Roll up! Roll up! The Knives of Villalejo is now available...

Today brings the excellent news that The Knives of Villalejo is now available for purchase. There are two ways for you to get your hands on a copy. The first is by following this link to Eyewear Publishing's website, where you can buy it directly from them. A second option is via those internet giants (nuff said!) at Amazon. You can find their page for the book here.

Photos from the launch

Now that I'm finally back in Extremadura, I can report on last week's launch of The Knives of Villalejo at the LRB Bookshop. It was hot, far too hot, but a good crowd turned up in any case. Lots of familiar faces, plus the chance to meet several friends from social media in person for the first time. There were a number of readings from interesting books that were also being launched on the night, such as Shelley Jacques-Roche's monologue from her Risk The Pier, while I managed to give certain pieces from my collection their first public outing. Then there were sales, signings and maybe a few glasses of wine. Here's a brief selection of photos from the night, with thanks to Mat Riches for the last one:

It's the launch on Wednesday...!

Just a quick reminder: twenty years after writing its first poem, I'll be launching The Knives of Villalejo at the London Review Bookshop (14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL) this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m.. If you're in the vicinity, I'd be delighted to see you there!

The epigraph

As my launch date moves ever closer, I'd like to share the epigraph to The Knives of Villalejo. It's taken from Julio Cortázar, who has long been best known as a prose writer but whose poetry is outstanding:

No aceptar otro orden que el de las afinidades, otra cronología que la del corazón, otro horario que el de los encuentros a deshora, los verdaderos.

One possible translation might read as follows:

No accepting of any order other than affinities, any chronology other than the heart, any schedule other than encounters at an inappropriate time, the true ones.

An exciting new poetry pamphlet publisher

The emergence of a new poetry pamphlet publisher is always good news. In the case of Against the Grain Poetry Press, that excitement is compounded by the names that are behind it - Abegail Morley, Jessica Mookherjee and Karen Dennison - and a terrific initial statement of intent (see here). What's more, their submissions window is now open...

Forthcoming readings

Apart from the London launch of The Knives of Villalejo on 21st June, I've got a number of other readings lined up this autumn and into 2018, while there's already one event scheduled for 2019. More details to come over the next few months.

I gave readings in Portsmouth, Lewes, Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Leicester, Coventry, London (three times), St Andrews, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Oxford from my HappenStance pamphlets, and I'll be delighted to get back on the road with my first full collection. I'm available for extra dates, so if you organise an event yourself (or know of anyone who does), please do get in touch and we'll work something out.