Shearsman NEWS

Huidobro at Frankfurt

  • By Tony Frazer
  • 16 Oct, 2018
At last week's Frankfurt Book Fair, the Chilean stand was full of pictures of Huidobro, in honour of the passage of 70 years since his death in 1948.
By Tony Frazer 16 Aug, 2023
These titles have been in preparation for what seems like a long time, but, finally, I'm confident enough to announce that Adverse Winds (Vientos contrarios, 1926) will appear in September 2023;  Satyr, or The Power of Words (Sátiro, o el poder de palabras, 1939) will appear in October 2023; and, Seeing and Touching (Ver y palpar, 1941) will at long last appear in November. The first two are already with the printer, and I'm sure the final volume will get there in time for publication in November.

These books have taken a long time to come to fruition, Adverse Winds being some 2 years late, and Seeing and Touching perhaps 18 months late. They've been tough to get right (or right enough ). I was unsure about publishing Satyr in this series at all, until I realised that my version was quite presentable, and that the book's links to the rest of the author's work made it a good thing to include. I've played around with translations of some of the other prose volumes by Huidobro, especially Papa, o el diario de Alicia Mir  (1934), but that has so far resisted completion and is of more biographical, than literary interest.

With these three volumes almost ready to face the world, I will be returning to try to complete work on Last Poems (1948), which contains some very important poems. I'm adding the author's final interview to that volume too. I'd like to get the Painted Poems out in 2024 also, but it depends on whether I can obtain some extra images, and, crucially, permissions. A version of the book already exists, but I would like it to be more comprehensive. The final volume currently in the draft stage—and it's at a very early stage—is the Uncollected Poems , mopping up all the author's occasional and political verses. I've tended to work on these books concurrently, moving onto another when I get too bogged down with one of them. I find that time away, and engagement with other works by the same author, helps the process.

The keen observer of this series will note that Altazor has not been included—by common consent the author's magnum opus. That's because it has defeated me completely. Well, about 8 pages of it have defeated me, and there's no solution in sight. I may see if someone else can take it on, but, in any event, Eliot Weinberger's magisterial version is already available from Wesleyan University Press, and WUP seems disposed to keeping it print.


Tony Frazer
By Tony Frazer 27 May, 2022
The next Shearsman reading features David Herd and Will Stone, and takes place on Tuesday 14 June, 7:30pm, at Swedenborg Hall, Bloomsbury, London. (The Hall entrance is on Barter Street, just behind the Swedenborg Society shop.)

David is launching his new collection, Walk Song , and we also catch up with Will Stone, reading from The Slowing Ride , which appeared during one of the lockdowns.

Admission free.
By Tony Frazer 05 Apr, 2022
Go to the eBooks page here.
By Tony Frazer 24 Mar, 2020
This blog rarely gets used, but in strange times, all avenues of communication need to be employed. The book above, Molly Vogel's Florilegium has just appeared, albeit not at the most auspicious time, especially for a first collection. Would all customers and interested parties please note that we are still able to supply books at present, and will do so as long as the post offices are open — although our local one was closed yesterday, it must be said. We do have other options not too far away, however, and the usual online suspects (plus some enterprising indie stores) are doing their best to keep supply lines open. As long as Royal Mail, and the courier services, are functioning (fingers crossed...) we will try to keep supplying books but, in line with official guidance, we will keep trips out to a minimum.

For anyone trying to find our titles on amazon.com, there is a major problem at the moment — one we're trying to solve — but amazon.co.uk is fine. For the time being, US buyers are recommended to use SPD for any titles by US and Latin American authors, and Barnes and Nobleonline for the whole list.

Unless things change again, we expect to be able to send out Shearsman magazine in April, as our printer seems still be able to deliver to us. We're not sure how international mail will be affected at this stage, but there may well be a problem with some destinations.

Stay well, everyone.
By Tony Frazer 13 Aug, 2019

The dates for the Shearsman reading series at Swedenborg Hall for the period October 2019 to May 2020 have now been settled. Please put these in your diary and, regular attendees , please note that some of these are on a WEDNESDAY instead of a Tuesday. All start at 7:30pm.

Wed 9 October 2019
Tues 12 November 2019
Tues 14 January 2020
Tues 11 February 2020
Wed 11 March 2020
Tues 14 April 2020
Wed 13 May 2020

By Tony Frazer 03 Oct, 2018
By Tony Frazer 28 Sep, 2018
Some long-held plans are finally going to come to fruition in early 2019, when we will start publishing the first in a series of books by the great Chilean modernist poet, Vicente Huidobro. We're starting with the huge prose poem, Skyquake (Temblor de cielo) first published in 1931 and the Arctic Poems (Poemas árticos), first published in 1918. Shortly after that there will be a big Selected Poems (well, Selected Poems & Manifestos in fact). All three volumes will  carry a family look, which we hope to carry forward into other volumes. Later in the year we hope to be able to publish the first ever complete English translations of Huidobro's last three books, Ver y palpar (Seeing and Feeling, 1941), El ciudadano del olvido (The Citizen of Oblivion, 1941) and Últimos poemas (Last Poems, 1948). Keep an eye on this blog for more news…
By Tony Frazer 09 Apr, 2018

If you happen to be in London on Saturday 21 April 2018, please come to see us at the first Non-normative Poetry Bookfair at: 

T-chances
399 High Road,
Tottenham
London
N17 6QN

Which is a short walk from Seven Sisters station on the Victoria Line. T-chances was recently won for community use after a long struggle against eviction. 

Website:  http://www.tchances.com

The Fair runs from 12 noon until 7 p.m. and will feature readings from many of the participating presses.

By Tony Frazer 08 Apr, 2018

A first blog post from Shearsman to celebrate the launch of the overhauled website, and our new logo. 

Check in here for further information in the days to come.

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