Ross Sutherland was born in Edinburgh in 1979. He was included in The Times’s list of Top Ten Literary Stars of 2008. He has three collections of poetry: Things To Do Before You Leave Town (2009), Twelve Nudes (2010), and Hyakuretsu Kyaku (2011), all published by Penned In The Margins. Ross is also a member of the poetry collective Aisle16 with whom he runs Homework, an evening of literary miscellany in East London.
He has one-man show, The Three Stigmata of Pacman, and is currently developing a piece of interactive theatre: Comedian Dies In The Middle Of A Joke.
He also has a new documentary about whether computers will ever be able to write poetry. 'Every Rendition On A Broken Machine' is released Christmas 2011.
Hello theres. This afternoon I got an email from my long-time video collaborator A Line & a Dot, containing a brand new film based on one of my poems. HERE IT IS RIGHT HERE:
This new one is taken from my limited edition chapbook Twelve Nudes (buy it here). There’s only 50 copies left, and me and my publisher have made some sort of mystical blood-pact that means that when they’re gone, we cant print any more.
AL&aD is about to relocate to America in 7 days! The house that appears in this film is hers. No doubt she will have an awesome time. Still, I hope she will occasionally watch British sitcoms and for a second think, “aw”.
This month’s Poetry London contains a review of my book, Twelve Nudes. I am really excited about this.
“The ingenuity, pace and spiralling development of each piece is akin to improvised comedy [...] Clever and destabilizing, this poetry’s voice is abrupt, sometimes rueful. Bracingly unreliable, it fires its statements out with a fluency that persuades you of the mad logic of its universe.”
Plus another really nice review here, this time from Dr Fulminare. I am described as a man who has “run up a whole lot of stairs to convey something but can’t quite let it out.”
Why not experience this for yourself? Buy Twelve Nudes online from Penned In The Margins! Each comes in a gold bag with a special gift. It’s limited edition, and even has my signature in it, like I was someone important that you should care about.
AND I’m reliably told you can leave it in the garden and it wont get ruined. We’ve thought of everything!
Hello. Do you know Clinic? They’re terrifyingly good. This weekend, they launch their second full anthology of poetry, photography and illustration.
Featuring work from Toby Martinez de las Rivas, Luke Kennard, Abigail Parry, Kayo Chingonyi, Jack Underwood, and a dozen more amazing poets that are going to bury the lot of us.
The book also includes the photo essay, ‘Modern Times’, by photojournalist and New York Times contributor Patrick Tsai, alongside full-colour artwork from No Brow artist Jack Teagle, Sky Larkin’s artist Jack Hudson and PLATS collective founder Sophia Augusta.
I’ve written a special poem for the back cover. OK, it’s a blurb. It’s a kind-of blurb poem. I do those now.
To launch this book they’re having a night of live music, poetry readings and an exhibition at The Amersham Arms, New Cross on Saturday 18th June. Twinned with an EP launch from Dead Red Sun, the event will feature music from them, Tubelord and Chapter 24 alongside readings and artwork from the book itself. Both the book and EP will be available at a special discounted price…. see here for more information on the launch.
My one man show, The Three Stigmata Of Pacman, comes to Cornwall this week. Tonight at The Poly in Falmouth, then Lelant Hall, St Ives, on Friday and Burrell Theatre, Truro, on Saturday. If you are in the neighbourhood, come down and say hi.
On Thursday night, I’m doing a special lecture/talk thingy in Falmouth at The Rum Bar. I’m calling it Poetry v Pacman: What Game Design Can Teach Us About Creativity. Still writing it now, but should be good for tomorrow night! It’s being organised by the Cornish writing group Telltales. Read more about the event here.
Lots of other work is on the go right now. I’ll soon have the details for what I’m doing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year (it’s another collaboration with social gamers Hide&Seek). I’ll also have the details of a new piece for Radio 4, the general release of my documentary, and the (at last!) publication of my book of sonnets about Street Fighter 2. Yup.
Oh I also have a poem on the Mild Fantasy Violence podcast this month, compiled and then crushed into to dust by the excellent Emma Hammond. Listen here.
We’re proud to announce that our literary cabaret night is returning to London’s East End for a fourth year running. Residents John Osborne, Tim Clare, Luke Wright, Ross Sutherland and Joe Dunthorne* return for another year of vague literary ephemera.
Last season ended with every audience member in the venue wearing a Tom Cruise mask, shouting out the poem from the movie Cocktail. It was our most fun night to-date, raising the bar in terms of entertainment, whilst simultaneously lowering the bar for quality of work. GOOD JOB TEAM!
Season 4 runs June-November 2011. It happens on the last Wednesday of every month at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, 44-46 Pollard Row, London, E2 6NB. 7:30 doors.
I’ve also posted some of my favourite films from last season. x
Thanks to everyone who has come out to see the show so far. Liverpool and Manchester were both really amazing. I nearly missed my train south this morning, and had to run through Toxteth with all my gear stuffed into my bin. Made the train by about 30 seconds. Oh and I lost my debit card. And my tickets.
Thanks to Northwestern trains for being nice about it. I guess when I guy turns up with a red face waving a bin, you’re probably best to leave him well alone.
I have quite a lot of gigs coming up over the next two months. You could say I was VISITING MANY CITIES IN A SEQUENTIAL ORDER.
Whatthe hell, lets not beat about the bush. For the next two months I am on a NATIONAL EXPLORE!!
Dates with an asterisk…on these dates I’m doing my full 2010 solo show, The Three Stigmata Of Pacman. On the other dates I’m just doing guest slots. Click the ‘about’ link to find out who else is on the bill.
May 6 Rap Party @ The Albany, Deptford, LDN, 7:30, £6 About/tickets
The closest thing I’ve made to a proper film to-date… a 40min documentary on computer-generated poetry, entitled “Every Rendition On A Broken Machine”. It’s loosely based on the essay I wrote under the same name for Stress Fractures last year.
The piece was commissioned for this month’s London Word Festival (which launched tonight, I think). I’m going to be presenting the film live at Rich Mix Cinema in Bethnal Green on the 19th April as part of a special “Man/Machine” event, also featuring performances from FOUND, Paul Granjon, Nikesh Shukla & Tamarin Norwood.
I dont have any professional equipment for recording, so to get the voiceover sounding good, I had to record the entire thing under my duvet. Keep that in mind.
So, at Rich Mix I’ll do the voice-over live, with some added chat, then I’ll release the whole film on Vimeo at some point over the summer.
Also, if you sign up to my mailing list (that text bar in the top right corner), I’ll forward you a very-special PDF pamphlet, featuring all the computer-generated poems that created over the course of the project, OH YES.
I’ve been a bit slow at updating so far this year…there’s been so much going on but barely a moment to record it. This week, I’m finishing off a documentary about computer-generated poetry (my first proper film), which will debut at the London Word Festival in April. Around the same time, I’m hoping to be working with Cambridge Junction on a brand new piece of theatre, which brings me on to this post right here.
Would you like to play a stand-up comedian trapped inside a mobius strip? READ ON.
CALL FOR AUDITIONS:
Comedian Dies In The Middle Of Joke is a piece of site-specific interactive theatre, in which a comedy club finds itself trapped inside a 5-minute time-loop.
We are looking for four actors to work with me, first on devising the script, and then participating in the production.
Actors need to be available on either 28th or 29th March for an initial audition. The work will then be developed over five days, (week commencing Mon 11th April), to premiere at Cambridge Junction’s Scratch Weekender (30th April / 1st May), then to be showcased in a London venue during one week in July (tbc).
Auditions to be held at the Cambridge Junction. Please send a CV and headshot to rossgsutherland@yahoo.com
Deadline is 5pm on Friday 21st March. Thanks!
(Funding for this production is still pending. We will find out if the bid is successful by the end of March & will inform all applicants immediately.)
