Quick one, this.  I’m back in Blighty, after spending most of April working in Singapore and Malaysia.  I was poet-in-residence for Raffles Institution (best school in Singapore, no less?), after which I spent a week working with poets, teachers and students across Malaysia.  To quote a known emcee, “mighty fun was had by all”.  

I met and worked with some amazing poets, took a few pictures, addressed a few thousand students (I kid you not…), watched teachers get more competitive playing poetry games than their students, and once again, was able to appreciate how lucky I am to have the opportunity to work internationally in the way that I do. 

There are some blog entries covering my experiences up until the end of my Singaporean residency on my Facebook page:

Singapore day 1:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10852574863 

Singapore day 3 (or 4?):
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=11120459863

 Singapore retrospective:http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=11887989863

 And some images here:
http://rafflesphoto.blogspot.com/2008/04/week-with-jacob-op-by-miss-koh.html
(they made me a banner!!!!)

 More pics and write ups to follow, once I’ve caught up with everything else. 

METAROAR NEWS 

If you’ve checked out the site (www.metaroar.com) in the past week or so, you’ll note that it’s looking a little unloved.  The Metaroar web gremlins and imps are at play in the background.   Don’t be scared if the website shuts down for a bit while we work a few things out - the mailing list will continue to run during redevelopment.  We’ve only got so many hands… ;) 

JSAMLAROSE.COM 

Speaking of web things, I’m still trying to find time to finish my update of jsamlarose.com.  Serves me right for being so busy.  In the meantime, please do keep an eye on http://jslr.tumblr.com/ - that’s my current home on the web.  And do holler back to let me know what you think - because, of course, it’s always nice to know that someone’s  listening…

Link below:

http://www.jamati.com/online/?p=937

“Arts Council England is inviting poets to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act by writing a poem on the theme of enslavement.

The latest of these is Magnitude by Jacob Sam-La Rose.”
(link to the poem)

Forgot to post this earlier. Interested to see whose poem is up next, after mine…

Oh, and the following was an intro to the poem that was left off on the web page. Might help to contextualise further…

“Most historians now agree that at least 12 million slaves left the continent between the fifteenth and nineteenth century, but 10 to 20% died on board ships. Thus a figure of 11 million slaves transported to the Americas is the nearest demonstrable figure historians can produce.“

We are pleased to announce that Denise Saul’s White Narcissi has been chosen as the PBS featured pamphlet for Winter 2007. This is the second PBS selection for the groundbreaking mouthmark series, which had its first with Jacob Sam-La Rose’s Communion. More news and press release soon…

Quick update: I’m on a schools tour of East Anglia. Out of London, and won’t be back until Friday (back to teach Roundhouse Poets…)

Truth Thomas has been awarded Howard County Poetry and Literary Society (HoCoPoLitSo), in Howard County, Maryland, 2007 - 2008.  http://www.hocopolitso.org/ 

“Party of Black,” Truth Thomas’ debut collection on the Mouthmark Series, has recently found favor in the light of two literary journal’s book review pages.  The first review can be found in Urbancode Magazine (issue 2) http://www.washingtonart.net/urbancode.pdf.  The second review is forthcoming in Frank X. Walker’s journal “PLUCK! the new Journal of Affrilachian Art & Culture.”

Yet another place to post stuff about myself online! A couple of (possible) points of interest for August:

- I’ll be in Finland from the 9th of August to the 11th of August, supporting the development of the first ever (youth) poetry SLAM in that part of the world. Yay.
- The Final of the Roundhouse Summer SLAM programme falls on the 15th of August. Expect much poetic pressure as ten young poets attempt to claim the stage as their own…
- I’ll be on holiday in Singapore from the 22nd of August to the 5th of September (which somehow coincides with a Singaporean Poetry Festival and SLAM Final…

More updates to follow. Soon come.

Inua Ellams was mentioned in a recent Sunday Times article in which Scroobius Pip (who IS that guy?) said (of Inua, Joshua Idehen and Musa Okwonga) “They’re the ones who make me feel like going home and working harder,”. The article also labels Inua as a man with “rhapsodic tales of “old wisdom riding a BMX””… You’ve got to smile

Full Article at this link »