title

Mario Petrucci

email:
mariopetrucci
AT
writersartists.net

details

biography	publications	what the press says
awards & honours	editorial work	teaching & residencies
work in other media	website links	sample of work

The areas in which Mario can offer particular expertise include:

· Performance: Readings & Training

· Biculturalism

· Schools and Colleges

· Workshops and Creative Writing

· Publication & Small Presses

· Science & Technology in Poetry

· War Poetry

· Experimental Poetry (ShadoWork)

· Environmental Issues

· Discussions and Seminars

· Contemporary Writing & 'Poeclectics'

· Site-specific & Public Poetry

· Haiku & Japanese Forms

· Study Skills/Essay Writing

Mario organises several poetry venues in London which incorporate readings, training and workshops (Blue Nose, Writers Inc.) and he runs a variety of creative writing and literacy courses across the UK, for Arvon, in schools and on the performance scene.

Mario also contributes to international conferences for the British Council. Prominent events at the Barbican Centre include Irish Day events, a central contribution to the World Haiku Festival and adjudicating/organising the Writers Inc/ Barbican annual prose and poetry competition.

POETRY FACILITATOR and INNOVATOR

Mario is flexible, inventive and always open to new challenges and possibilities. Examples of his activities include:

· First ever poet in residence at The Imperial War Museum (Lambeth site), BBC Radio 3, and with Southwell Workhouse.

· Long-term Blue Nose poet and co-founder of Writers Inc. (funded by London Arts).

· 15 years' experience of running creative writing workshops & organising residential poetry courses.

· Founder member of ShadoWork, an experimental collaborative poetry group (supported by the Arts Council 'Independent Initiatives Fund' and Awards-for-All) to deliver pilot performance schemes nation-wide.

· Massive experience in devising, organising and running residencies in schools and institutions of all kinds.

· Originator of the Poetry Hunt at the Imperial War Museum and the Thames Poetry Walk in Essex.

A tireless experimenter in poetry, Mario has launched two new conceptual initiatives on the British poetry scene: Poeclectics and LiteraRture. The first term describes, engages with and enacts the diverse and eclectic tendencies of contemporary poetry, while the latter term describes how a writer may generate 'synaesthetic' effects through the deployment of poetry in three-dimensional space in public sites (details: www.mariopetrucci.com).

SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES

· Delivers national INSET for Edexcel relating to the London syllabus for war poetry.

· Involved in the poetryclass initiative (DfES / Poetry Society) which provides poetry services to all schools in the country.

· A qualified secondary school teacher with an enviable reputation for creative writing in schools.

Mario's 'Poeclectic' take on contemporary writing is as distinctive as it is insightful and thorough. Poeclectics has been introduced into university courses and festivals across the country (eg Oxford Brookes University and Canterbury) and is featured in the 2nd edition of Routledge's 'The English Studies Book' (2002).

'Mission Possible': a Study Skills Pack. Commissioned by the Royal Literary Fund, this unique resource has bogged-down students (and their tutors) very much in mind. Invaluable for essay writing, dissertations, talks and presentations, as well as for anyone attempting to survive exams. The techniques can be adapted to all kinds of situation; the benefits are lifelong. All free! Via the RLF site: http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipscheme/writing/mission_possible.cfm

LITERACY & LITERATURE in MUSEUMS

· Under the Poetry Society's Poetry Placement scheme, Mario brought about and filled the first ever resident position for a poet at the Imperial War Museum.

· Mario is now Literacy Consultant at the IWM, dealing with creative captioning, applied literacy and family learning.

· Mario is now widely consulted as a poet and educator within Museums, formulating and delivering educational activities, lectures and literature-related captions. Current clients include the Cabinet War Rooms, the new IWM North at Old Trafford, the Imperial War Museum at Lambeth Road and the Museum of London.

SITE-SPECIFIC WORK

Mario is a leading exponent for site-specific poetry. He has devised a number of successful residencies involving public art, including a Year-of-the-Artist scheme which led to the schools Poetry Study Pack in Essex and Havering.

AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, PRIZES (a selection)

· Winner: Arvon/ Daily Telegraph International Poetry Prize, 2002.

· Winner: The New Writer, 2003.

· National Poetry Competition, 2004: 3^rd Prize Winner

· Winner: 2003 Silver Wyvern Award.

· The Stamina of Sheep - a book of poems, photographs, observations and maps - was awarded the 2003 Essex Book Award for Best Fiction Publication (2000-2002).

· Recipient of the 2002 Arts Council Writers' Award.

· 2000-present: Fellowships at Oxford Brookes University
supported by the Royal Literary Fund.

· 2000 Year-of-the-Artist project, site-specific literature, London Arts.

· Winner: 1997 Irish Times Perpetual Trophy.

· Recipient of the 1998 New London Writers Award (London Arts).

· Winner, the 1999 Bridport Prize (+ Supplementary Prize, 2000).

· Winner, 1996 Frogmore Prize; runner-up 1995.

· Four times winner, the London Writers Competition.

· Runner-up, Stand 2000 Competition.

· Twice winner, Coast to Coast National Writing Competition.

· Three times winner of a Sheffield Thursday Poetry Prize.

· 1995 & 1996 Edith Kitt Memorial Awards (for outstanding competition performance).

Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl, filmed & directed by
Phil Grabsky and David Bickerstaff (Seventh Art Productions)

Mario Petrucci's award-winning book-length poem for Chernobyl, Heavy Water, forms the narrative backbone of the film, which tells the story of the explosion and its catastrophic aftermath. Over a year in the making and filmed in the Ukraine, the result is an intensely moving film which, rather than relating the technical details of the world's biggest ever industrial accident, emphasises the effect of the disaster on the people of Chernobyl. The poetry is read by Juliet Stevenson, David Trelfall and Samuel West.

'Heartfelt, ambitious and alive'
(Jackie Kay, The Daily Telegraph)

For further information, or to view an excerpt of the film:
http://www.half-life.org.uk/

Commissions: Radio 4, Radio 3 and the BBC.
Interviews/poems: Kaleidoscope and Nightwaves.
D-Day libretto for Stephen Warbeck broadcast on "Classic Challenge"
(BBC TV).
Video: 'This is London'. British Airways in-flight film.
Poem and audio for BBC World News Online (4th October 2001 - see Weblinks).
Poems in The Independent and The Spectator.
Public poems for Essex/Havering and for the Thames (Thames Chase).
Poems accompanying public sculpture (London Arts), museum artefacts (Imperial War Museum) and sites of historic interest (YOTA).
See Teaching & Residencies on this web page.

The core sites for Mario's links to other web pages may be found at:

www.mariopetrucci.com (Mario's official site)