dreamtime chapbook

The Boulevard – Francesca Albini

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Francesca Albini returns with another beautiful and evocative chapbook. The journey that she leads us on defies the normal rules of time and space. The simplicity of her writing catches the unsuspecting reader in shimmering pools of sentiment. Albini’s images dance on the page, they play Venice’s heat induced mirages against its succulent dark shadows.

Francesca Albini divides her life between literary and artistic endeavours. She is a PhD in Classics, and has worked in publishing for her entire adult life, as a translator, author and editor. She is a self taught artist and photographer. Her work is inspired by folk art, but also by design. Albini is a collector of memories, and uses any medium that allows her to remember and share, express feelings and narrate stories. From line drawings to plastic cameras, from collage to upcycled jewellery and dolls. “My work is playful and dreamy, child-like but also philosophical. I fall in and out of love with many styles and tools, but I’m always me, whatever I do.”

The Boulevard
Francesca Albini
Published May 2019
ISBN  978-1-912960-18-7
A6 Size,
16 printed pages,
Colour,
Dreamtime Chapbook 5
SLB0130
Limited print run of 100
Price – £2
BUY The Boulevard (£2 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address) 

Scala B – Francesca Albini

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Not everything can be translated.
One of them is: Scala B

Francesca Albini divides her life between literary and artistic endeavours. She is a PhD in Classics, and has worked in publishing for her entire adult life, as a translator, author and editor. She is a self taught artist and photographer. Her work is inspired by folk art, but also by design. Albini is a collector of memories, and uses any medium that allows her to remember and share, express feelings and narrate stories. From line drawings to plastic cameras, from collage to upcycled jewellery and dolls. “My work is playful and dreamy, child-like but also philosophical. I fall in and out of love with many styles and tools, but I’m always me, whatever I do.”

Scala B is the fourth chapbook in Albini’s dreamtime series.

Scala B: A Departure
Francesca Albini
 Published March 2018
ISBN  9781910578766
A6 Size,
16 printed pages,
Colour,
Dreamtime Chapbook 4
SLB084
Limited print run of 100
Price – £2
BUY Scala B (£2 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address) 

Theatre of Rags – Francesca Albini

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A theatre of scruffy dolls performing on an eternal stage.
Francesca Albini is back with another mysterious episode from her dreamtime world. Bagpuss meets Tales of the Unexpected in a patchworks adventure that stretches the stitches of reality.

The origins of this new chapbook have a twist in the making.
Francesca decided to take her ragdolls to the Virgin Money Lounge where she could photograph them on their white piano ready for the book. Peter Cook of Human Dynamics and the Academy of Rock was in the lounge with his famous burnt guitar (it was burnt at IBM during an experiment in creativity. Amazingly, it still works). Intrigued with Francesca’s ragdoll diorama Cook very kindly lent her the guitar and allowed her dolls to play on it. They were very gentle of course, no burning, dropping, scratch marks or broken strings.

Francesca Albini with Peter Cook’s guitar

Theatre of Rags
Francesca Albini
 Published February 2017
ISBN  9781910578476
A6 Size,
16 printed pages,
Colour,
Dreamtime Chapbook 3
SLB056
Limited print run of 100
Price – £2
BUY Theatre of Rags (£2 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address)

Francesca Albini is still a translator, writer and mixed media artist. She is also a doll-maker.
She has published 3 books with Sampson Low and edits/compiles the Dreamtime Chapbook series

Altogether Elsewhere – ‘Jazzman’ John Robert Clarke

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9781910578384_50“…..Altogether elsewhere, vast
Herds of reindeer move across
Miles and miles of golden moss,
Silently and very fast.”
W.H. Auden (c. 1940)

Jazzman John Clarke’s Altogether Elsewhere is a vibrant journey between reality and fantasy. The truths are strong, poignant and positive. The dreams are the shifting sands of sunsets and twilight visions. This chapbook is richly illustrated by Pete Smith who captures London’s dissociative landscapes that are both urban and pastoral, real and unreal.

Poet, writer and performer, John Clarke is a well known name in London’s poetry performance scene. Born of Dublin parentage, he devoted more than two decades of his early career in commercial banking before finding the Muse in the mid to late 1990’s.

Clarke is affectionately known as ‘Jazzman John’ due to his abiding influence from & interest in Jazz, Jazz styles, structures and rhythms. He is well-known for his collaborations with a wide variety of talented musicians & this fact often feeds into & inspires his writing. John has also run a series of ‘alternative’ events throughout London, featuring, mainly, poets, musicians, singer-songwriters & performers. He is known to be good at spotting talents early & indeed the Jazz Combo ‘Ledbib’(shortlisted in the jazz category for the prestigious National Mercury Music Prize in 2009) were given some significant early ‘gigs’ by him.

John has performed in the South of France with a Jazz/Blues/Funk outfit,& more recently in 2009 both in Italy (Genoa & Bologna) with experimental & improv musicians, The International Poetry & Music Festival, Ruigoord, Amsterdam & at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Jazzman John Clarke lives in South East London.

 

Altogether Elsewhere
‘Jazzman’ John Robert Clarke
Artwork – Pete Jon Smith
Editor – Francesca Albini
Published January 2017
ISBN  9781910578384
A6 Size,
16 printed pages,
Colour,
Dreamtime Chapbook 2
SLB047
Limited print run of 400
Price – £2
BUY Altogether Elsewhere (£2 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address)

Francesca Albini – Dreamtime Chapbook Series

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Francesca Albini

Francesca Albini

In the past few months we’ve been lucky to sign several new editors here at Sampson Low. They have all embarked upon their very own chapbook series, and these will be stamped with their unique vision and design. Francesca Albini has been publishing with us since December 2015 when she released Dreamtime Reflections into the world. It proved a popular choice and subsequently reached Number 1 in the UK Chapbook Chart. It also inspired the name for Francesca’s new series, Dreamtime Chapbooks.

“Dreamtime, words as maps, maps as distances, rhythm and images, jazz, memories, dreams. And space, empty to fill, full to empty. A series for all the word travellers and the imagery explorers.”
Francesca Albini, 2017

Francesca Albini was born in Venice, Italy in 1959, and has been living in London for over 30 years. Her father was Umberto Albini, professor of Ancient Greek at the University of Genova, Italy, scholar and prolific writer and translator. She has translated fiction and non-fiction books for more than 25 years, from classics, like Anne Bronte, to modern alternative authors, such as Will Self.

9781910578360_garden_Francesca_AlbiniFrancesca’s first chapbook in the Dreamtime series was Garden which is typical of her ethereal and whimsical style. Her second will be Altogether Elsewhere, a collection of poems from Jazzman John Robert Clarke. We think Francesca has a beautiful flavour to her chapbooks and we hope you enjoy reading them over the coming months and years.
Follow the series at Dreamtime Chapbooks.

Garden – Francesca Albini

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9781910578360_garden_Francesca_AlbiniSome gardens grow flowers.
This one grows treasures, flotsam and jetsam washed ashore from far away.

Francesca Albini is a collector and curator of memories, with pockets full of pebbles.
Her job is to write and make pictures.
http://www.franvisionsworld.com/

Also published by Francesca Albini for Sampson Low.
Dreamtime Reflections (December 2015)

Garden
Francesca Albini
Published November 2016
ISBN  9781910578360
A6 Size,
16 printed pages,
Colour,
Dreamtime Chapbook 1
SLB045
Price – £2
BUY Garden (£2 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address)