Poet in the City, an arts organisation which promotes a love of poetry, is hosting an event in February at the International Anthony Burgess Institute. A cross-arts collaboration, ‘Blake and the Apocalypse’ is a performance based on William Blake’s unfinished work ‘Vala, or the Four Zoas’. The epic work was intended to be a summation of his mythic universe, in which Blake would encode all his spiritual and political ideas into one prophecy. However, he struggled with ‘Vala’ for 10 years, before eventually abandoning it. American writer Nick Flynn will be reading from the work, and photographic artist Gabriel Martinez will provide projections of Blake’s prophecies. Accompanying soundscapes will come courtesy of Noveller, a solo electric guitar project from Brooklyn-based composer Sarah Lipstate. She has toured with St. Vincent, and Radiolab, and was even the opening act for Iggy Pop.

Wed 22 Feb, The Anthony Burgess Foundation, the Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY, Tel: 0161 235 0776, 7.30pm, £8 (£11 OTD), www.eventbrite.co.uk

Wed 22 Feb
Words:
A. James Simpkin
Published on:
Sun 19 Feb 2017