European Poetry Festival 2021 in partnership with PEER

A special collaborative poetry event, bringing together European and London-based poets for new works of reading and performance. Hoxton-based arts organisation, PEER has worked with poet and translator Stephen Watts to produce a remarkable and ambitious project – Swirl of Words / Swirl of Worlds project – which features a new anthology, an exhibition and events, and considers the relationship between language and cultural identity.

New works of live literature will be shared by pairs of poets, commissioned and made for this night.

Featuring Stephen Watts, Vanni Bianconi and Fabian Peake, Karenjit Sandhu and SJ Fowler, Clover Peake and Vik Shirley, Kristina Kuneva and more

This event will be held outside at Hoxton Trust Gardens. Entrance will be via 156 Hoxton Street.

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Swirl of Words / Swirl of Worlds is a multi-platform and multi-media arts programme that both expansively and intimately explores how language shapes and informs cultural and individual identities. It is the final part of PEER in the Library an ambitious three-part programme in partnership with Shoreditch Library for which artists and artist collectives have created and presented work focusing on the power and potential of the spoken and written word.

The project takes as its starting point A Bibliography of Modern Poetry In English Translation, an ambitious research and publishing project by poet and translator Stephen Watts. Since the early 1990s, he has developed a database (un-digitised) of poetry from more than 250 languages that is available in book form in English translation. At its core, this rich resource pays tribute to those countless singular voices from across the globe whose knowledge and experience of their cultures and societies make vital contributions to an understanding our ourselves and the universal impulse to communicate with others.

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PEER is an independent arts organisation that has evolved from the ground up over the past twenty years, putting down deep roots within the socially, culturally and economically diverse area of Hoxton in East London. Led by ideas and excellence, PEER embeds its activities into the local community to offer and promote the highest quality art as being part of daily life. PEER is part of the Art Council England’s National Portfolio and strives to make a positive impact on the local environment through its exhibitions, public art and engagement programmes. The gallery provides a platform for a wide range of emerging, mid-career and established artists, enabling them to take new risks; and works with the local community and local partners to deliver programming centered on nurturing long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.

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Kristina Kuneva is a poet of Bulgarian origin living in London where she is currently occupied within the travel industry. She writes poetry in both Bulgarian and English and enjoys experimenting with different mediums such as dancing and photography. Kristina is also part of a British-Bulgarian group aiming to raise the profile of Bulgarians living in London and has been in charge of the programming of the group’s annual music and arts festival in Soho, London. Kristina’s first e-book Under the Swirl of Worlds was launched in 2015 and her poems have been published in translation in Ukrainian, Polish and Spanish.

Vanni Bianconi was born in Locarno (Switzerland) in 1977 and now lives in London. He published four poetry collections in Italian and one prose book in English, London as a Second Language. His poems have been translated into various languages and he’s been awarded prizes both as poet and translator. He’s the founder and artistic director of Babel, festival of literature and translation, and of the multilingual web-magazine

Fabian Peake lives and works in London, England. He studied painting at Chelsea College of Art and at The Royal College of Art. While continuing to paint, his work has diversified during the past ten years or so and incorporates tailored wall pieces, cut-outs, photography, drawing, writing and poetry. Fabian Peake taught painting as a Senior Lecturer in the Fine Art Department of Manchester Metropolitan University. He has had many solo and mixed exhibitions in Great Britain, Europe, The United States and South America.

Clover Peake is a visual artist, designer and writer. Born in London in 1975, where Clover continues to live and work. Her multidisciplinary practice includes embroidery, tapestries, film, poetry, drawing, scriptwriting, short stories and fashion design. Peake studied Greek and Latin at University College London (UCL) specialising in ancient poetry and translation. Peake’s creative background has also been influential in introducing her early on to poetic form and structure through her father, poet and artist, Fabian Peake and the influence of colour, textiles and drawing from her mother and artist Phyllida Barlow.

S.J. Fowler is a poet, artist, and writer living in London. He has published seven poetry collections and numerous others of visual literature and collaborations, including Unfinished Memmoirs of a Hypocrit(Hesterglock Press, 2019) and {Enthusiasm} (Test Centre, 2015).

Vik Shirley is a poet from Bristol. Vik Shirley's chapbook, Corpses, was published by Sublunary Editions in March 2020. Her collection, The Continued Closure of the Blue Door, is forthcoming from HVTN press and a pamphlet of visual poetry is due from Hesterglock Press in December. Her work has appeared in such places as Perverse, 3am Magazine and Dostoyevsky Wannabe Cities: Bristol. She is currently studying for a PhD in Dark Humour and the Surreal in Poetry at the University of Birmingham