The UK Poetry Podcast is a weekly podcast that features interviews with, and poetry from, everyone who's anyone in UK poetry including John Hegley, Tim Turnbull, Annie Freud, AF Harrold, Roddy Lumsden, Heather Taylor, Tom Chivers, Richard Tyrone Jones and Rhian Edwards to name only a tiny handful of the poets that appear on the 85 Episodes so far. The podcast was the brainchild of Dominic O'Rourke, and he works tirelessly to record and edit the shows to keep up with the weekly format. He is such a nice man he even had some official UK Poetry Podcast cotton shopping bags made so poets could do their weekly shop in an environmentally friendly way.

The new episode features an interview with me, in which Dominic and I discuss the writing process, constraint, the true origin and purpose of the infamous Poetry Idol contests, JG Ballard, the history of UK performance poetry, and Daler Rowney A6 notepads among other things. On Episode 83 I read three poems - 'The Heat Ray', 'T-shirt tanlines and trampolines', and 'Unpredictive'. As these are mentioned in the interview, it's probably best to listen to Episode 85 first.

All of the previous podcasts are archived, and it is easy to listen to any of the episodes in iTunes or windows based player. So, go and check it out...

www.ukpoetrypodcast.com

Celebrity is a _____ thing. Last week JG Ballard, the writer responsible for mapping the psychological landscape of the late 20th century, died quietly after a prolonged fight against cancer. A few weeks before a reality-TV-celebrity died loudly from cancer after a prolonged publicity campaign to become a tabloid princess. It is only a couple of years since the same tabloids were calling her a Big Brother racist. It seems now that they had got it wrong and she was just stupid. Neither is either a badge of honour or an excuse. I’m glad Ballard lived long enough to see that his nightmare vision of The Atrocity Exhibition is coming true.




A favourite tabloid hate figure Peaches Geldof launched the first issue of her magazine Disappear Here last week. I know nothing about her except she seems to be the pantomime bad fairy of the season just by doing all those things nineteen year olds do, but with less thought about money. So her magazine was always going to come in for a roasting by the critics, the problem for them is that the magazine actually stands up
on its own feet.



Disappear Here is a hundred page glossy zine about ‘about music and fashion and film and art and all the tiny pieces of pop culture we love’, with great designers, illustrators and photographers making it a joy to read. It is not so achingly trying as some fashionable culture magazines, it kind of just is what it is. Well, exactly like a zine. And like any good zine it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, have to apologise or explain what that is is.

The first issue features the tour diary of Emmy the Great, articles on Floggers and Bisexual Anarcho Speed-Dating, and a piece by Holly Grigg-Spall about spokenword that features storytelling Guy J Jackson and me. Disappear Here gave five illustrators five of our poems and the result is a fantastic fusion of image and word that takes the text as inspiration and produces a visual interpretation.


Disappear Here is available free from the stockists listed on their website, or to make sure you get hold of a copy it’s probably best to order the magazine directly.

disappearheremag.com




This month I was also interviewed for Natter Knitter’s blog about mixing genres, and how I overcame my fear of crafters. For those of you who have heard my poem 100% lambs wool, and seen the scarf (that's, erm, probably most of you), you know it has not been easy for me in my relationships with knitters. I hope this interview helps to clear up any questions you might have had:

nattyknitter.wordpress.com

And check out Natty Knit’s shop on Etsy (for those of you who don’t know what Etsy is think eBay for the handmade):

Natty Knits Etsy Shop

I woke up this morning to find some kind of infection in my jaw that makes me look like half a hamster, the dentist said it will clear up in a couple of days but until then it is difficult to talk and painful to laugh - that's ok though as the new issue of the UK's only national comedy magazine - The Fix - arrived while I was out. The Fix is the kind of magazine you don't want to talk to anyone about, and certainly won't make you laugh.

After last month's non-poetry poetry section we resume normal service this issue with the regular features Found poetry corner - with a great series of lines pulled from a Buenos Aires tourist guide by Dominic Tyerman - and a double length Storytelling Guy J Jackson's storytelling corner (technically both of these features are columns, not corners, but I guess the financial crisis that looms constantly over The Fix editor Harry Deansway means that the new designer is on a GCSE work experience placement).

There are a lot of great poetry publications due out this year, and so in order to give you a chance to judge a book by its author we've started a new feature called Bookface. We kick off with the beardy bard A F Harrold who answers some of the most imaginative, original and interesting topics we could think of: activities, interests, favourite music, TV, books, films and quotations - in fact all the information you need to make an informed opinion about someones personality, and then allow you to judge whether you'd want to read their work.

This month the lovely independent literary Pen Pusher made a leap from being a lovingly produced free magazine to a three times a year glossy with a cover price, on the eve of the revamp I caught up with editor Anna Goodall for a short interview about her dealings with the poetry world. Plus, yet another new feature as 'the world's greatest psychic' starts an irregular series of articles about 'The poetry of the rich and famous'.

Elsewhere in the magazine Harry Deansway talks to, and celebrates, Stewart Lee's return to the telly, Will Hodgson throws some shit back at 'chav' haters, Robin Ince lets us peak at his tour diary, and all the review and opinion you've come to respect from The Fix.

The Fix magazine is still FREE, you have Harry Deansway's breakdown inducing negotiations with advertisers to thank for that. I guess at some point you have to ask is it worth it, maybe we should save that question for the editor's funeral.

The April issue of The Fix available now from comedy venues across the country.

The next issue features an exclusive interview with Scroobius Pip, plus a double Bookface with Tamsin Kendrick and Ross Sutherland.

The new issue of The Fix hit the Edinburgh Fringe this week, the first of a special weekly edition published over the next three weeks.

Most of the 64 pages are obviously devoted to the Fringe, but as you can expect from the UK's only regular comedy magazine, the features go further than the usual "what is you show about" 'material' of most Edinburgh focused fodder: Robin Ince* talks to the legendary Barry Cryer; Southend Video VHS rental nerd Richard Sandling talks to Dean Haglund, the UFO geek from The X-Files; and Michael Barrymore is interviewed by the The Fix chief Harry Deansway about playing the role of Spike Milligan, and comes out of it awight.

The poetry section also has its speccy eyes on the festival too, with a cut & paste feature on music and poetry, and the contribitions Project Adorno have made to the music-poetry crossover; instructions on how to play The Fix Edinburgh Flyer Game; a classic Found poem by Tonia Pinto; and poems by Project Adorno, Joe Dunthorne, and erm, me.

There are 50,000 copies kicking around in the venues and bars of Edinburgh, but if you want one, and aren't at this year's festival, I have a stack in the hallway - let me know, and I'll keep hold of a copy until next time I see you.

The Fix Edinburgh Special Issue 2 should be out at the end of the week...

...and if you still can't your hands a print copy check out The Fix podcasts:

http://www.channel4.com/4talent/feature.jsp?id=12987

*and yes, that was Robin Ince doing the 'funny' video bit on this week's Richard and Judy...