Roderick Williams & Chineke! Orchestra: 3 Songs from Ethiopia Boy Renowned baritone and composer, Roderick Williams, performed his settings of Chris' poems, 3 Songs from Ethiopia Boy, as part of Chineke! Orchestra's 10th anniversary concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 24th Jan 2025. The concert was a sell-out success and was repeated on BBC Radio 3 on 29 Jan: Radio 3 In Concert (Roderick's part starts after 21.3 mins) Here are some quotes from the reviews: …But it was really only Williams’s Three Songs from Ethiopia Boy, with the composer singing Chris Beckett’s vivid poems accompanied by pattering percussion, pictorial instrumental effects and sung refrains from the orchestra, that truly celebrated the synthesis between cultures that is surely Chineke!’s greatest strength... The Times …It is easy to see why Roderick Williams was inspired by the vivid, rhythmical poems of Chris Beckett, which draw on the poet’s childhood in Ethiopia. Williams’s cheery and sunburnt settings — 3 Songs from Ethiopia Boy — were pregnant with atmosphere....Financial Times |
A SHEAF OF NEW YEAR POEMS AT THE WHEATSHEAF!! Another wonderful evening of poetry and good cheer is coming to the Wheatsheaf pub in Fitzrovia, starring Malika Booker & Jane Duran!! Isao and I are looking forward to a really interesting and memorable night. Please come early to be sure of a good seat. We will kick off at 7pm sharp. See you at the Wheatsheaf! ![]() AN EVENING OF GREAT NEW COLLECTIONS AT THE WHEATSHEAF! Another brilliant evening is in store for us! Isao and I are excited to be hosting TSEliot Award shortlisted poet Jacqueline Saphra, as well award-winning translator poet James Womack and Ledbury 2nd collection prize winner Claudine Toutoungi. But that's not all: we are looking forward to hear two wonderful young poets with Latin roots, Patrick Romero McCafferty from Edinburgh and Nicaraguan Lester Gomez, who has been mentored by Jane Duran. Please come and support our poets at the Wheatsheaf 'where Dylan met Caitlin'! Art Exhibition in Cotignac! 1 September, 2024 My wonderful partner, Isao Miura, has had a wonderful show of his paintings and sculptures in bronze and Japanese paper in the Cercle des Arts in Cotignac, south of France, He sold lots of work and also received an enthusiastic response from some very well-known local artists. Take a look at Isao's website: www.isaomiura.com/exhibitions.html |
POETRY AT THE WHEATSHEAF SAT 25 MAY 2024 Our first night at the Wheatsheaf on 27 April was packed and inspirational (see the Album page for some great pics...). Now, Isao and I are looking forward to our second wonderful and exciting event on Sat 25 May..! We will be celebrating Mimi Khalvati's fantastic Kings Medal for Poetry, plus new books from Robert Seatter, Astrid Alben, Linda Black, Prerana Kumar and Tristram Fane Saunders. No need to book, just turn up and enjoy a brilliant evening of poetry in the pub where Dylan met Caitlin!! |
POETRY AT THE WHEATSHEAF! After helping to host the SHUFFLE for 10 years, I'm starting a new poetry reading series with my partner, the wonderful artist Isao Miura (have a look at his beautiful website, here!) at the Wheatsheaf pub off Oxford Street, where Dylan Thomas famously met his wife Caitlin. Our first event is at 7pm on Saturday 27 April 2024 and stars Hannah Lowe, Keith Jarrett, Eric Yip, Phoebe Stuckes, Jo Roach and Paul Stephenson. It is going to be an amazing, bouncy, intriguing and wonderful evening, so please do come, one and all!! No need to book, just turn up and enjoy a brilliant evening of poetry. Two great events to liven up a dull February! Tuesday 13 Feb 2024, from 7pm: The Present Cannot Breathe - A Time of Wars, presented by Exiled Writers at the Betsy Trotwood, with Atef Alshaer, Aviva Dautch, Chris Beckett, Adnan Al-Sayegh with Stephen Watts, Marsha Glenn plus audience discussion. Sat 24 February 2024, from 7pm: The February Shuffle at the Wheatsheaf, starring Jane Draycott & Denise Saul with Fahad Al Amoudi, Ali Lewis, Lynne Hjelmgaard & Tom Bailey. |

Library of Congress interviews the editors of SONGS WE LEARN FROM TREES
Alemu and Chris were incredibly honoured to be interviewed by the Library of Congress' African and Middle Eastern Division head Edward Miner, together with Ethiopian specialist Fentahun Tiruneh. What ensued was a lively discussion not only of Ethiopian poetry, including Wax & Gold, but also of some of the limitations and frustrations as well as the important mediative powers of translation. The main message that came out of this event was perhaps that SONGS is only the beginning of a process of opening up Ethiopian poetry to the wider world! Please click on the pic for a link to the YouTube video.
Alemu and Chris were incredibly honoured to be interviewed by the Library of Congress' African and Middle Eastern Division head Edward Miner, together with Ethiopian specialist Fentahun Tiruneh. What ensued was a lively discussion not only of Ethiopian poetry, including Wax & Gold, but also of some of the limitations and frustrations as well as the important mediative powers of translation. The main message that came out of this event was perhaps that SONGS is only the beginning of a process of opening up Ethiopian poetry to the wider world! Please click on the pic for a link to the YouTube video.
MAGMA 87 AUTUMN 2023 ISLANDS I am very excited to have two poems in this wonderful new island-themed issue of MAGMA, edited by Fiona Moore, Niall Campbell & Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa! Please buy the mag from Magma's website |
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Poetry for the Many
This new anthology compiled by Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey has just been published by Or Books, including Chris' translation of Alemu Tebeje's wonderful poem GREETINGS TO THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE! which appeared in Songs We Learn from Trees. The book is available on Or Books and has been very positively reviewed in the Guardian, Independent, Morning Star, Jacobin, Tribune, Edinburgh Reporter and on Tonight with Andrew Marr.
By the way, an earlier outing for Alemu's poem was on the walls of Blenheim Palace as part of Jenny Holzer's blistering anti-war exhibition SOFTER which was winner of the 2018 Global Fine Art Awards Best Public Exhibition!

Four Poets Series on Tuesday 13 June, 2023
Where: The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place,
London W1T 1JB.
When: 6.30pm for 7pm Start. (Free entry.)
I'm delighted to be reading with Roisin Tierney, Liz McSkeane and Mark Wynne!
Please come if you are free.

LIVE POETRY READING!!
After two years of Zoom, at last a live reading with my wonderful friend KATE MILLER!
Date: Friday 16 Dec 2022, from 6.30pm
Place: ART WORKERS GUILD, London WC1N 3AT
(just behind Russell Square)
We will be raising a glass to our new collections, Kate's The Long Beds (PBS Recommendation) and my Tenderfoot, both published by Carcanet in 2020.
If you would like to come and have not been invited yet, please drop me a line through the Contact page.
After two years of Zoom, at last a live reading with my wonderful friend KATE MILLER!
Date: Friday 16 Dec 2022, from 6.30pm
Place: ART WORKERS GUILD, London WC1N 3AT
(just behind Russell Square)
We will be raising a glass to our new collections, Kate's The Long Beds (PBS Recommendation) and my Tenderfoot, both published by Carcanet in 2020.
If you would like to come and have not been invited yet, please drop me a line through the Contact page.

Transreading Ethiopia
is my new course for the Poetry School, which starts on 19 May, 2022. Details are on the Poetry School website (click on the image). Please book if you are interested!
There is also a blog piece with more information, click here.

SONGS WE LEARN FROM TREES: UK TOUR
starts 4 May 2022
with 6 great Ethiopian poets reading and work-shopping
at 6 venues around the UK.
All the details are on the UK TOUR 2022 page on this site.
Please come to one of our events which are all free!

WONDERFUL NEWS !!
Songs We Learn from Trees was a finalist in the 2021 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry !!
The judge Chris Abani writes: This book is a vital contribution to African letters, rendering into English and in one volume, a rare and vibrant diversity of voices from a country oft ignored in continental letters. It holds all the lyricism, haunted echoes, and lament and praise song that you know can only come from a people whose search for the sublime was not limited to mountain churches, but to churches carved deep into the search, the complete scale of the human, from the body to the highest soul. I am grateful for this work and cannot recommend it enough. I hope the voices held here find expressions in their own collections soon.'
For more info, please click on the book:

Poetry in Aldeburgh
Saturday 6 Nov & Sunday 7 Nov, 2021
Poetry in Aldeburgh was held on Zoom again this year and I was thrilled to be reading from Tenderfoot and introducing 4 wonderful Ethiopian poets at 12 noon on Sat 6 Nov. Also I ran a workshop on the Poetry of Truth on Sunday 6 Nov.
Click here or on the pic at left to hear the podcast of Contemporary Ethiopian Poetry: the Poetry of Truth and listen to 4 wonderful Ethiopian poets reading from the anthology: Mihret Kebede, Misrak Terefe, Bedilu Wakjira & Kebedech Tekleab.

Poetry School Autumn Course 2021:
I'm leading my first Poetry School course online,
from 7 Oct to 16 Dec. Just click on the link for more details.

SWIRL OF WORDS/SWIRL OF WORLDS
Thank you to Stephen WATTS and PEER UK for printing Alemu's wonderful poem, Greetings to the People of Europe, in their languages of Hackney poetry anthology. And for asking us to read the original and translation of Greetings yesterday! I will add some more pics soon, meanwhile here is Jane Duran reading Lorca.

OPEN COUNTRY
2 April, 2021: we are very excited by this introduction to Songs in the wonderful new African literary mag, OPEN COUNTRY.
Click on the pic to read more...

Sunday 7th Feb, 2021: what a thrill to be reading my poems Lemon for Love and Yehagere Sheta on Cerys Matthews show on Radio 6 Music, together with songs by Mahmoud Ahmed and Tilahun Gessesse.
Have a listen from about 43 minutes in (or indeed listen to the whole show, it's brilliant!!). Just click on the pic.
Or you can listen to a clip on my friend Alemu's Facebook page:
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158630312166328&id=759696327

Another Tenderfoot podcast! This time I'm talking to Niall Munro, director of Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre, who never fails to ask a great question!
Please click on the pic to listen.

The wonderful travel bookshop which used to be on Lower Marsh in Waterloo is now an online series of podcasts, book clubs and other travel-related activities. So come on a journey with us by listening to this lovely conversation with Emma Carmichael, just click on the pic...

Tenderfoot Book Launch: Wed 29 July, 7pm
Please click on the image to register for the Carcanet launch of my new collection, Tenderfoot.
If you were unable to attend but would like to hear me read some of the poems, please click on
the pic to get taken to Carcanet's Youtube recording of the launch.
Hosting the reading will be poet and broadcaster, Daljit Nagra,
What an honour for me!
Audience members will have the opportunity to ask their own questions.
Extracts of the text will be shown during the reading.

Carcanet asked me to write an article for the CARCANET BLOG, so here it is...
Looking for Tenderfoot
Back in 2013, when my first Carcanet collection Ethiopia Boy had just come out, I wrote a piece for the Carcanet blog. It was called Looking for Abebe, the cook’s son, which is what Ethiopia Boy was all about. A photo of Asfaw (our cook in the funny hat) and his family took pride of place, with Abebe casually smiling in the centre....
To carry on reading, please click on the pic.
Looking for Tenderfoot
Back in 2013, when my first Carcanet collection Ethiopia Boy had just come out, I wrote a piece for the Carcanet blog. It was called Looking for Abebe, the cook’s son, which is what Ethiopia Boy was all about. A photo of Asfaw (our cook in the funny hat) and his family took pride of place, with Abebe casually smiling in the centre....
To carry on reading, please click on the pic.

ARTHUR RIMBAUD inspired the first ever anthology of Ethiopian poetry in English!
Just click on the pic to see Chris' blog.

Songs we Learn from Trees: Video Tour
starts Monday 8th June.
just click on the Carcanet logo to go to their YouTube channel where you will see one or two videos being released every day next week Monday to Saturday. They will also be shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the with the hashtag #songsfromtrees.
To mark publication, Carcanet is offering 25% off the book via the Carcanet website, with the code ETHIOPIA25 – all caps. Visit this page to buy the book, and enter the code during the checkout process. The code will expire on June 14th 2020.
Video schedule:
Monday 8th June: Meet the Editors: Chris Beckett & Alemu Tebeje
and Meet the Contributor: Misrak Terefe
Tuesday 9th June: Meet the Contributor: Alemtsehay Wodajo
Wednesday 10th June: Meet the Contributor: Makonnen Wodajeneh
Thursday 11th June: Meet the Contributor: Zewdu Milikit
Friday 12th June: Meet the Contributor: Alemu Tebeje
Saturday 13th June: Meet the Contributor: Lemn Sissay
starts Monday 8th June.
just click on the Carcanet logo to go to their YouTube channel where you will see one or two videos being released every day next week Monday to Saturday. They will also be shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the with the hashtag #songsfromtrees.
To mark publication, Carcanet is offering 25% off the book via the Carcanet website, with the code ETHIOPIA25 – all caps. Visit this page to buy the book, and enter the code during the checkout process. The code will expire on June 14th 2020.
Video schedule:
Monday 8th June: Meet the Editors: Chris Beckett & Alemu Tebeje
and Meet the Contributor: Misrak Terefe
Tuesday 9th June: Meet the Contributor: Alemtsehay Wodajo
Wednesday 10th June: Meet the Contributor: Makonnen Wodajeneh
Thursday 11th June: Meet the Contributor: Zewdu Milikit
Friday 12th June: Meet the Contributor: Alemu Tebeje
Saturday 13th June: Meet the Contributor: Lemn Sissay

Songs we Learn from Trees
on FRONT ROW!
What an honour for us to be invited on BBC Radio 4's flagship Arts & Literature program!!! Listen to Alemu & Chris (slightly breathlessly...) discussing the anthology with Samira Ahmed on Front Row,
Just click on the pic (discussion starts at 18.50 minutes)

May, 2020: Songs We Learn from Trees
The wonderful ground-breaking (and nearly back-breaking!) anthology of Ethiopian Amharic poetry which Alemu Tebeje and I have been working on for many years is now available to buy on Carcanet Press' website with a special friends 25% discount, please enter the code ETHIOPIA25 before you pay. Valid untl 14 June, 2020.
The grand UK Tour we were planning in June has had to be postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic, but I promise it will take place at a later date. Meanwhile, some of the poets including Misrak Terefe, Alemtsehay Wodajo, Bedilu Wakijira and others are making short videos of themselves reading one of their poems in Amharic and English, which will be posted on various sites, to be advised.

March, 2020: Songs We Learn from Trees
Take a look at Chris' blogpost about his trip to Addis Ababa last year to meet lots of the poets in the first ever anthology of Ethiopian poetry in English (out from Carcanet this May!):
carcanetblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/songs-we-learn-from-trees-chris-beckett.html
Saturday 29 Feb, 2020: Gale Burns, Chris Beckett & Selina Rodrigues present the FABULOUS QUEER SHUFFLE with Maureen Duffy, Keith Jarrett, Cherry Smyth, Gregory Woods, Richard Scott, Martha Sprackland and Max Wallis! Plus a few surprise guests reading a poem in solidarity. 7.00-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX
Saturday 25 Jan, 2020: Gale Burns, Chris Beckett & Selina Rodrigues present THE 2020 SHUFFLE featuring Roisin Tierney, Ruth Fainlight, Jess Mookherjee, Alison Winch, Kat Dixon, Steve Kendall & Lewis Todd. 7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX
Saturday 30 November, 2019: The WINTER SHUFFLE: a foot-stomping, misty-breathing, berry-picking chorus of poets, featuring
Seni Seneviratne, Joey Connolly, Lisa Kelly, Jane Kirwan, Matthew Griffiths, Joe Minden and prize-winning poet from Toronto: Doyali Islam. 7.30/9.30pm at The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX
Saturday 28 Sept 2019: The SHUFFLE presents An Evening with David Constantine and friends, a wide-ranging evening of poetry and discussion celebrating one of Britain’s best loved poets, translator of Brecht and Hölderlin, editor of Modern Poetry in Translation ansd Oxford Poets, featuring David Constantine, Maura Dooley & Jennie Feldman
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX
Entry £7/5 low income Refreshments from bar
Sunday 1 Sept 2019: Zewdu Milikit, the wonderful poet from Gondar, whose poems have appeared in MPT and PN Review 235, is one of the poets on Mother Tongue with Imtiaz Dharker on BBC Radio 4, Sunday 1 Sept 2019: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00083f5
Roderick Williams and the Chineke! Orchestra: Three Songs from Ethiopia Boy
Performed on 7 July, 2019 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, and again on 14 July, 2019 at Hull City Hall.
To listen to Roddy's marvellous and exciting songs, please click on this Facebook link:
www.facebook.com/sisay.zelleke/videos/10219752848831380/
As part of the Performing Rights Society’s New Music Biennial, the Chineke! Orchestra has specially commissioned a new work by composer/baritone Roderick Williams. Based on the poetry of Chris Beckett, Roderick was inspired to develop this narrative melodically into a piece scored for voice and orchestra -Three Songs from Ethiopia Boy: Chris Beckett’s book of poetry about his upbringing in Ethiopia was brought to my attention by chance by a pianist with whom I was rehearsing. My gaze happened to fall on the book and I picked it up, asking about its author, a friend of my accompanist. As I opened it to rifle through, I happened upon the final poem in the book ‘The Goodbye Tree’, and a sense of music began to play immediately in my head. I knew instinctively that my search for texts for this very special Chineke! commission was over. The dust and the heat, the rhythms, the colours, the infectious joy, the impish cheekiness of Beckett’s poems screamed out to me as being the perfect match for the effervescent spirit of this unique orchestra. I was a little apprehensive in contacting Chris, afraid he might not be that happy to have me to play with his poetic creation but his response was just as joyous. I know above all else that setting Chris’ poetry was going to be a great deal of fun.Roderick Williams
Saturday 29 June, 2019: The Fabulous FIRST COLLECTION SHUFFLE! Six poets celebrate the amazing achievement of having their first collections published, with Dino Mahony, Suzannah Hart, Gale Burns, Pascal O'Loughlin, Laura Scott and Abigail Parry.
7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Saturday 2 March, 2019: The Brilliant RUSSIAN SHUFFLE! An unmissable evening of Russian poetry in translation
and poems inspired by Russia, with Sasha Dugdale, Peter Daniels, Robert Chandler, Josie von Zitzewitz, James Womack, Kostya Tsolakis, supported by Valerie Josephs, Wendy French Iryna Shuvalova & Genie Dallaway
7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
23 January 2019, 15:30 – 17:00: Putting on the Paper Coat: linguistic and artistic approaches to translating Basho in the 21st century, a presentation by ISAO MIURA & Chris Beckett as part of the SOAS Global Translation Lecture Series.
School of Oriental & African Studies, Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0XG, UK
Sat 19 Jan, 2019: The Fabulous QUEER SHUFFLE! presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, with Andrew McMillan, So Mayer
Sophia Blackwell, Dean Atta, Richard Scott, Sogol Sur & some very exciting voices from the floor!
7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Thurs 28 June/Sun 15 July, 2018: TRAVELS IN A PAPER COAT, inspired by Matsuo Basho's The Narrow Road to the Deep North:
a multi-media exhibition with artist Isao Miura, filmmaker Nikolai Azariah & poet Chris Beckett.
APT Gallery, Creekside, Deptford SE8 4SA. Open 12-5pm Thursday to Sunday.
Private View (with performance): 6 - 8 pm Thursday 28 June.
Conversation with Art: 6 pm Friday 29 June
This is a Japanese paper collage installation from the show, called HAIKU CREEK, where Isao has taken cuttings from a series of Haiku I wrote about Deptford Creek and floated them on sumi ink and paint.
More pics of the show can be seen by clicking on the image.
Sat 26 May, 2018: The IRISH SHUFFLE presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, with Anne-Marie Fyfe & Aoife Mannix
Simon Barraclough & Roisin Tierney, Declan Ryan & Jo Pestel & Niall Bourke.
7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Sat 28 April 2018: The SPRING SHUFFLE presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, featuring Lorraine Mariner, Meryl Pugh,
John Clegg, Lotte Lewis, Edward Doegar & Caroline Maldonado & special international guest, Christos Koukis.
7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Sat 24 Feb 2018: The SCIENTISTS SHUFFLE presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, featuring Mario Petrucci, Jemma Borg, Barbara Cumbers, Cahal Dallat, Rachel McCarthy, Michael McKimm & Michael Bartholomew-Biggs. 7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Sat 27 Jan 2018: The New Year SHUFFLE presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, featuring Astrid Alben, Tim Dooley, Will Harris, Nicola Stringer, Dorothy Yamamoto & Sophie Duggan. 7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Mon 22 Jan 2018: In The Pink, Poetry at Pembroke presented by Peter King, with Chris Beckett & Alemu Tebeje. Pembroke College Oxford, 6pm.
8 Dec 2017: Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre reading series, hosted by Niall Munro, with Mark Gilfillan & Chris Beckett.
Society Café, St Michaels Street, Oxford, 7pm.
Sat 28 Oct 2017: The Publisher-Poets SHUFFLE presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, featuring Tamar Yoseloff, Kirsten Irving, Todd Swift, Tiffany Anne Tondut & Les Robinson. 7.30-9.30pm at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden
Wed 18 Oct 2017: An Evening with Hama Tuma, an Ethiopian “rebel angel”, hosted by Chris Beckett and the Anglo Ethiopian Society, at Keats House, Hampstead, 6.30-7.30pm. Includes launch of Just a Nobody, a selection of Hama’s poems in English and Amharic, issued by Tamrat Books.
1-10 Oct 2017: Chris' translation of Alemu Tebeje’s poem Greetings to the People of Europe is being projected onto Blenheim Palace as part of Jenny Holzer’s exhibition, SOFTER.
Summer 2017: Chris' translations of poems by Alemu Tebeje, Zewdu Milikit & Makonnen Wadajeneh are being published in PN Review (Issue 235) and Chris' poem To the teeming bookshops of Addis Abeba is published in The North (Issue 58)
Sat 30 Sept 2017: The Autumn SHUFFLE at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden, presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, featuring Kathryn Gray, Emma Harding, Robert Seatter, Julian Stannard, Gillie Robic, Matthew Griffiths & Philip Hancock
Sat 17 June 2017, 7.30pm: The AMERICAN SHUFFLE at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden, presented by Gale Burns and Chris Beckett, with Katy Evans-Bush, Lynne Hjelmgaard, Wayne Hill, NJ Hynes, Barbara Marsh & Jocelyn Page.
18 April 2017: Tamrat in the Cyclops Cave, Chris' collaborative radio play with Alemu Tebeje is broadcast on BBC Radio 4, as part of its poet-migrant Odyssey series, My Name is Nobody. It tells the story of a young Ethiopian boy growing up in the mountains, playing in his favourite cave, then later becoming a student protester and fighting against the one-eyed Great Policeman who terrorises the country. Eventually Tamrat has to flee for his life, hiding in a truck full of sheepskins, as inspired by the exciting story of the Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey.
BBC iplayer: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mq68c
or on You Tube: www.youtube.com/watch
Feb 2017: Alemu Tebeje's wonderful poem, Greetings to the People of Europe! (first published in MPT's The Great Flight issue in 2016) has been chosen by American artist Jenny Holzer as part of her text projection show in Aarhus, European City of Culture 2017. later also shown in Florence and Mass MOCA, USA.
13 October 2017: the Anglo-Ethiopian Society presents an Evening of Ethiopian Poetry and Music at the Flamingo Restaurant in Shepherds Bush, hosted by Chris Beckett, with poets Alemu Tebeje, Makonnen Wedajeneh and Denise Saul, and singer/krar-player Haymanot Tesfa. 7pm, all welcome.
Monday 20 June - Friday 15 July, 2016: Exhibition, Sketches from the Poem Road, after Matsuo Basho’s Narrow Road to the Deep North, with Isao Miura & Chris Beckett at the Glass Tank, Oxford Brookes University. A second and much expanded After Basho exhibition, including new installation work and bronzes from Isao's fellowship in the Bronze Foundry at Chelsea School of Art, also an exciting new 10-metre-long one-line poem by Chris in the voice of an ink brush. Related events include a Poem Walk in Oxford, a discussion on Artistic and Literary Translation, a Haibun Evening and a children's Haibun workshop in the Ashmolean Museum. See the project website: afterbasho.weebly.com/events.html
March 2016: Sketches from the Poem Road is shortlisted for the TED HUGHES AWARD! Comments by the Ted Hughes Award judges (Jackie Kay, Ali Smith & Andrew McMillan): "A new road to the deep north that combines translation, sketches and original poetry. This exquisite work maps with wonderful modesty the pathways between the ancient and the modern."
27 Nov 2015: Clear Spot on Resonance FM, Ethiopian music with Chris Beckett, with Jude Cowan Montague and Haymanot Tesfa
www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/clear-spot-27th-november-2015-chris-beckett-%C3%A9thiopiques/
14 Nov 2015: The New Agents on Resonance FM: Chris Beckett in discussion about poetry and Ethiopia, with Jude Cowan Montague https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-news-agents-14th-november-2015/
Wed 21 Oct, 2015: Chris Beckett & Tom Warner at the Wymondham Words Festival, hosted by Moniza Alvi, 19.30 at the Green Dragon: https://wymwords.wordpress.com/2015-festival/
Mon 2 March-Sat 25 Apr 2015: Sketches from the Poem Road (after Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North): An exhibition of drawings and poems by Isao Miura and Chris Beckett at the The Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX Full details on: afterbasho.weebly.com
Wed 28 Jan 2015, 8pm: An evening of poetry with Chris Beckett, John Harvey, Simon Jenner, Jeremy Robson, Stephen Watts hosted by Shanta Acharya at Lauderdale House, Waterloo Park, Highgate Hill. More details on www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/page.asp
Sat 31 Jan 2015, 7.30pm: The New Year Shuffle at the Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, hosted by Chris Beckett and Valerie Josephs, featuring Martha Kapos, Jo Roach, John Clegg with Denise Saul, Gale Burns, Lizzie Horsley and Simon Rees-Roberts
Dec 2014: Three poems of the 1904/05 Russo-Japanese War by Nogi Maresuke, translated by Isao Miura and Chris Beckett, are included in the latest issue of Modern Poetry in Translation "The Singing of the Scythe": www.mptmagazine.com/
Mon 1 Dec 2014, 8pm: Chris will read his commended poem The day they murdered Assefa Maru at the Troubadour International Poetry Competition prize-giving hosted by Anne-Marie Fyfe with judges Neil Astley and Amy Wack
Wed 5th Nov 2014, Wimborne Literary Festival, Dorset: Chris Beckett, Annie Freud and Aidan Andrew Dun, from 7.30pm at the Old School, Manswood, Wimborne BH21 5BB.
6 Sept 2014: Poetry Book Fair, Conway Hall, London: poetry reading with Carcanet poets Helen Tookey, Karen McCarthy Woolf and Chris Beckett. Details on: www.poetrybookfair.com/
6 July 2014: Ledbury Festival: 4.14-5.15 pm: 50 Shades of Gay, with Kei Miller, Gregory Woods, Caroline Bird and Chris Beckett, chaired by Michael Schmidt, 7.45-8.45 pm: Reading with Kei Miller, Gregory Woods, Caroline Bird and Chris Beckett,
June 2014: Read Chris' review of a heart-rending poetry collection, Her Birth, by Rebecca Goss on Londongrip: londongrip.co.uk/2014/06/london-grip-poetry-review-goss/
Sat 31 May 2014: The Early Summer Shuffle at the Poetry Café in Covent Garden, from 7.30pm, hosted by Chris Beckett and Valerie Josephs, featuring: Sasha Dugdale, Tim Dooley, Helen Tookey, Shazea Quraishi, Angela Conway, Alemu Tebeje Ayele and Ian Cartland
Jan 2014: Chris' review of two intriguing Arrowhead collections by Anne Ryland and Nancy Mattson
posted on Londongrip: londongrip.co.uk/2014/01/using-poetry-to-open-up-the-past/
Sat 25th Jan 2014, 7.30 pm: The New Year Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, hosted by Chris Beckett featuring Barbara Marsh, Karen McCarthy Woolf, John McCullough, Martha Sprackland, Okey Nzelu, Stuart McKenzie and Anita Pati
24 Oct 2013, from 7.30pm: Brick Lane Poets Go To Covent Garden, at the Poetry Café, hosted by Fran Isherwood and Jude Cowan Montague. Other readers include Kirsten Irving, Altea Grau Vidal and Bernadette Reed.
Sat 19 Oct 2013: Annie Freud's Night of the Killer B's at Slader's Yard in Bridport, Dorset with Simon Barraclough, Alan Buckley and Chris Beckett. sladersyard.wordpress.com/annie-freuds-killer-bs/
Sat 29 Sep 2013, The Shuffle at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden. Other readers include Julia Bird, Nick Makoha, Jude Cowan Montague, June Lausch, Sarah Westcott and Abigail Morley.
Sept 2013: Chris' review for Londongrip of Stephen Knight's brilliant collection, The Prince of Wails, from CB Editions: londongrip.co.uk/2013/09/poetry-review-autumn-2013-knight/
July 2013: Chris's translation of Aimé Césaire's wonderful poem Éthiopie is featured in the summer issue, Modern Poetry in Translation. Podcast: www.mptmagazine.com/poem/ethiopia-612/
Sun 2 June 2013, 3pm at Keats House, Hampstead: Chris will read translations of Aimé Césaire and poems from Ethiopia Boy for Modern Poetry in Translation, together with Frances Leviston and Fiona Sze-Lorrain, introduced by Sasha Dugdale.
31 May 2013: Chris's prose piece about returning to Ethiopia after 40 years, Looking for Abebe, is on the Carcanet blog: http://carcanetblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/chris-beckett-looking-for-abebe-cooks.html
30 May 2013, 7pm: Chris is reading for Jo Roach's Poetry Appreciation Group at Stoke Newington Library, Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0JS
18 April 2013: Chris will read translations of Amharic poems by Bewketu Seyoum and Zewdu Milikit at the launch of the spring 2013 issue of Poetry Review, at Keats House, Hampstead, from 6.30pm.
5 April 2013: Chris is one of Ian McMillan's guests on The Verb on BBC Radio 3 from 10pm. Other guests are novelist Jeet Thayil, performance artist Lowri Evans and writer James Ward.
MARCH 2013
The launch of Ethiopia Boy at the Theodore Bullfrog off Villiers Street, London, from 6.30pm on Thursday 21st March. Chris will be introduced by David Constantine.
FEB 2013
Thurs 28 Feb, 7pm at MK Gallery, Milton Keynes: Chris is reading for Structo literary magazine together with Christine De Luca and Olivia McCannon
SEPT 2012
Chris will read some poems for the Anglo-Ethiopian Society Book Club on 3 September in the Ethiopian Community Centre, 2A Lithos Road, London NW3 6EF
JUNE 2012
Bewketu Seyoum (whose work Chris has translated for Modern Poetry in Translation) will represent Ethiopia at the Poetry Parnassus festival at Southbank Centre in London from 25 June to 1 July. Full details on the Southbank Centre:
Tuesday 26 June 1pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall roof terrace: Lunch Poems, Tales of fire and ice Wednesday 27 June 8pm: Modern Poetry in Translation launch in the Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, level 5
Sunday 1 July 6pm Clore Ballroom, Level 2 Royal Festival Hall: Word from Africa
Tuesday 3 July 8pm, QEH, Word Sound Power with Baaba Maal and Lemn Sisay
He will also read in Kendal on 5 July and Manchester on 10 July, details to follow.
APRIL 2012
Thurs 26 April, AMBIT magazine launch at The Owl Bookshop, 207/209 Kentish Town Road, London NW5 from 7pm
DEC 2011
Read Chris' review of Tamar Yoseloff's wonderful new collection The city with horns on http://londongrip.co.uk/
NOV 2011
26 Nov: The Shuffle Anthology 2011 launch at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden, introduced by Gale Burns, Jacqueline Saphra and Amy Key. Other readers include Anna Johnsen, Ed Barker, Cheryl Moskewitz, Chrissy Williams, Olli Hazzard.
AUG 2011
Chris' poem "Boast of the Fly-Whisk" which was published in Smiths Knoll 46 will appear in The Best British Poetry 2011, due out from Salt next month.
Chris is reading music-themed poems at Roddy Lumsden's BroadCast at 7.30 pm on 5 August at the Betsy Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3BL
APRIL 2011
Wed 6 April: PEN International and Modern Poetry in Translation, Poetry and the State, introduced by David and Helen Constantine, at 6.30 pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA. Other readers include Stephen Watts, Sasha Dugdale, Martina Thompson and Michael Foley