Free Verse this weekend, plus some ekphrastic opportunities

Free Verse

It’s that time again – Free Verse (aka the Poetry Book & Magazine Fair) is this Saturday at St Columba’s in London. I’ll be helping out on the Frogmore Press table, ‘personed’ this year by Frogmore publisher Alexandra Loske. It’s always a lovely day, a chance to catch up with people and meet others for the first time. Alexandra and Jeremy (Page) have kindly allowed me to sell some of my books, (which might include the new ‘A Guide to Getting Your Poetry Published‘ – the first small print run of which is sold out, but more copies arriving from the printers on Friday).

So do come and say hello if you’re coming. I’m going to one of the seminars too, at 11.30 – ‘AI in poetry and translation’ – should be interesting!

Do you write ekphrastic poetry?

Only asking because I thought I’d mention a couple of opportunities. Since the demise of Visual Verse I’ve often wondered if anyone was running anything similar. Firstly, US magazine Rattle runs a regular Ekphrastic Challenge. Basically they post up a new image every month for poets to respond to. There are two winners each month, receiving online publication and $100 each.

Then there’s Metphrastics, another US publication but relatively new. What they say is this: ‘We welcome submissions year-round responding to works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection and special exhibits – all areas, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, costume, musical instruments, and the Met building itself. All styles are welcome from poets around the world.” They pay $10 per poem published. Even if you’re not able to visit the Met you can at least browse their catalogue online.

That’s it for now…. back to stuffing envelopes!