The Itinerant Poetry Librarian: Notting Hill Carnival . . . we couldn’t resist

Since May 2006, The Itinerant Poetry Librarian has been travelling the world with a library of ‘Lost & Forgotten’ poetry, installing the library & librarian and archiving the sounds, poems and poetry of the cities, peoples and countries she meets. Welcome to the project's blog . . . Our Itinerant Poetry Librarian lives wherever her library is - come join the cause!

FAQs: • Yes we carry our entire life and the library with us as we go • Yes, it is quite heavy • No, we're not mad. As Charles Simic said, 'But what if poets are not crazy?' That's the spirit boyo!

We exist to: remind people of the importance of free public libraries...subvert mainstream channels of distribution...remind people that access to knowledge should be free and not dependent upon economic wealth hierarchies... show people that poetry/art can provide answers to questions we ask of life...experiment in existing outside of 'the market' – thereby, instead, investing in social capital, social innovation and community.

We aim to make life taste better. Word.

Wednesday, 30 August 2006

Notting Hill Carnival . . . we couldn’t resist

Jose enthusiastically endorses our project at Notting Hill

The Carnival in action

The kittens under our current couch we are surfing on

Current library membership as of right now! Yeah!

Plus more sound editing is still under way, get ready for Prague, Vienna and Budapest audio to be hitting the site ASAP. In the meantime, you can also check out what the hell people have been writing about our librarian. Yes. People have been writing about us. Crazy we know. Check out what The Guardian newspaper (UK) wrote or BCN Week, Barcelona’s very own cultural weekly paper (Edition 12). And we swear our librarian is hard at work. She is in no way taking an extended tea break now she is back on English soil. . . she may however exploit the fact that the Circle line tube means she can set up her poetry library all day and attempt to sign up the rest of London to the poetic cause, all for just the purchase of a one day travelcard (zones 1 - 4 we thinks). Stay tuned for pictures!