Founder of London's Only Poetry Bookshop SPEAKS

The erudite (if we do say so ourselves) readers of Harriet know that poetry is for the people (all people) but in London, well, that climate may not be the law of the land. As Londonist writes, Paul McMenemy is the founder of a new bookshop devoted entirely to poetry that seeks to "dismantle the air of exclusivity" which surrounds it." More:

They say there's no money in poetry, so who would be crazy enough or brave enough to open a shop dedicated entirely to the craft? Enter Paul McMenemy, editor of Lunar Poetry and the person who is opening London's only poetry bookshop.

Named after his magazine, the shop will open at I'klectik Art Lab -- a former Buddhist centre near Lambeth North, nestled between the Poetry Library at Southbank Centre and the Poetry School.

It’s a tough climate for authors, publishers and book sellers but Paul insists there is a market for poetry, pointing to the popularity of the Free Verse Poetry Book Fair, held annually at Conway Hall. Similarly the success of Tim Well’s Stand Up and Spit Season, the popularity of spoken word and packed-out open-mic nights around the city show the appetite for poetry is strong.

But this project isn't just about getting books into the hands of poetry appreciating people -- Paul wants to dismantle the air of exclusivity which surrounds it."Poetry has the upper hand when it comes to digital and e-readers," he states, a two-fingers to everyone who predicted that tech would be the demise of the paperback. "It's because formatting poetry is a nightmare." Not to mention there's nothing like the crumpled, tea-stained, heavily-annotated page of a well-read poem.

"We all remember having poetry dumped on us in secondary school and this is about getting rid of those unpleasant associations," he says. "Poetry as an art form should be taken seriously and valued as any other is -- poetry should live in the real world and not be consigned to high school anthologies.

"We need to get poetry to a point where all the heartless, capitalist bastards are into it." [...]

Read on at Londonist.