Yesterday evening I went with friends to the Lit&Phil Library in Newcastle (a very special place) for the launch of poet Gillian Allnutt’s chapbook icumen. The chapbook is published by the intriguing LiteralFish and to my mind it’s a thing of great beauty. I love chapbooks when they’re designed as this one is: elegant, monochrome, a plethora of white space and sparse text, and the poems themselves – described by David Almond as ‘a kind of intense birdsong…’ -words from a true and uncompromising poet of national standing.
Birdsong also featured in the haunting and beautiful soundscape inspired by icumen and written and performed by artist Helen Collard.
I’m looking forward very much to seeing what LiteralFish do next and looking forward perhaps to a new poetry workshop run by Gillian…hint hint
The cover design is by Melanie Ashby
Avril, thank you for coming to the launch of Gillian’s chapbook – your support on the evening and feedback here are very much appreciated. The Newcastle event was wonderful and we’re really proud of the book and how everything’s going at Literal Fish. Keep an eye on our website as any future events will be highlighted there – all I can say for now is that hints have been duly noted !
Thank you Lisa – I will definitely keep an eye out for future events.