Who was Keith Barnes ?

A British poet, born in London in 1934, who died in Paris in 1969.

What did he write ?

·  OEUVRE POÉTIQUE / COLLECTED POEM, Paris, 2003, éditions d’écarts, French Translation by Jacqueline Starer, Opening by Maurice Nadeau

which includes:

• BORN TO FLYING GLASS, New York, 1967, Harcourt, Brace & World
• THE THICK SKIN, Berkeley, 1971, The Koala Press
• AIN'T HUNG YET, extracts translated into French in K.B., Paris, 1987, Maurice Nadeau

Main Themes

• Love Poems
• Couple, Family
• Writing, Death
• War, After-War
• Society, Social Criticism
• Nature, Music

Why is his work still of interest ?

• The love poems will remain among the best written in English in the XXth Century.
• The war poems are totally contemporary.
• His perception of society is visionary.
• Throughout his work, his humour is unique.

The French aspect

• The 3 books have been translated into French by Jacqueline Starer, the author of 2 reference books on the Beat Generation writers : Les écrivains beats et le voyage, Chronologie des écrivains beats jusqu’en 1969, Paris, Marcel Didier, 1977, of K.B.,Maurice Nadeau, 1987, and of Les Bougons, La Bartavelle, 2002.
• From 1968 to this day, numerous poems, translated into French, have been published by various magazines: Les Lettres Nouvelles,  Action Poétique, Recueil, La Lettre Internationale, Sud, Grèges, Arsenal, Poésie/première, Encres Vagabondes, L'Ouvre-Boîte, La Braise et l'Etincelle, Poésie 13, Poésie sur Seine, Ecrit(s) du Nord, Le Nouveau Recueil, Poésie 2002, Jointure, La Quinzaine littéraire, Le Journal des Poètes (Bruxelles).

• From 2001 to 2008: readings and lectures have taken place
• in Paris, at the Maroquinerie, at the Club des Poètes, the Cercle Aliénor, under the aegis of the Société des Poètes Français, at the Senate, and at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, at the Café de la Mairie, Place Saint-Sulpice, at the Galerie MBH, at the Festival franco-anglais de poésie, with the Rencontres Européennes, at the Gobelune (Slam Poetry).
•  at the Médiathèque Florian in Rambouillet, at the MLC in Montmorency,
• in Metz at the Café littéraire,
• in Normandy in Pont-L’Evêque, at the Puces Gourmandes, at Touch d’Auge and at the Médiathèque of Lisieux.
• Broadcast on the poet and his work on IDFM Radio Enghien Ile-de-France in 2002 and 2003, on France Culture : Poésie sur Parole in 2003 and 2004.

• 1987 : K.B. by Jacqueline Starer, éditions Maurice Nadeau, Paris.
• 2003 : OEUVRE POÉTIQUE / COLLECTED POEM, éditions d’écarts, Paris
• 2007 : K.B. KEITH BARNES by Jacqueline Starer, First Bilingual Edition, English Translation by Helen McPhail, éditions d’écarts, Dol-de-Bretagne, France.