First episode in a planned regular feature for the EBSN website. “Playback – The EBSN Podcast” will attempt to fill some of the void left by Covid 19, by providing our members with some new and varied content.
In this episode Harris discusses the postponed CUT-UPS@60 conferences, his new editions of Burroughs’ classic cut-up texts, the future for the EBSN and more. Find out more and listen here.
We are very saddened to hear about the passing of ruth weiss, the Berlin-born Austrian-American performance poet who pioneered jazz performance poetry, inspired Jack Kerouac’s experiments with Haiku, and whose delicate, abstract works defied easy definition.
weiss’ work has been central to the studies of several EBSN scholars, notably Estíbaliz Encarnación-Pinedo, Stefanie Pointl, and Thomas Antonic, whose interview with ruth can be found here.
EBSN Board member Frida Forsgren also co-edited the 2015 book Out of the Shadows with Michael J. Prince, in which weiss’ work is featured.
Thomas and Estíbaliz are also the editors of a soon to be published collection of essays on weiss which also features work by several EBSN members including Benjamin J. Heal, Polina Mackay, Frida Forsgren, Chad Weidner, Lars Movin and Stefanie Pointl.
Also upcoming is Thomas’ feature length documentary film “ruth weiss: One More Step West Is The Sea” (2021), and a full biography of weiss’ life and works.
Unfortunately, no orders can be taken after the August 1 deadline, so please help to keep the EBSN going, and grab a piece of Coronavirus memorobilia by buying one of our awesome shirts, HERE.
Please note payments can be made via Visa and Mastercard credit cards, or bank transfer only (no PayPal either, sorry). The order form does not verify payments, so you may receive confirmation of your order before you receive a payment confirmation.
Check out our New Publications section for details of some very interesting new books, including new editions of early cut-up texts featuring William Burroughs, and a collection of Ira Cohen’s mylar chamber photographs.
Produced to celebrate Lee’s recent and upcoming publications, and in part to prepare for the launch of a regular EBSN podcast, to be made available from this website. Topics discussed include American Studies in the UK, Eric Mottram, Harold Norse and more. Watch this space! [Interview conducted and produced by Benjamin Heal]
2020 is the tenth anniversary of the EBSN and we wanted to celebrate the occasion with our most ambitious plans: the special Cut-Ups@60 double conference in Paris and London this September, featuring terrific line-ups of creative and critical participants.
At the end of March, I said we’d review in June our plans in light of the virus pandemic, and there’s no point delaying the inevitable decision to cancel. The health and safety of everyone involved must come first. We aim to reschedule for September 2021, however, and will update you as plans develop.
Unfortunately, cancelling our conferences is not just a massive disappointment for everyone involved, but an emergency for the EBSN itself. Quite simply, without conference income, the EBSN cannot cover its annual running costs and will need to be wound up unless we find revenue from other sources.
Our hope is that you, our members, can help sustain the EBSN through the current crisis and indeed enable us to develop in new ways into the future.
We want to reach out beyond our annual conferences and to move forward by creating opportunities for authors, poets, artists, academics, activists or anyone working in the Beat area to share their work with others online. In particular, we’re looking to organise one-off short events online, which would be accesible for a small fee, and if you have any ideas or would like to participate, please contact Polina (mackay.p@unic.ac,cy).
I realise the financial future for many people has become precarious, but if you have found the EBSN has lived up to its ambitions to be a community of scholars and artists, open to all, crossing national borders and disciplinary divisions, then I’d like to invite you to help keep it alive by pledging financial support, however modest.
There are several ways you can help keep the EBSN going:
Finally, to end on a terribly sad note, I wanted to pass on the news that Jürgen Ploog died on May 21. Jürgen, who was to have been our keynote in Paris, was one of the few writers to truly take cut-up methods further. He was also a man of great charm and dignity who graced several EBSN conferences. On our website, we honour his life and work, as we have other greats who have recently passed away, Genesis P’Orridge and Michael McClure (https://ebsn.eu/scholarship/voices/).
With thanks for any support you can offer, and hoping you and your loved ones stay well,
All best wishes,
Oliver and the EBSN Board
Yes, sadly we have been forced to postpone our plans for the double conference in September until at least 2021. More info to come soon…
We are terribly sad at the loss of Jürgen, who passed away on May 21. We were lucky to have his presence at several of our conferences, and he was due to be a keynote at CUT-UPS@60.
See the warm words of Oliver Harris and Edward Robinson here.
See Peter Oehler’s fascinating in-depth obituary (in German) here.
A little ray of much needed sunshine – Tom Knoff and Kurt Hemmer’s interview from 2002 has been edited and published on Vimeo, and you can listen to it here.
Check out A. Robert Lee’s free-flowing and admiring review of Belletto’s fantastic new contribution to Beat studies here.
Unless where otherwise noted, all work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
