 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
• Nov 4th

Fees: €195 euros + WICE membership fee of €25/30/50

Staying safe:

In the classroom we’ll wear masks and be 1m apart. Everyone will have their own desk and chair and surfaces will be wiped down. If anyone develops symptoms that could be Covid then they can still attend online. Similarly if they have been in close contact with someone contagious.

About the teacher:

David Barnes is a British poet who ran a weekly writers’ workshop at Shakespeare & Company for a decade and organises and runs the open mike poetry night SpokenWord Paris, now in its 15th year. He is the Editor in Chief of The Bastille literary magazine and was co-editor of Strangers in Paris – New Writing Inspired by the City of Light (2011, Tightrope Books) which included work by such writers as Alice Notley, Jorie Graham and John Berger. His poetry has been published in various magazines. He is a teacher and psychotherapist.

In August he was the featured poet at Literary Lavatory, Obejvak, Prague.

Signing up for the course:

Register online here
or contact WICE and give the course code or name:

WS301 Writing Poetry – Craft and Inspiration

WICE: Where Internationals Connect in English
www.wice-paris.org
Tel 01 45 66 75 50
10 rue Tiphaine, 75015 Paris

Cheers all,
David Barnes