A Finger in the Fishes Mouth: The Legacy of Derek Jarman
Wednesday 19 February 2014, 7 p.m. · 71 minutes
With Gareth Evans, Keith Collins, Tony Peake, Ali Smith and So Mayer
Film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author Derek Jarman died on 19 February 1994. To mark the 20th anniversary of his death, we hosted an evening of readings and discussion. Our focus was a very little-known but crucial part of Jarman’s work, his poetry, and in particular the volume A Finger in the Fishes Mouth, unavailable for over 40 years and now reprinted in facsimile by the estimable Test Centre.
Derek's partner Keith Collins and his biographer Tony Peake were joined by Ali Smith and So Mayer to consider the poetic in Derek's oeuvre and to read from the collection. In the spirit of collaboration for which Derek was renowned, the reading was also offered to the audience, so that the whole collection was heard on this most poignant of anniversaries. The evening was hosted by Gareth Evans]10].
Listen to Keith Collins' soundscaped readings of two poems]11] from the collection, and So Mayer's live reading]12] at the bookshop.
10]: /profiles/gareth-evans
11]: /blog/2014/1/derek-jarman-moonstruck 12]: /blog/2014/2/sophie-mayer-reads-from-derek-jarmans-a-finger-in-the-fishes-mouth
