 Click photo to visit site I'm excited to announce that I'm the featured poet at this month's Second Sunday Poetry Series in Los Angeles. I'll be reading from my debut collection, Photofit (Pindrop Press, 2023). as well as selling and signing copies.
If you're in town, come along. And if you're feeling brave, bring a poem to read and share during the open mic part of the event. The Second Sunday Poetry Series has been running for more than a decade and is hosted by the incomparable Alex M. Frankel. Hope to see you there. Details as follow: Jan 14th 2024 at 5pm, The Studio Theatre, St. Denis Building, 3433 Cahuenga Blvd West Los Angeles 90068
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 I'm excited that two of my poems have been accepted for publication in THE HIGH WINDOW, a lit. journal I've long admired. The poems won't appear until the Summer 2024 issue but it's always worth the wait when you land a poem or two in a literary magazine that you love and this news comes shortly after I learned two more poems are to feature in Kathleen McPhilemy's excellent podcast POETRY WORTH HEARING.
Meanwhile, I continue to facilitate the Los Angeles Public Library's poetry workshop, which is fun and lively and brings me into contact with a diverse range of LA poets from all walks of life. We share poems and I provide the prompts and lead the feedback on writer's work. I'm currently reading Ada Limón's LUCKY WRECK and among the many other excellent poems in this collection Limón tackles the technical demands of a Sonnet crown -- a sequence of seven sonnets in which each successive sonnet begins with the last line of the previous sonnet and the final sonnet in the sequence ends with the first line of sonnet 1. LUCKY WRECK was Limón's debut collection. It's extraordinary to read it in the context of her later work and think about this accomplished stellar start and how she continues to flourish. Her work is an inspiration.  Delighted to announce the publication of my fifth book and debut poetry collection 'Photofit.' You can pick up a copy at the Pindrop Press website by clicking on the link right here: http://www.pindroppress.com/books/Photofit.html
Details of the UK & US Book Launch and readings coming soon!  This month, I'm proud to launch a new poetry initiative in association with the Literature Department of the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Branch, 630 W 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90071
The workshop runs on Saturday mornings from 11 am - 1 pm in the Literature Department. Participants are invited to bring a poem, no longer than one page, to read and receive valuable feedback from fellow poets. Engage in thoughtful discussions and provide your own insights on the work of others. Whether you're a seasoned poet or just starting out, this workshop offers a supportive environment to refine your craft, connect with like-minded individuals, and celebrate the power of words. Poets should bring several additional copies of their poem so fellow participants can make notes before handing back to the poet. Here is a link to the LAPL website with WORKSHOP DATES and further details. https://lapl.org/whats-on/events/poetry-workshop-0 Parking downtown can be a challenge. The GOOD NEWS is that if you have a valid LAPL library card, parking at the library is one dollar with validation during library hours (please check as this information may be subject to change). Enter via Flower Street on the west side of library. See you there!  promo image: permission granted GIRLPLAY at theSpace on North Bridge, Venue 36, is a perfect mix of spoken word, performance, and powerful storytelling.
Lucy is average and awkward, but what she lacks in sexual experience she makes up for it in curiosity; wearing her heart on her sleeve and telling it like it is, unpacking the journey of her sexual and emotional development with fierce, unflinching honesty. The production is effective in its simplicity, the staging full of energy, and the three actors, Sarah Richardson (also the playwright), Laura Brady, and Martha Dunlea move around the stage sharing the story of Lucy’s life and delivering a superbly-crafted performance at the same time. There are moments of great tenderness as well as a lot of laughter. The piece is tightly choreographed and the actors never miss a beat. With so many shows to see during the fringe’s 75th year, this one is an excellent choice.  What a great way to celebrate theatre and come back from the pandemic at the same time by bringing a show to the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
I’m so proud of the play, cast, and crew of Unseen Shepard, written by Nic D’Avirro and Matt Braaten. The piece imagines Sam Shepard’s last night alive, a fever dream in which Shepard is visited by various characters from his plays, all of them demanding a rewrite and they are not going to leave without a fight! Unseen Shepard asks important questions about dramaturgy and the way male playwrights write female characters. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has invited us to premiere Unseen Shepard on the opening night of the 2022 Festival! The show runs Aug. 5-20 in The Space on the Mile (Space 3), Venue #39. Click HERE for tickets! Los Angeles is currently under Corona virus lockdown like much of the world. Check out Raze The Space's International Quarantine Series -- video responses to life in these strange times: https://www.razethespace.com/now-playing.html
 Besides the two theatre books I published in 2018, the literary and art journal HCE Review in Dublin published my poem The View From Here. You can read it on the HCE Review website and while you stop by please check out the rest of the journal, edited by students of the MA and MFA Creative Writing programs at University College Dublin. Click here to visit the site. The cover art is titled “Dances of Nature” by Keith Moul.
I haven't posted on this blog since last October! Where did the year go? I'll endeavor to post more than an paltry annual update from now on but in my defense, this year has been busier than usual so lots to update you with. Back in May my third book for Smith and Kraus came out. This came a week after I'd finished my second year as Associate Producer at Directors Lab West, a hugely rewarding yet time-demanding effort that brings 50 theatre directors and choreographers together for a week-long intensive series of workshops and performances. We had a great book launch at Samuel French, which has hosted every one of my books so far. Here's me plugging the book ahead of the June launch: I was by Brainard Carey at Yale Radio back in August and in case you missed it here it is again: https://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/martin-jago/ By mid-summer, I was up to my neck in scripts. As part of Raze The Space's annual ten-minute international plays fest. we received and read well over 500. The final 8 were performed on the The Mark Taper Auditorium stage in downtown Los Angeles. Chip Bolcik's Take Me Out was a huge hit with the audience, both poignant and funny:
The festival took a lot of organizing since it featured the work of more than 30 international theatre artists but I still found time to write as I always have and for me the most exciting product of that effort this year has been a book-length collection of poetry, which I am submitting to various literary magazines and a few prizes. Thank you to John Fox for an excellent resource online that list an ample number of magazines worth submitting to: https://thejohnfox.com/2016/05/poetry-submissions/ A one-act play I write during my time at Oxford has also been edited and will get some rehearsal time in October. And if all that wasn't enough, I've just received a publication date for my fourth book, the third and fourth were part of a two-book deal with Smith and Kraus. This one is all about sonnets and another video gave me chance to show off my new haircut:  I'm currently working on the Pasadena Playhouse's forthcoming production of Mike Bartlett's fantastic play Charles III. It's fun being a part of the creative team. It's going to be a great production!
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