The 4th International

4th international Nýhil Poetry Festival was a hootenanny with Ida Börjel, Ann Cotten, Sureyya Evren, Hanno Millesi and Nina Sös Vinther - as well as 12 Icelandic superpoets. My reading went more or less as planned - but immediately afterwards I got crazy-flu and’ve been caughing houses and midgets since saturday. You can witness my baboonishness here.

Next up is a book of visual poems and sound poems (on CD), out in a few weeks.

Lexiconjury Scream

Lexiconjury reading was amazing - got to read with the legendary Paul Dutton, was called back for an encore, as well as being put on the spot the day after. Click here to see videos.

Still in Toronto - tonight: apropriation with Kenny G. All sorts of craziness on the way. Check out www.thescream.ca for more information.

The Scream

TRAILER

In a world without poetry, a reading series is found. History considered it dead, and who would argue with history? And yet here, a sonic power, where past and future collide, is unleashed. It’s a doorway to another dimension, a dimension called Lexiconjury!

Kennedy and rawlings, lexiconjurors bent on the destruction of all we hold dear, emerge from a rift in time to think the unthinkable. They do not care about weapons or power. They have an appointment with eternity, and do not wish to be late. They have but one mission: to return, to return to The Lex long after the world had abandoned it for good. Read the rest of this entry »

Blandarabrandarar, Vilnius, Scream, Ginsberg, Visuals and new publisher

Headline news is that the electric book Brandarablandarar is slowly and surely being published online. The book is a cooperation between me and Jón Örn Loðmfjörð, digital poet. Four poems have been posted, and several more are on the way (this is all reprogramming of my 2005 book, Blandarabrandarar. More information (in Icelandic) with the poems here.

I am on my way to Lithuania to participate in an event called Nordic Summer, and this year the theme is ‘The writer and rebellion’. The festival takes place in Vilnius, June 12-15.

In July I head for the Scream Literary Festival in Toronto, Canada. There I will participate in the rejuvenated reading series ‘Lexiconjury’, reading with Alixandra Bamford and Natalie Zina Walschots, and an unanounced cooperateur. More information on Scream can be found on their homepage.

Lastly, I’ve joined the publishing company Mál og menning (the biggest in Iceland). They will publish my forthcoming book of visual poems in the fall, and my translations of selected poems by Allen Ginsberg.

Brandarablandarar I-III

Check out the new digital version of Blandarabrandarar, Brandarablandarar here, an electronic free-book by me and Jón Örn Loðmfjörð. The poems that have been posted so far are

Naglasúpa,

Besta orðið mitt

and

Kardinálinn var svo áhugasamur um Norrænar bókmenntir.

More poems coming soon!!!

New videos and updates

I’ve updated the visual section of this site, with new videos from New York and Brussels, as well as making changes to the concrete section - mostly navigational, but also added a few pieces. You can see the visual section here - readings here, and concrete here. Next on the program is adding to the Sound poetry player (to your right)!

Icelandic translation prize

I just got the Icelandic translation prize for Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn. Incidentally, I’m in Brooklyn for the first time, going to participate in the Flarf festival this weekend, all around the Bowery. My mother went and picked up the prize on my behalf at Gljúfrasteinn, the former house of Halldór Laxness, and it was handed out by the president.

All in all - I’m ecstatic.

Badtaste4Ever

Besides performing at the Flarf 08 Festival next week, I will be at the Iceland on the Edge or Badtaste4Ever festival in Brussels on Wednesday the 30th of april, along with Ingibjörg Magnadóttir, Ásdís Sif, Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, Ragnar Kjartansson, Helgi Þórsson, Sigtryggur Sigmarsson (the last two are renowned noise-artists Stillupsteypa), DJ Magic, Sjón, Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Gostigital, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen, Steintryggur, Helmus & Dalli, Byrkir, Kimono, Lay Low and Finnbogi Pétursson. More information here and here

Icelandic translation prize

I was nominated for the Icelandic translation prize, for translating Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn. Other nominees are:

Sigurður Pálsson for La Classe de Neige by Emmanuel Carrere.
Sigrún K. Magnúsdóttir for Modellen by Lars Saabye Christensen
Friðrik Rafnsson for Žert by Milan Kundera
Jón Kalman Stefánsson for Sværmere by Knut Hamsun.

The prize will be announced at Gljúfrasteinn (the former home of Halldór Laxness) on the 23rd of april and given by president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.

FLARF IS LIFE

2008 Holistic Expo & Peace Conference

THURSDAY, APR 24, 8:00 P.M., DIXON PLACE, 258 BOWERY, $8
Film, neo-benshi, and theater by:

Brandon Downing: Two new short films
Rob Fitterman: Film: Bisquick / Bismarck
Nada Gordon: Neo-benshi: “Uzumaki”
Mitch Highfill: Play: “The Secret History of the ’60s”
Rodney Koeneke: Neo-benshi: “Mary Poppins”
Michael Magee: Play: “William Logan: A Sedentary Life”
K. Silem Mohammad & Gary Sullivan: Play: “Chain: A Dialog”
Kim Rosenfield: Neo-benshi: “Meglio Stasera / The Libido Theory” Read the rest of this entry »