Contemporary Poetry: Lisa Robertson
Poet Lisa Robertson reads from her debut novel The Baudelaire Fractal. Part memoir, part novelistic magical realism, part trash-talking contemporary art and poetry life, the new prose text slowly unravels a mystical experience – that of waking up in a hotel room one morning to discover that Robertson has written the complete works of Baudelaire. Animated by the spirit of the poète maudit, she shuttles between London, Vancouver, Paris, and the French countryside, moving fluidly between the early 1980s and the present, from rented room to rented room, all the while considering such Baudelairian obsessions as modernity and poverty.
Introduced and moderated by Lila Matsumoto.
In collaboration with Nottingham Poetry Exchange.
Free. Booking Required.
Lisa Robertson is a Canadian poet, essayist, and translator. Her writing often connects questions of poetry and politics to considerations of utopian impulses, including art, interior design, food, astrology, and other topics. Robertson’s published works include 3 Summers (Coach House Books, 2016), her eighth book of poetry; Occasional Works and Seven Walks for the Office for Soft Architecture (Clear Cut Press, 2003), a selection of texts informed by collaborations with arts communities; The Weather (New Star Books, 2001), an experimental study of the language of meteorology in daily life, history, and politics; Debbie: An Epic (New Star Books, 1997); and XEclogue (New Star Books, 1993), her first book of poetry and study of gender in classical poetry forms. Her recent novel The Baudelaire Fractal is published by Coach House Books.
Lila Matsumoto is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of Nottingham. Recent works include the poetry collection Urn & Drum (Shearsman, 2018) and an essay on immigration and folk ritual which aired on BBC Radio 3. Lila convenes the Nottingham Poetry Exchange, a programme of poetry readings and seminars. Her research and practice is focused on experimental forms of production and performance of poetry, and the points of contact, historical and potential, between literary practice and visual arts.