Thursday 4 November 2021, 6.30pm
For this particular event we are operating at full capacity. For that reason we want to keep things as safe as possible for yourselves, the artists and the staff, and upon entry we require proof of a lateral flow or PCR test taken within 24 hours of arrival. A picture as proof is fine.
Join us as we bring together sonic ecologies and vanguard poetics at an unforgettable event.
In a unique meeting point of poetry and music ecologies characterised by the sound-system counter-culture, Re/Verb In/Complete promises to be a night of poetic performances critiquing global racial capitalism and reawakening the commitment to tri-continentalism emerging among us in the spirit of decolonisation.
The night will feature six poetry collections from the87press from Luke Roberts, James Goodwin, Mira Mattar, Sarona Abuaker, Karenjit Sandhu, and Kat Addis. The poets will be accompanied by a showcase of worldwide bass cultures with DJ sets from Makkam Collective, Nathalie Shooter of Beirut Groove Collective and a special surprise headline act from one of London’s best South Asian Djs and broadcasters.
This event marks the87press' 4th year of existence with a commitment to anti-racist Marxist intersectionality and small press activism, infused with the knowledge that poetry is sound and sound is poetry.
Kat Addis is an artist and PhD candidate (at NYU) in renaissance literature, currently writing a dissertation about slavery and race in early modern European epics. Space Parsley (the87press, 2021) is Kat’s first full-length book of poetry. Previous poems have been published in The Chicago Review, ZARF, Tears in the Fence, Stand Magazine, and PELT vol. 4: Feminist Temporalities, a publication by the Organism for Poetic Research. Kat makes experimental costumes and fabric installations which have appeared recently in the Devil’s Dyke Network’s Pleasure Garden Festival, performance art by Sophie Seita, music video by Dominic Sen, and [Space] Gallery in London. Kat also makes poetry/video art, often collaboratively with Joseph Minden, which has been shown by Urban Foxes Collective, London, NYMASA, New York, and Puderraum, Berlin.
Mira Mattar writes fiction and poetry. She is an independent researcher, editor, and tutor. She has read her work throughout the UK and internationally, most recently at Lotte LS’s ‘No Relevance’ in Great Yarmouth alongside Adelaide Ivanova; at the 87 Press’s Camden Arts Centre event (online) with Bhanu Kapil, Peter Gizzi and Sascha Aurora Akhtar; and at Desperate Literature’s short story prize 2020 for which she was shortlisted. Her work has been published in Tripwire, Datableed, Zarf, Tenebrae and elsewhere. She co-edited Anguish Language: Writing and Crisis, a collection of essays, poems, images and collaboratively written texts responding to the 2007/8 socio-economic crisis and she produced the first critical anthology on Chris Kraus, You Must Make Your Death Public. Her first novel, Yes, I Am A Destroyer will be published by Ma Bibliothèque in September 2020 and her first chapbook, Affiliation, will be published in 2021 by Sad Press. Mira is a Palestinian/Jordanian born in the suburbs of London, where she continues to live and work. Mira's collection Minnows will be published by the87press in Autumn 2021.
Sarona Abuaker is a poet, artist, and educational outreach worker. Her poems have been published in Berfrois, MAP Magazine, and the87press’ Digital Poetics series. Her mixed-media essay 'Suture Fragmentations - A Note on Return' was published in December 2020 with KOHL: A Journal for Body and Gender Research. She is based in London. 'Why so few women on the street at night' is her debut collection (the87press, 2021).
Karenjit Sandhu is a poet and artist. Her poems are forthcoming in Women’s Visual Poetry Anthology (Timglaset Editions, 2021), and previously published in the following magazines and anthologies: Magma (2020), Writing Utopia (Hesterglock Press, 2020), Nemeses (HVTN Press, 2019) and Para-text (2019). Her work has been commissioned by the Sir Denis Mahon Foundation, and she has collaborated with the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Flat Time House and Camden People’s Theatre (London), Arnolfini (Bristol) and Galerie Eric Dupont (Paris). Young Girls! is Karen's debut collection (the87press, 2021).
Luke Roberts is the author of Rosa (2019), Sorbet (2018), To My Contemporaries (2015) and other works of poetry. He is the editor of Desire Lines: Unselected Poems, 1966-2000 by Barry MacSweeney (2018), and the author of Barry MacSweeney and the Politics of Post-War British Poetry: Seditious Things (2017). He lives in London. Home Radio is Luke's first full-length collection since False Flags (2011).
James Goodwin is the author of Fleshed out For All the Corners of the Slip (The 87 Press, 2021), and Aspects Caught in The Headspace We’re In: Composition for Friends (Face Press, 2020). He is currently completing a PhD at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Yamen Mekdad (Makkam Collective) is a music researcher, collector, DJ and radio host based in London. His interests in field recording, archiving, radio and grassroots organising have led him to found Sawt of the Earth and Makkam, two London-based collectives. He is a frequent contributor to a number of radio stations, including Root Radio and Balamii Radio, and was a co-host of DanDana podcast on SOAS Radio. Yamen is currently co-producer/curator of the Syrian Cassette Archives, a web based platform that preserves the Syrian cassette era. He is also the curator/producer of LSFA’s (London’s Syrian Festival of Arts) music programme. Yamen has performed and collaborated with various artists/art institutions both in the UK and internationally.
Alper Oruc (Makkam Collective) Hailing from Turkey, alpor (Alper Oruc) is an avid record collector and music enthusiast with a strong passion for sounds from different places and times. He’s a founding member of London-based Makkam Collective through which he shares his distinct music tastes and rare musical finds, from funk to disco, jazz to folk. On top of Makkam nights in London, you can also catch his floating sets on Roots Radio or Balami Radio.
Nathalie Shooter (Beirut Groove Collective) Based in Beirut, Natalie Shooter is a writer, editor and DJ. She co-runs the Beirut Groove Collective and hosts monthly shows on Totally Wired Radio and Radio Alhara.
the87press is a South-Asian, non-binary, and neurodiverse -led small press based in South London. Over the last 3 years, they’ve published 22 books, hosted over 30 poetry events, and published new writing online through their interdisciplinary e-journal: theHythe. the87press publishes poetry, non-fiction, and fiction at the intersections of class, gender, sexuality, race, and neurodiversity. For more visit: www.the87press.co.uk
The Sonic Agent is the curated multifarious venture of Christina Hazboun; a Palestinian explorer of music in space, time and society through promotion, boutique PR, research, radio shows, mixes, music film curation and podcasting. Her main sphere of activity focuses on increasing the appearance and audibility of new sounds and music from West Asia, North Africa and the global south sharing hybrid, diverse and powerful voices with those who come with an open ear.
