Writers Forum Workshop met on Saturday 18th June

The next workshop is 9th July 2005. All interested are welcome. 3.30 for 4 -
6 Camden Peoples Theatre, tube Warren St

If we say that the workshop is in its 54th year or that, in its present form
(i.e. as shaped by the late Bob Cobbing), it has been going over three
decades, that may put people off!

Actually the workshop is a lively event with only the most basic rules and
those are of conduct; and - we hope - a welcoming attitude. A lot of
discussion takes place but it is primarily a practice workshop; and we
actively discourage comments which lead anyone to conclude that anyone else
has got it wrong in their own writing. It is entirely possible to have a
lively and valuable couple of hours on this basis.

We operate on the assumption that, within the workshop at any rate, what has
merit will persist; and that we learn best by imitation. The meetings are
chaired but very lightly by either Adrian Clarke or Lawrence Upton who
inherited the task from Cobbing. The emphasis is visual and sound and
innovatory writing; but there are no restrictions

We like poets to attend regularly, but if you wish to join for only one
session that is fine

This is not for everyone, of course; but if you are tempted, give it a try,
It will continue as long as there is a need for it. The convenors maintain
it because they find it so valuable for their own writing

*

There is also a press, separate though kindred to the workshop - and over
the years many poets participating in the workshop have been published by
Writers Forum. Many of wf's titles are launched at the workshops

Yesterday we launched reissues (pre-2002 publications where some pages were
printed but not
finally made up until now), a reprint and new titles



REISSUES

Edwards, Ken; My Half of the Conversation; ISBN 0 86162 263 4; 8pp A6
chapbook based on A4 card; May 1980 reissued June 2005. 1 pound incl p & p

Griffiths, Bill; Forming Four Dock Poems; co-published with Pirate Press as
WF5s 11, 4pp Japanese folded i.e. 8 pp with front and back cover, cover by
Bob Cobbing; ISBN 0 86162 172 7, September 1977 reprinted twice at least,
2nd reprinting ("third edition") reissued June 2005 by Writers Forum. 1
pound incl p & p



REPRINTS

Cobbing, Bob; Changing Forms in English visual poetry - the influence of
tools and machines; 16 pp A4 portrait; ISBN 0 86162 432 7, December 31st
1988 reprinted June 1997. 4 pounds + 1 pound p & p




NEW TITLES

Funkhouser, Chris; LambdaMOO_Sessions; cover by the author; 28 pp A4
portrait; ISBN 1 84254 582 5, June 2005. 3 pounds + 1 pound p & p

Sondheim, Alan; Orders of the real; cover by the author; 44 pp A4 portrait;
ISBN 1 84254 601 5, June 2005

Upton, Lawrence; Three Karben Poems; ISBN 1 84254 478 0; three
ink-duplicated cards in a card folder; the cards originated - as extra
copies - in the author's 1976 Karben Fleem is not often. 2 pounds + 1 pound
p & p

Upton, Lawrence; Speech 1; 32 pp A4 portrait; ISBN 1 84254 480 2, June 2005

Upton, Lawrence; Speech 3; 32 pp A4 portrait; ISBN 1 84254 482 9, June 2005

Upton, Lawrence; Speech 4; 28 pp A4 portrait; ISBN 1 84254 483 7, June
2005

Speech 2 (1 84254 0) has been delayed and will appear later this summer. It
may be ordered now. Each may be ordered at 3 pounds + one pound postage or
all 4 (ISBN 1 84254 479 9) for 12 pounds including postage

Speech is one book, divided into 4 for publishing purposes only

We now have a few more copies of the new printing of Bob Cobbing's A Winter
Poem, folded cards in an envelope 1 pound + 30p p & p

Send orders, payment payable to Writers Forum to 32 Downside Road, Sutton,
Surrey SM2 5hP

Non sterling / non UK orders get a little messier - please don't stuff
dollars bills in an envelope



Other recent Writers Forum titles include

Beaulieu, Derek; Calcite Gours

Bennett, John M; Pud Lug

Harrison, Jeff; The Unread is Carefully Ancient

Murphy, Sheila; Separation Theory

Paul, Chris; Mantras from the city for the city

Sumner, Alaric; Nekyia Texts

Sumner, Alaric; The flowering of atomic romanticism in the desolation of
poetry

Upton, Lawrence; huming / queuing

Upton, Lawrence; Q E V; 12pp A5 portrait; May 2005

of the above

Sumner's The flowering…. is a reissue from 1980

Upton's huming / queuing a reprint from the late 90s

Paul's Mantras... a reprint from 2004

all the rest are new titles


Immediately forthcoming are

Pitt Graphit Derek Beaulieu (new)

History of the Russian Revolution Wayne Clements (new)

COHERENT LANGUAGE; by Alaric Sumner (reprint)

*

Finally, Writers Forum is a press, Writers Forum is a workshop. Writers
Forum is not a performance group although it is an assumption that poetry is
a performance-based activity. WF does not have one aesthetic. In so far as
the workshop has an existence outside of its meetings, it is there for *all
particpants

There has been recently an inexplicable confusion abroad between Writers
Forum and London Under Construction, a group most perhaps all members of
which have participated in WF workshops. They do very interesting work and
are well worth seeing, and deserve support; but if it is WF you want, then
please contact WF. You will get little sense of the workshop by seeing LUC
The confusion has resulted in much wasted work and lost opportunities for
other members of the workshop