Kind Reminder: “The Many Hats of SpokenWord,” an evening of poetry, tonight (19/12), 7:30 – 10 at Berkeley Books of Paris!

The Many Hats of SpokenWord: a special, unprecedented gathering of like-minded, stellar poets David Barnes, Alberto Rigettini, David Leo Sirois, Bruce Sherfield, & Troy Yorke.  Saturday, 19th December, 2015, 7:30 PM @ Berkeley Books of Paris – 8 rue Casimir Delavigne, Métro Odéon (lines 4 & 10).

The hosts of SpokenWord Paris, Open Secret, the Other Writers’ Group (at Shakespeare and Company), and the editors of THE BASTILLE magazine, all reading together at beautiful Berkeley Books.  Hear them for more than 5 minutes at a time!  Join us, and then we gonna storm the streets and bars of Paris for an impromptu SpokenWord Xmas party…

David Barnes is the founder of SpokenWord Paris and the Other Writers’ Group. He co-edited the anthology Strangers in Paris: New Writing Inspired by the City of Light (Tightrope Books, 2011) and self-publishes The Bastille Lit Magazine. He won Shakespeare & Company’s Travel In Words short story competition in 2006. His poems have been published in Spot Lit Magazine, 34th Parallel, Upstairs At Duroc, Retort Magazine and elsewhere.

Alberto Rigettini, Italian, is a poet, playwright, screenwriter, poetry pimp and freak-show barker. He is host of “SpokenWord Paris”, the fight club “Writers Get Violent” and “The Poetry Brothel in Paris”. He has been awarded The Lorca in Translation Competition, the Troubadour International Poetry Prize and his writing is included in the anthology Strangers in Paris: New Writing Inspired by the City of Light. He is currently writing a poetry collection in 5 settings: London, Spain, Italy, U.S. and France.

David Leo Sirois:
Host of (SpokenWord 2) Open Secret and doorman at SpokenWord. Born in New Brunswick, Canada, and grew up across the border in Madawaska, Maine, as a dual citizen. Living in Paris for the last 4 & 1/2 years, his poems have appeared in Anglophone Parisian magazines THE BASTILLE, Belleville Park Pages, and Paris Lit Up, The Keystone Anthology (UK), Radical Lines From a Lit City (anthology by Bob-Davis), as well as the French journal Terre à Ciel; also the US-based anthology Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writing from Rising Generations, Silo, Poesy, Ibbetson Street Press, Echoes: A Northern Maine Journal, and more – 33 publications between the two countries. TimeOut Paris described him as “a kind of Woody Allen in rhymes, who captivates the audience with a totally personal science of recitation.”  His forthcoming, 21-years-in-the-making first book, Silver Shiver Fragment, will be published by SpokenWord Paris.

Bruce Sherfield is an American artist living in Paris. He is a co-editor/designer of The Bastille and co-runs the Other Writers’ Group at Shakespeare & Company. He has been an invited artist/speaker to mentor young poets in Africa three times in 2015 courtesy of the US Embassy. His band, the Sophia Lorenians, will release its 2nd album, Sex,Tape and Girls, this fall. He is a professional voice artist and actor. He loves juicing with his friends (and enemies) and teaching his son about typewriters. Quote: “I firmly propose that every creative community can only be as strong as its least passionate members.”

Troy Yorke. Performer, Writer, Coach, Composer, Pianist, Actor. His poetry has been published internationally in small magazines and was selected for Australia’s Vine Leaves Literary Journal “Best of 2013 Anthology”. He is on the editorial team for the Paris-based magazine THE BASTILLE. His first collection of poetry, Hole in My Side, was published by corrupt press in 2014.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Amy Hollowell is our guest poet on 7th Dec

may2015Born and raised in Minneapolis, Amy Hollowell has long been a part of the Anglophone poetry scene in Paris, where she has lived since 1982. She is the author of several poetry collections and chapbooks, most recently Here We Are (Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, 2015), Giacomettrics (corrupt press, 2012) and Peneloping (corrupt press, 2011). She is a former student of the writing program at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, founded by Chogyam Trungpa in Boulder, Colorado. In addition, she works as a journalist and translator and has been on the staff of the International Herald Tribune (now called theInternational New York Times) since 1983. A longtime practitioner and teacher of Zen Buddhism, in 2004 she founded the Wild Flower Zen group, which she continues to lead in France and Portugal.

Posted in Special guests | Leave a comment

November’s gone. Some pictures to remember it.

Photos taken by Sabine Dundure during these November Mondays:

Posted in SpokenWord report | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sebastian Marx guest stand up at SpokenWord this Monday

Sebastian is an American expat and stand up comedian living in Paris who performs his complete One Man Show in both French and English every Sunday at La Nouvelle Seine in Paris 75005. Every Friday, he hosts “The New York Comedy Night” a selection of the best English-speaking stand up comedy in Paris.

He also has a weekly segment on the French television show Le Grand 8 on the Channel D8.

He is excited to participate at SpokenWord because he thoroughly enjoys speaking words.

Posted in Special guests | Leave a comment

“After a Night of Terror, Poets Rewrite Their Love Affair With Paris”. An article by Chris Newens on Narratively.

This article on Narratively talks about a group of poets in Paris during this period of terror. You might recognize poets like Alberto Rigettini, David Barnes, Josh Cake, the Poetry Brothel’s Crew and many others, including yourself, downstairs au Chat Noir or in the Caves Saint Sabin. Click here.

Posted in Interesting things and press, SpokenWord report, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Monday Nov 23rd… steve dalachinsky is our guest poet

The theme is “Night”
And our guest is steve dalachinsky

steve dalachinsky was born in brooklyn after the last big war – has managed to survive lots of little wars – is a recent recipient of a chevelier d’ordre des arts et des lettres – his recent books include flying home a collabortion with visual artis sig bang schmidt (paris lit up press 2015) and fool`s gold (feral press 2014). his latest cds are fallout of dreams (roguart 2014) and ec(h)o-system (bambam records 2015). forthcoming from overpass press in 2016 – the invisible ray.

Posted in Special guests | Leave a comment

Update – Other Writers’ Group today

Update to time & place.

Other Writers’ Group today 6.30pm-8.30pm.
Meet in front of Shakespeare & Co.


We’re still going to have a writer’s workshop for anyone who needs to come together, talk or reach out in a time of hardship.
Shakespeare & Co have closed for the day. So w
e’ll meet in front of the shop at the normal time 6.30pm and go from there. 37 rue de la Bucherie opposite Notre Dame.

Contact (if you can’t find us): David 06 26 90 13 26

CND 2
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Other Writers’ Group today

Other Writers’ Group today 6pm-8pm.

We’re still going to have a writer’s workshop for anyone who needs to come together, talk or reach out in a time of hardship.
At a slightly earlier time – 6pm to 8pm – because the shop is closing early.
At Shakespeare & Co, 37 rue de la Bucherie opposite Notre Dame.

David & Bruce

CND

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

This day I need gentleness and friendship

SWI

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Kindly reminder: Open Secret, tonight at Le Bistrot des Artistes, “Risk it!” with La Copine de Ferdinand!

“Risk it!” is tonight’s topic at Open Secret, the open-eyed, open-eared open mic for performers of every ilk (yes, I feel ilky today, sayeth David Leo), at Le Bistrot des Artistes in the Latin Quarter, where “Amor vincit omnia,” precisely at 6 rue des Anglais (a pale, skinny passageway that pokes Boulevard Saint Germain on one side & rue Lagrange on the other).  At 8:30 rolling sign-up sparks up, & at 9 the conflagration (congregation?) of creativity begins, down in the cool stone “cave.”

We are all quite fortunate to have a particular professional mystery woman presenting her featured performance tonight, in the character of La Copine de Ferdinand.  You may have seen a 5-minute teaser of this act at SpokenWord (our Mother Ship), or at Edouardo & Friends – involving odd props such as a fish bowl & a roll of toilet paper.  Whether you have had a glimpse or not, it is worth a goooood long look at our special guest: a full-time actress, performance artist & comedian.  Unforgettable!

La Copine de Ferdinand takes countless artistic risks, like Walt Whitman when he almost wrote “I Hear the Bank of America Singing,” saying so subversively: “I will go down to my bank by the river, & make myself undisguised & naked – I am mad to be in contact with my cash, it is for my fingers forever, so youthful & crisp I could request a red wine vinaigrette to sprinkle upon it!”

Come, make a leap, take a risk!  If you wish.  I will preach what I practice in the park around my corner – my newest, bestest song, “City With No Moon.”  I’ll leave you with a lyric…

_______________________

When will I see whom I wish

in the glass?

The past gets better always

but I fly forward fast.

You come at this time when

I look for the Sound

that holds every language –

all tones can be found.

I saw you on the cusp of

sleep into dream.

Wanted to speak –

don’t know what I mean.

You were wearing white light like

hypnotic perfume –

& I’d like to see you

in this city with no moon.

See you,

Leo

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment