Gary Cummiskey reading at Off the Wall

 

Gary Cummiskey is a poet, short story writer and publisher living in Johannesburg. He is the author of several poetry chapbooks and collections, the latest being Somewhere else (Graffiti, Kolkata, 2024). In 2009 he published Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African Beat poet, co-edited with Eva Kowalska. A revised and expanded edition was published in 2014. His short fiction collection Off-ramp was a finalist for the 2014 Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award. From 2014 to 2016 he was editor of New Coin, one of South Africa’s oldest and most prestigious poetry journals.

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Who was Sinclair Beiles? at Clarke's in Cape Town

 

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about South African beat poet Sinclair Beiles, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is still available from Clarkes.

Alternatively, you can order a copy directly from the publisher at cummiskeyg@gmail.com

Originally published in 2010, this is a revised and expanded edition that was published in 2014. 

Who was Sinclair Beiles? still available at Clarke's in Cape Town

 

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about South African beat poet Sinclair Beiles, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is still available from Clarkes.

Alternatively, you can order a copy directly from the publisher at cummiskeyg@gmail.com

Originally published in 2010, this is a revised and expanded edition that was published in 2014. 

Sinclair Beiles in Cape Town

 

Good to see that Gregory Penfold in Cape Town has received his copy of Who was Sinclair Beiles?, published by Dye Hard Press.

Who was Sinclair Beiles? heads to Poland

For anyone who will be at the European Beat Studies Network conference in Poland next week, just to let you know that Eva Kowalska, the co-editor of Who was Sinclair Beiles?, will be there and will have some hard copies of the revised and expanded 2014 edition for sale.

Who was Sinclair Beiles?

A reminder that Who was Sinclair Beiles?, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kolwaska, is still available from Clarke's in Cape Town. You can click on the link to order, or if you are in the area, why not pop into the store in Long Street in person! 

 

Who was Sinclair Beiles? available at Clarke's in Cape Town

 

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about South African beat poet Sinclair Beiles, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is still available from Clarkes.

Originally published in 2010, this is a revised and expanded edition that was published in 2014. 

Glowing review of Who was Sinclair Beiles?

I found this glowing review of Who was Sinclair Beiles? on Goodreads today: I certainly could not have asked for more!

Thank you, Mat!

**************

An excellent 'festschrift' (or 'celebration'), rather than a strict biography, on the mysterious South African beat writer, Sinclair Beiles.

Beiles is probably most famous for helping Burroughs get Naked Lunch published at Olympia through Girodias, at a time when Burroughs was really strung out on paregoric and/or heroin. His most famous work in print is probably as one of the four contributors (Beiles, Burroughs, Corso & Gysin) of the now legendary cut-up compilation, Minutes to Go, published in 1960.

However, as this book illustrates, Beiles is [sic] quite a prolific poet and playwright and apart from the above two works, much of his writing has surfaced 'under the radar' and hasn't been the subject of much attention by either critics or fellow poets and writers. Beiles is someone whose quality of writing is as notoriously inconsistent as it is hard to track down and read his books in the first place.

One of his books of poetry, Yeoville, for example, was only published in a limitation of 4 copies.

What Beiles has in common with Burroughs is their meeting in Tangier and in Paris, an interest in drugs, an interest in experimental artists and writers and also, interestingly, a regular allowance from their families which allowed them both to focus much time on their writing.

I hope this book goes some way to revealing more about this great writer to the literary world. His poetry and plays have been criminally neglected and underrated and it is high time that his work is evaluated alongside many of the other great beat writers who are already firmly and undeniably well ensconced in the beat cannon and annals of history (in particular Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg).

Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska have done a terrific job of compiling these (mostly flattering) articles on Sinclair and his art. This is the best introduction to a little-known artist.

If you can obtain a copy, I recommend getting the second edition which is revised and expanded and contains an excellent bibliography-in-progress of Beiles' works in print.

Read the original post.

Raymond Foye writes about Who was Sinclair Beiles?

 

Burning the midnight oil with SINCLAIR BEILES, a wonderful poet who I always heard about, but knew very little about. A South African poet who lived at the Beat Hotel and was the editor of Naked Lunch + Samuel Beckett, at Olympia Press, followed by many years of mental illness which he often documented in his poems. Thanks to Gerard Bellaart for sending this book, full of essential information and many poems.

Originally posted on Facebook, 25 September, 2022.

Who was Sinclair Beiles? still available at David Krut

 Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African beat poet edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is available from David Krut Bookstores.

It contains essays, interviews and memoirs by writers such as Gary Cummiskey, Eva Kowalska, Alan Finlay, Heathcote Williams, Carl Weissner, Fred de Vries and dawie malan.

Who was Sinclair Beiles? available from David Krut Bookstores

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African beat poet edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is available from David Krut Bookstores.

It contains essays, interviews and memoirs by writers such as Gary Cummiskey, Eva Kowalska, Alan Finlay, Heathcote Williams, Carl Weissner, Fred Malan and dawie malan.

Sinclair Beiles and the Beat Generation

A new article about Sinclair Beiles has been published in New Frame, and Who was Sinclair Beiles?, which was published by Dye Hard Press, gets a mention.

The article starts: The 1950s were a tumultuous time for an Australian criminal and con artist called William Lindsay Pearson. An array of jewels was stolen from Brenthurst, the Johannesburg estate of the Oppenheimer family, founders of the Anglo American mining giant, in 1955. This treasure was, ultimately, derived from political connections to the apartheid state and the exploitation of Black workers.  ... read more.

Winter special: Who was Sinclair Beiles?

Winter special (until the end of August)!

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African beat poet, compiled and edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska.

Special winter price, including 24-hour courier costs, is R160.00. South Africa only.
For order details email dyehardpress@iafrica.com.

I had a dream recently that Sinclair Beiles had hooked up with John Lennon in London, in 1965, and together they had worked on some cut-up prose poems.

As Mike Hardaker has pointed out, such a meeting would not have been impossiblr.

And on the subject of music, Beiles once maintained that he had read poetry at a Grateful Dead concert at the Great Pyramids in Egypt. The Dead had indeed once played there, sometime in the 70s, but had Beiles shared the stage with them? Who knows ...

Wanna know more about Sinclair Beiles?

Then order Who was Sinclair Beiles? - email dyehardpress@iafrica.com for details.

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska

A copy of the original edition of Who was Sinclair Beiles? is selling at abebooks.com for R1 400!!!!

But you can buy a copy of the revised edition for much less. Who was Sinclair Beiles?, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is now available at Balakudu.com for R170.

Please follow the link below to order. https://www.balakudu.com/9780986998249.

You can also still order directly from Dye Hard Press. Send an email to dyehardpress@iafrica.com for details.

New from Dye Hard Press: Who was Sinclair Beiles?, revised and expanded edition

Available from Dye Hard Press at R150 per copy, including postage (South Africa only). Email dyehardpress@iafrica.com.  For overseas orders, price will vary according to increased postal rates - please enquire with publisher.

Due out January 2015: Revised and expanded edition of Who was Sinclair Beiles?

Forthcoming publication: Revised and expanded edition of Who was Sinclair Beiles?

Publication scheduled for November 2014.

Forthcoming from Dye Hard Press: an expanded and revised edition of Who was Sinclair Beiles?

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, an expanded and revised edition, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska. To be published by Dye Hard Press.

A review of Who was Sinclair Beiles?

Before I opened Dye Hard Press‘ new volume, its title, Who was Sinclair Beiles? was a question I certainly didn’t know the answer to. His is a name I’ve occasionally come across, as a poet who, as a resident of Paris’ famous “Beat Hotel,” created cut-ups with William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Gregory Corso, and helped to edit Naked Lunch and as a resident of the famed “Beat Hotel” in Paris. But there’s where my knowledge stopped.

Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska have brought together a collection of eleven essays and interviews which address the question, “Who Was Sinclair Beiles?” from multiple angles....Read more here