Meet the authors who are writing about walking and the landscapes through which we walk, at walk · listen · create’s Walking Writers Salons. We start the new year in the company of acclaimed walking artist, Phil Smith discussing his collection of poetry “The Common“.
Phil Smith is well known in the arena of walking artists, in performance, movement and as a psychogeographic investigator, frequently prompting us to rediscover our surroundings through different lenses. He admits in an epilogue to this collections, that he is writing poetry from a point where he is devoid of any specialist knowledge, unlike previous written texts that have served as models for other practitioners.
“No wonder I flee to footpaths, woods, suburban streets; places where there is no one to check my rhythms. If there is anything in these poems, maybe its in their being open and then in their being tightened, in chance pulsing.“
This writing has been a ten year long experiment, intensifying in the last two or three years as Phil began to share more at public events (from which, he admits, he learned a lot); a few months ago he felt like it was the time to gather things together and share the results. There are poems about walking and many more inspired by walking journeys, as much about other things.
Walking Writers Salons are hour-long events in which you will get to meet a Walking Writer and learn from them how they weave writing and walking, and how they interpret their surroundings. Each Salon will include a discussion with the author led by Andrew Stuck, inviting questions from the audience, and may include a multiple choice quiz in which winners will receive prizes including print copies of WALKING 23 (RRP €5.99) our own limited edition illustrated chapbook anthologies of poems and prose. Phil Smith is kindly donating a copy of “The Common” as a prize for this event’s quiz.
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