The first seven International Festivals of Text-Sound Composition
were held in Stockholm. In 1975 and 1976 it was held at the National Poetry
Society in London, and then back to Sweden for the Tenth festival in 1977. The
Eleventh festival was held in Toronto in 1978, and the Twelve and last festival
was in New York. There also has been two 'commemorative' Text-Ljud
festivals in Sweden held by Fylkingen in 1984 and 1993.
The history of the International Festival of Text-Sound Composition is covered in some detail in Teddy Hultberg's Swedish essay in the anthology collection, FYLKINGEN (Stockholm: Utgiven På Fylkingen förlag, 1994).
Venues for sound poetry performance since the ending of the
'official' annual festivals have continued to survive since the eighties.
Public interest in the work as well as opportunities for the itinerate sound
poet, appear to come in waves as has been symptomatic of the development of the
art form all along.
Besides the occasional sporadic regional
or international festivals, current practitioners find themselves being invited
to festivals and concerts were sound poetry is one of the many forms of
expression of a particular art being focused on such as computer music,
experimental poetry, visual art, sound sculpture, story-telling, jazz. and
performance art, to name a few. Though it may be the case that the defining
activities which established text-sound and sound poetry back in the sixties
have blurred into the background so that it no longer has a clear definition,
it still remains an active and creative way of
working.
