Slam Poetry Pioneer
ALEXANDRA OLIVER
Returns to Lauch her New Book
with special guest
RC Weslowski
Date: Friday, May 11, 2007
Time: 6pm
The London, England-based Tin Press is up and running with a witty new collection, Where the English Housewife Shines, by performance poet Alexandra Oliver. “We are pleased to present Alexandra because her work is right up our alley,” says Tin Press co-founder Justine Brown.
“On the page, she is as playful and entertaining as she is in performance.” With her dramatic bearing, perfect enunciation and distinctive literary style, Oliver has been a strong presence in the spoken-word scene since its birth in the 1990s, often appearing in “slams” (live poetry competitions). In 1996 she won a place on Vancouver’s slam team, representing the city at the US National Poetry Slam. She is featured in the 1998 documentary Slam Nation.
She moved to Seattle in 2006, and has appeared at spoken-word venues there regularly. “I am an unrepentant neo-classicist,” laughs Oliver. Her work rhymes and has meter—qualities rare enough in the contemporary poetry world to be controversial. But audiences love Oliver’s highly crafted black-comical poems. Like other members of the artist-run Tin Press, Oliver wants to do more than provide the text. She is interested in other aspects of book production, specifically how books look and feel. Oliver has contributed pen-and-ink drawings to Where the English Housewife Shines, and worked closely with the London designer. “Artist-run presses are ideal for writers who care deeply about the physical aspects of the book. New technologies like print-on-demand allow us maximum control,” says Brown. “It’s a whole new model for publishing in the arts.”
Alexandra Oliver will read from Where the English Housewife Shines at Forufera on Friday night following a performance by local slam legend, RC Weslowski.
For more information, please contact Steven R. Duncan 604-788-8340
srduncan@shaw.ca
Alexandra Oliver Basekic was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1970. Since emerging onto the Vancouver poetry scene in 1992 and being named the following year as one of the Top Ten Young Artists of the year by The Vancouver Sun, she has gone on to perform her work at places as diverse as Lollapalooza, The 1996 National Poetry Slam and the 2004 CBC National Poetry Face-Off. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and publications worldwide, including Orbis Rhyme International, Nexus, In Hells Belly and The Vancouver Sun, as well as About.Com's Poems After The Attack anthology, a collection discussing and reflecting upon the aftermath of 9/11. She has taught poetry and led workshops in high schools, colleges and prisons and was one of the Directors of the Edgewise Electrolit Centre, an organization created to promote poetry and new poets through the use of new media. She lives in Seattle with her husband and son.
Tin Press Background
The Tin Press, founded in London in 2006, is an artist-run enterprise. Members join through invitation. It is composed of writers, visual artists, and designers, people who are interested in many aspects of book production. Members either author books or contribute to them, e.g. through illustration or layout. They work co-operatively to make beautiful books. Many members want to create works that defy ordinary expectations: the average reader thinks pop-up books are for children, for example, but one "tin worker" is making them for adults. The Tin Press will make use of new technologies like print-on-demand publishing; in some cases, special editions will be handmade.
Labels: Alexandra Oliver, book launch, Justine Brown, poet, RC Weslowski, spoken word
