Glitterbug (15)

A special event to mark the re-publication by leading London independent press Prototype of a facsimile edition of Derek Jarman’s early, extremely rare and only poetry book A Finger in the Fishes Mouth, originally published in 1972.

Joining publisher Jess Chandler and editor Gareth Evans after the screening to talk about Jarman's poetry, life, legacy and ever-growing influence will be poet and writer CAConrad and scholar Declan Wiffen. The book will be on sale at the event. Thanks to James Mackay.

A stunning collage of ecstatic Super-8 fragments, Glitterbug was assembled by friends from Jarman's prolific filming of everyday events and his experimental investigations of the format. Associate director David Lewis and editor Andy Crabb worked with Jarman through the latter half of 1993 to distill Glitterbug from some 15 hours of home movies shot between 1970 and 1985. Jarman’s vibrant photography, combined with dynamic cutting, reveals glimpses into his picaresque life, from the London streets to the Spanish countryside-with visions of dances, performances, intimate moments and quiet observations. Especially touching are the sequences with longtime muse Tilda Swinton as she bashfully wanders around gardens, her joyful, intimate interaction with the camera a testimony to her and Jarman’s devoted friendship. Set to a mesmerizing score by Brian Eno, Glitterbug forms a hopeful counterpoint to Jarman's remarkable final film Blue and commemorates both Jarman’s exemplary life as a gay icon and his unique artistic vision.

Heavily illustrated from Jarman’s collection of postcards, the book combines text and visual imagery in a way which foreshadows his subsequent style as an artist and filmmaker. With the vast majority of the first edition having been destroyed by Jarman, this makes available again a missing, significant piece of his oeuvre. The facsimile retains the book’s original format, with a silver mirror cover, and an image accompanying each poem, printed in a striking green ink. Additional material comes in the form of a Foreword and Afterwords by writer and organiser So Mayer, Jarman's biographer Tony Peake and his late companion Keith Collins.

CAConrad has been working with the ancient technologies of poetry & ritual since 1975. They have published numerous collections and performed and exhibited internationally. The Book of Frank, along with two other collections, has recently been published by Penguin.

Declan Wiffen is a Lecturer in English Literature at The University of Kent. His essay on Derek Jarman and Queer Theory entitled ‘Staying with the Sodomy at Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman and Nature's Queer Negativity’ has recently been published in The Edinburgh Companion to Queer Reading.