jslr:

What does poetry mean to you? Poetry Loves Company event, 01/12 (by Danielle Shaw)

I’d started into building a habit/tradition of social events for poets and writers, particularly around Christmas, for a few years up until 2010. Christmas is an interesting time for “freelance creatives”. Depending on the strength of our networks and collaborations, maybe we’re invited to a larger company’s Christmas party, but there’s little that we do for ourselves as a community. With that in mind, I started organising simple Christmas dinners at a friendly Indian restaurant off Oxford Street. We had a good run, then came 2010 (tough year for me for personal reasons) and I had to let a few things go. Rather than restarting the same tradition in 2011, I decided to do something a little different. Christmas is always a busy time, even if we’re not celebrating as a community, so why not celebrate the beginning of new year, rather than the end of an old? 2012 marked the first in what I hope will be a long run of such celebrations, attended by a number of poets and emerging writers I’ve worked with, from flipped eye, Barbican Poets, the London Teenage Poetry SLAM, Malika’s Kitchen, the Roundhouse, the Vineyard and beyond. 

With so many poets in the room, it felt criminal to waste the opportunity to make something. Cue filmmaker Danielle Shaw, a Canon EOS 500D, and a few willing guinea pigs with opinions on poetry. 

Thanks to Woolfson & Tay (the bookshop, café and gallery space that hosted the event) and everyone who attended, with special thanks to Indigo Williams, Dorothy Fryd, Miriam Nash, Inua Ellams, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Katie Hale. 

Next Poetry Loves Company event? Currently looking at June. Watch this space.