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

Tuesday 20 June 2006

We have made it to Dresden . . .

In fact, we just got in a few hours ago, but have already managed to wander around and get caught in a thunderstorm. We recorded the sound of Dresden wind at full blast, and also some lovely church bells ringing out the 8am chimes as we left Berlin this morning . . . check ‘em out:


Windy Dresden


Bell Ringers with large muscles I expect



We are setting up our library outside a Dresden bookshop tomorrow and encouraging Dresden citizens to join! And quickly, a hello to Niko and all the other lovely Berliners who made our time in Berlin just flash on by. We loved it. We love you Berlin. It was hard to say Goodbye. . . but a poetry librarian has a job to do . . . so off we continue on our mission of bringing the library to the people. I am sure, however, that we will be back! In the meantime, check out our NEW theme tune that we composed and recorded at NikoStudios in Berlin last night. We think it rocks. More from us soon! We are in the process of editing our Europe ConVerses Second Podcast: Germany, which will include interviews with the poets Jan Wagner and Martin Jankowski amongst many other cool sounds and people we found and met . . .

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