Conversation with Susan Mulder for the Poet Kind Podcast

Posted on April 17, 2020 by

Last week I sat down (well, I’m sitting most of the time these days) for a chat with the poet and artist Susan Mulder of the Poet Kind Podcast on the subject of my new book, Poems to See By. You can listen to it here: https://anchor.fm/poetkindpodcast/episodes/Season-4-Episode-7-with-Julian-Peters-ecpi1f

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Video of “The Drunken Boat” by Arthur Rimbaud

Posted on April 15, 2020 by

Another video adaptation of one of my poetry comics, created by James Avis. This time it’s the comics version of Arthur Rimbaud’s “Le bateau ivre,” which I created nearly a decade ago now. The reading of the poem, in English translation, is by the American actor Michael C. Gwynne. I would definitely adapt this wonderful poem very differently today, but I do feel there are some success elements, mostly in the little details, which James Avis’s video brings out very well. 

 

 

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Video of “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas

Posted on April 5, 2020 by

Another video adaptation of one of my poetry comics by James Avis. Here the comics version of Dylan Thomas’s famous villanelle, “Do not go gentle that good night,” is accompanied by a stupendous reading by the Welsh poet himself.

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“Poems to See By” out today!

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

Today (March 31) marks the official release date of my debut book, “Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great poetry.” I’m not sure what a release date means exactly in these strange times, but the book is now available for purchase from Amazon and other sites that offer home book delivery, such as Barnes & Noble, Powell’s Books, etc.

Publishing my own book of comics is something I’ve been chasing after in one form or another all my adult life. I want to thank all those readers of this website who have encouraged me throughout the years, strengthening my resolve in those moments where I got to worrying that I might be frittering away my life in pursuit of childish dreams.

 

 

 

 

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“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley – Trailer video for “Poems to See By”

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” is one of the 24 classic poems in comics form that are included in “Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry,” to be released on March 31 (tomorrow!) by Plough Publishing. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon: 

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Video of “Impression du Matin” by Oscar Wilde

Posted on March 29, 2020 by

James Avis has been putting together a series of video adaptations of some of my poetry comics, and I will be posting a new one of them here each week. This week’s installment features Oscar Wilde’s atmospheric evocation of a London morning, “Impression du matin,” read by the English actor Sean Barrett.

I really like what this kind of “semi animation” brings to the illustrations. It reminds me, and I mean this as the highest compliment, of the Japanese anime series that I watched as a child, which derived a lot of what I now recognize as their grace and poetry from the use of panning shots and zooms over single beautifully painted images. Unlike full-blown animation, which is really its own thing, this technique feels like in a way like the ultimate amplification of an illustration. It seems to me to bring the illustration a step closer to what H. P. Lovecraft once called “the realisation of that always-beckoning and bitterly-tantalising conception of imaginative infancy– a fairy-tale picture into which one can actually walk.”

I should mention that the style of the drawings here is heavily indebted to that of the great Italian comics artist Dino Battaglia.

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Audio interview with John Swiminer for True North Country Comics

cropped-cropped-truenorth_logo11Here’s my chat with John Swiminer on the subject of my upcoming debut book, “Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry,” coming March 31 from Plough Publishing, and now available for pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/Poems-See-Artist-Interprets-Poetry/dp/087486318X

A big thank you to True North Country Comics for once again featuring me on its podcast and for promoting Canadian comics across the nation and beyond!

Julian Peters discusses how poetry and illustration combine in ‘Poems to See By’

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“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley – Trailer video for “Poems to See By”

Posted on March 16, 2020 by

William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” is one of the 24 classic poems in comics form that are included in “Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry,” to be released on March 31 by Plough Publishing. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon:

More videos to come!

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Interview with Vincenzo Mascolo at the Ritratti di Poesia 2020 Festival

Posted on March 12, 2020 by

The 14th edition of the Ritratti di Poesia (“Portraits of Poetry”) festival, Rome’s premiere annual poetry event, took place on February 21 in the Auditorium della Conciliazione, just a few blocks way from St. Peter’s Square. I was invited to display a number of my original artworks, and to give this interview (in Italian) with festival organizer Vincenzo Mascolo on the subject of illustrating poetry.

All in all I feel as though I acquitted myself quite well in terms of the Italian, although a “true Italian” would never allow the skin to show between his sock and the hem of his pants, as the camera angle so mercilessly reveals.

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Creator’s Roulette with Kriti Khare

Posted on February 5, 2020 by

What follows is my conversation with Kriti Khare on her website, Armed with a Book. In this round of “The Creator’s Roulette,” we discuss, among other things, the nature of beauty, poetry appreciation, India, and my upcoming collection of poetry comics:

I read Julian Peters’ Poems to see by in January and I was fascinated by his work. The book is a collection of poems, with illustrations: they are poetry as comics! Did you know that poetry and writing a comic are very similar? I had never thought of this before and Julian’s preface to the collection got me thinking more about how different art forms are related to one another. I reached out to Julian and it is an honor to host him as part of The Creator’s Roulette. I hope you enjoy this conversation about art and like the works by Julian that I have shared here.

On Beauty in Poems

Welcome to The Creator’s Roulette, Julian! You mentioned in your book that you created these comic strip accompaniments for these poems because you love beauty. What does a “beautiful poem” look like?

Thanks so much for having me!

Well, I think everyone loves beauty in one form or another. I guess by definition what is beautiful to us is what we love looking at (or reading, in the case of poetry). A beautiful poem for me is one that gives me a little shiver of pleasure in more or less the same place in the brain as does a beautiful piece of music, and makes me want to repeat the lines over and over to myself, in the same way that a good song gets us singing it.

What kind of poems do you find beautiful?

I am finding that as I read, I try to imagine or feel the emotions of it. Any poem that I can relate to and believe it portrays the emotions with words in a manner different than what I have known before, will stay with me. Continue reading →

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