The Itinerant Poetry Library

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.

Where have we been . . . ?

(2006) Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, London, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Norwich, York, Antwerp, (2007-2008) San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Leipzig, (2009) Ulm, Chemnitz, Rotterdam, Huntingdon, Callander, (2010) Cork, St. Andrews . . . Where'd you like us to go? Can you help? Get in touch!

What We Are Up To Right Now . . .

Archive

Thursday, 3 August 2006

The Sounds of Europe II . . .

. . . just before we whack up our next podcast, we thought you might like a best of collection, or cacophony or might that be concatenation, whatever, of the sounds of the cities our travelling librarian has been to with her library and recorder. So here you go, the sounds of Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Paris and Barcelona coming up . . .


Amsterdam



A Dutch mic test



Erwin the Antistress Poet’s Belgian Baby at Ruigoord Poetry Festival, Amsterdam



Dutch frogs get mighty hot in a pond at Ruigoord poetry festival





Berlin



A German kettle on a stove in Berlin



Brazil vs. Croatia match, a crowd in a park go wild



Swedish football fans on a nightbus in Berlin



A Track by Berlin musician Dennis



A Track by Berlin musician Ichier




Dresden



Windy Dresden



The bells of Dresden ring out




Prague



A Czech train



A Czech train announcer




Vienna



The Sound of an Austrian ‘ooh’



Accordion in the Vienna Naschmarkt




Budapest



An accordion player underground in the Budapest metro



A Budapest train announcement



Water and wind and a starry, starry, night at Lake Balaton



How an Hungarian bird talks to an Hungarian cat



An Hungarian train passes through



How to confuse Michael Palin at a fashion show in Budapest by talking about poetry . . .



Budapest rain




Munich



Munich Thunders



Munich goes Brazil!



Street violin



Street violin II




Paris



Paris Thunders




Barcelona



A Portuguese band play in a Barcelona street

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