List Of Writers
BROOKE, CHRISTOPHER
10 Adamsdown Square, Adamsdown, Cardiff CF24 0EZ
Email: squarewriters@btinternet.com
Website: www.squarewriterscircle.com
christopher brooke was born in Tredegar, Gwent in 1971. He lives in Adamsdown, Cardiff, where he runs the weekly square writers’ circle creative writing group. He has read throughout the UK, including the Hay & Ilkley Literature Festivals. His poetry has appeared in small presses, magazines and on–line around the world, including: 3x4; CFUK; Canto; Coffee House Poetry; Dimsum (Hong Kong); Fire; Iota; Orbis; Pedestal (USA); Psychopoetica; Ramraid Extraordinaire; Sepia; Tears in the Fence; Terrible Work; The Yellow Crane; Toadbird; Void Magazine (USA), & at www.bbc.co.uk/wales.
In the mid-90s he edited the poetry magazine Ramraid Extraordinaire, Vol II, and was a co-founder and host of the influential sampler: poetry readings and anthology series. He has also acted as a technical consultant to numerous performance organisations, such as The Happy Demon Collective, elLIPSis, Shot in the Dark Writers and Seren’s First Thursday series. In 2004, he was a judge for the Cardiff heat of the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry. He is currently an invited member of Academi and a board member of the Adamsdown Arts Association (A3). In 2006 he won the BBC Wales Streets of Cardiff Short Story Competition with his poem ’when substances collide’. His first collection & the concept of zero (Cinnamon Press, 2006) was launched in Cardiff, on 24th October 2006, to critical acclaim.
The photograph of christopher above is copyright to Lucy Williams Photography, London 2006.
Reviews:
With respect to & the concept of zero (Cinnamon Press, 2006):
“…The master of turning the rhythms of speech into something that poetry could handle was that great American doctor and innovator, William Carlos Williams. Williams got what he called the American grain to run right through everything he did. In New York City Frank O’Hara took the process further, turning a half conversational & half internal daily life into magnificent verse. Stuff that teetered along the edge & then ran with blood. This is christopher brooke territory. On the strength of & the concept of zero he is a natural heir…”
Peter Finch, foreword in & The Concept of Zero
“…vivid, edgy, ironic, wry, satirical, poignantly empathetic, compelling… distinctive... impressive... a talented poet who has developed a distinctive perspective on his experience & on the world around him...”
Robert Middlehurst, Senior Lecturer University of Glamorgan
“...one is left feeling privileged to have been allowed to read this work... a better person for having been there...”
Fran Medley, Western Mail
“...the briskness of diction, the rapid march of ideas, images & action... supported by piquant lyricism & music...”
Chris Torrance
“...dark & clever... a fine first collection merging wordcraft & dark humour. well, well overdue...”
Lloyd Robson
"...The best new writing to come out of Wales in 2006. It’s funny, sad, exasperating, with that certain swagger essential to the bearing of the committed writer, that cocky co-operation with words and pride and suspicion in who he is and what he can do and where he is from. Those of you who think you don’t like poetry, you might, very much, like this collection. Buy it. Take it to a pub. Read it. You’ll be happy..."
Niall Griffiths
"...The genius of technique is there... there is much to admire..."
New Hope International
"...Brooke’s deft and dry wit keeps the reader simultaneously unnerved and amused. His keen observational eye and strikingly skilled twisting of the modern tongue combine brilliantly. Recommended..."
Aesthetica
"...This is kick-ass performance poetry shot through with the music of brooke’s street vernacular, black humour & an unexpected, poignant lyricism... gasp at the dazzling form... at brooke’s internal chimes, clever slips & word-play... these pieces affirm life... Forget too flattering comparisons with his literary forefathers. The voice is all brooke’s own &, believe me, it’s memorable..."
Envoi
Selected Publications:
& the concept of zero (Cinnamon Press, 2006)
Contributed to:
Ramraid Extraordinaire, Vol II (editor) (Trenchfoot Publications, 1996/98)
The Bristol Slam Poetry Anthology (contributor) (Pimps of the Alphabet Press, 1998)
sampler: Poetry.now Anthologies (1-6) (co-editor) (sampler Press, 1999/02)
The Lie of the Land (contributor) (Cinnamon Press, 2006)
& the concept of zero (Cinnamon Press, 2006)
The poems in christopher brooke’s first collection, & the concept of Zero, are about nothing. They’re about the perception of nothing, or being a nothing; a nobody. They explore the search for identity, knowing what to do with an identity, or to shake one off. christopher’s poems also deal with small town politics in the big city, and vice versa. They report on those amongst us, those we probably ignore or blindside, trying to be heard or seen — or, equally, attempting to disappear. & the concept of zero concerns the common or garden, try & get by existence, as it is experienced or taken for granted.
“When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have” wrote Stephen Hawking; someone who knows first hand what it is to be at the centre of an enforced, diminished universe. It is the age old philosophical conundrum — as Henri Poincare, the father of the chaos theory, said: “Zero is the number of objects that satisfy a condition that is never satisfied”.
Please click on the book cover to purchase the title from Cinnamon Press
The Lie of the Land (contributor) (Cinnamon Press, 2006)
Anthology of poetry from Wales including poetry by Christopher. This wide ranging anthology of both new voices and the best known names in Welsh writing in English was be launched at the Guardian Hay on Wye Festival on May 30th, 2006 and is sold in aid of the Meningitis Trust. With a forward by Peter Finch and sixty diverse and talented contributors this is a fantastic showcase of the riches of poetry from Wales.
Please click on the book cover to purchase the title from Cinnamon Press