‘We close in on the sonnet’s colour space, cadmium orange, soaking blue light, salt, sand and snow, a world of flakes and grains. It is ‘nearer and farther’, a speck made smaller, blown into air, land and sea. We listen to the fade.’  In the second of two essays for the Longbarrow Blog, Brian Lewis considers the ‘boundary conditions’ of the collaborative Rose of Temperaments project (co-curated with artist Paul Evans), taking in field recordings, night walks, the paintings of Kazimir Malevich, and the sonnets by Chris Jones, Geraldine Monk, Helen Mort and Alistair Noon that comprise two-thirds of the project’s ‘colour wheel’ (the poems can be accessed here). Click here to read ‘Black Square’ on the Longbarrow Blog.

On Friday 4 and Saturday 5 November, the Small Publishers Fair returns to the Conway Hall, London, showcasing the work of over 60 publishers from across the UK and around the world, with an exhibition and a varied programme of readings and talks (click here for details of the reading programme). Longbarrow Press will be sharing a stall with Gordian Projects over the two days of the fair; we’ll have a full range of titles and a number of special offers. Join us for the Gordian Projects showcase and a talk by Brian Lewis of Longbarrow Press in the Brockway Room on Saturday afternoon (2.30pm and 4pm respectively; full programme details here).  Later in November, poet Chris Jones reads at The Bath Hotel, Sheffield, with Dorothy Yamamoto (Tuesday 8 November), and reads and discusses his work in the atmospheric setting of the Turret House at Sheffield Manor Lodge (Saturday 19 November); click here for details of both events.  Longbarrow Press will also be taking part in a one-day Independent Publishers’ Book Fair at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, on Saturday 26 November, joined by a handpicked selection of artists and small presses; a not-to-be-missed showcase of poetry, fiction, art writing, literary criticism, zines, and much more, with an evening performance curated by Gordian Projects. Further details will be posted here and on the Bank Street Arts website soon.

Finally, we’ve created a new short film in response to Fay Musselwhite‘s poem ‘Little Matlock’ (featured in her debut collection Contraflow), with images by photographer Karl Hurst. Watch the film below (you can also read and listen to the poem here):

Photographs: Karl Hurst. Click here to view more images in Karl Hurst’s Little Matlock series.

…walls of mottled russet, culvert, cobble
slathered wheel-gape, spindle, stray grindstone
laze, decay, forgiven by lichen and moss.

Longbarrow Press is proud to present the third in a series of walks through Sheffield’s Rivelin Valley. Contraflow is led by poet Fay Musselwhite (as were the similarly-titled walks of spring 2014 and summer 2015) with photographer and poet Karl Hurst. Making a three-mile loop of the tree-lined river (starting and ending at the Rivelin Park Cafe), the two poets reimagine the story of these working, wheel-geared waters, their cycles of industry and recovery; against and with the flow. Meet at Rivelin Park Cafe, Rivelin Park Rd, Sheffield S6 5GE, on Saturday 15 October (2pm prompt start). The walk is free; however, places are limited, and advance booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email longbarrowpress@gmail.com. This event is part of Off the Shelf 2016. Click here for details of Fay Musselwhite’s debut collection Contraflow. You can view Karl Hurst’s related photographic images here.

‘The act of reading becomes a (passing, unrepeatable) act of collaboration, the poem’s colour balance shifting in our minds with each encounter. When we contemplate a contemporary colour wheel, we see that there are no hard boundaries on the spectrum: one colour shades into another, with innumerable gradations between red and orange. […]  Our course (or temperament) may be set, but our position is always relative. The uncertainty of colour is, in many ways, the uncertainty of language.’  Brian Lewis marks the conclusion of the collaborative Rose of Temperaments project (co-curated with artist Paul Evans) with the first of two essays reflecting on colour perception, the development of Goethe and Schiller’s original ‘Rose of Temperaments’ (a colour wheel), and the six sonnets by Angelina D’Roza, A.B. Jackson, Chris Jones, Geraldine Monk, Helen Mort and Alistair Noon that comprise the project (the poems can be accessed here). Click here to read ‘White Point’ on the Longbarrow Blog.

Finally, our limited offer for October: order Chris Jones‘s second collection, Skin (a handsome litho-printed hardback), and you’ll also receive a free copy of Peter Riley’s acclaimed pamphlet The Ascent of Kinder Scout. Click here for more details and to order.