Seder by Adam Kammerling — National Jewish Book Award finalist / January 28, 2021 by Out Spoken

Seder, the debut poetry collection by Adam Kammerling, has been named a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards.

The Jewish Book Council has announced the winners and finalists of the 2020 National Jewish Book Awards and we are delighted that Adam Kammerling’s Seder has been selected as one of the four finalists in poetry. Seder joins the ranks of the hundreds of well-respected, classic Jewish books that have been National Jewish Book Award finalists.

Described by Ilya Kaminsky as “a beautiful lyric collection”, Seder is an archival and deft account of a person reckoning with their heritage and family history. Hybrid, dexterous and informed, Kammerling retraces his Jewish ancestry as poems fluctuate through time and space, leaving us with a forbidding sense that what has changed over recent decades is not enough.

Inaugurated in 1950, The National Jewish Book Awards, now in its 70th year, is the longest-running North American awards program of its kind and is recognized as the most prestigious. The Awards are intended to recognize authors, and encourage reading, of outstanding English-language books of Jewish interest.

Seder is available now in paperback here.

For review copies, sales enquiries or further information please contact Patricia Ferguson on press@outspokenldn.com

Seder | Artworks — Vanessa Kisuule | Acceptable Nomad / December 11, 2020 by Out Spoken

{a series of artworks produced in conversation with Adam Kammerling’s Seder }

As part of Adam Kammerling’s development of Seder, he asked artists in various disciplines to create works in response to themes of the collection — we’re delighted to share this video piece by stellar poet and performer Vanessa Kisuule. Vanessa says:

Inspired by the element of unleavened bread in the Passover meal, I decided to ask my mother how chappatis, a popular Indian flatbread, became a staple of Ugandan cuisine. It's a long and complicated history involving the use of a burgeoning Indian community in East Africa as a violent tool of British imperial power. This video follows me as I attempt to make chapattis for the first time and explores how food is a potent symbol for the movement of people throughout history

You can join us for the online launch of Seder (live-streaming from New River Studios, 7pm Friday 11 December) for a performance specially developed for the digital stage by Adam together with multifaceted musical talent and former World Beatboxing Champion, Bellatrix and jazz drum poetry extraordinaire Antosh Wojcik, and you can see illustrator Will Redgrove’s Seder-inspired artwork here.

Seder is available for purchase in our webshop here.

Seder | Artworks — Will Redgrove / December 4, 2020 by Out Spoken

{ Sharing the first in a series of artworks produced in conversation with Adam Kammerling’s Seder }

“There is a cathartic element to creating any art from trauma where it becomes a celebration of our resilience and survival. To continue that process with other artists, to extend the celebration of Seder, is a great privilege”

Adam says:

The poetry collection Seder was created mostly as a solo mission, but the most fruitful stages of the process after the initial research were collaborative. With it being such a key element of my practice, I wanted to create a collaborative digital space into which the book could be launched. So I enlisted the help of some wonderful artists, asking them to respond to the themes of the poems.

The first was Will Redgrove, a mural artist and leader of amazing community arts projects with ASYMBAL. He created these images using the texts from Seder, and some visual elements from my research, namely the illustrations in the book, Songs of the Ghetto.

Songs of the Ghetto features highly detailed woodblock illustrations depicting the struggles of Jews throughout the ages. It is a beautiful book with a desperately sad story, and Will drew from these images to find the forms of his paintings.

Songs of the Ghetto — from Adam Kammerling’s personal collection — *Songs of the Ghetto* — from Adam Kammerling’s personal collection

There is a cathartic element to creating any art from trauma where it becomes a celebration of our resilience and survival. To continue that process with other artists, to extend the celebration of Seder, is a great privilege, and one I have to thank Out-Spoken Press and Arts Council England for facilitating.