We had a wonderful couple of days in Suffolk last week. First of all on the Benjamin Britten Trail, the highlight of which was a visit to the Red House, where Britten and Peter Pears lived through the 60s and 70s. Apparently they were hoarders,so with the help of receipts, travel itineraries, letters and photographs theRead more ⟶
Author: Robin Houghton
In praise of the ‘zine
I love the idea of giving birth to an arts/literary magazine. I dream about it and go through possible plans for it, in the same way some people do kitchens, or dream homes. Whenever I come across some quirky ‘zine I keep a copy, for future reference, in case there any ideas I can borrow from it.Read more ⟶
And lo … the teeny window of acceptances doth open
Waiting to hear the results of submissions can be like waiting for the interest rate to change – something could happen today, next month or not for a year or so. You know how I like to moan a bit about it (ahem!)…but come on, I do seem to have had a fair amount of badRead more ⟶
Bring up the poems (are they dead or sleeping?)
As part of my autumn poetry reactivation plan (sounds good, eh?) I’ve signed up for an online course from the Poetry’s School with Karen McCarthy Woolf. It’s a feedback course for the ‘general improvement of left-for-dead poems in need of resuscitation’. This premise really appealed to me – having quite a few poems languishing atRead more ⟶
Latest on Telltale, plus forthcoming events
Having just emerged from a book-writing marathon I’m now fighting a cold and the urge to feel pathetically sorry for myself! Not helped by the submissions doldrums – what on earth will it take for things to start moving? I have so many poems ‘out there’ and it must be easily 6 months since the lastRead more ⟶
On persistence, or, another submissions stock-take
Being back early from our hols due to N spraining his ankle, I found I had a day ‘in hand’ and was strangely at a loss. Until I remembered I’d been waiting for such an opportunity (ie an unallocated day) to sit down and open the ‘poetry’ folder on my computer. I find it hard toRead more ⟶
Guest Post: “A Self-Publishing Blueprint” by Bud Smith
Another brilliantly useful blog post by Bud Smith – a straight-talking piece about self-publishing. Although his example isn’t a book of poetry, most of the advice is still relevant. Warning: there’s a bit of ‘language’ in here, if you’re offended by that sort of thing :0
Swindon Festival of Poetry
Hurray! First of all I managed to snag a place on the Don Share workshop in October in Swindon (before it sold out) and then thanks to a prompt from Josephine Corcoran I’m now booked in from Friday night, so I’ll be able to join in on Saturday also. The Swindon Festival of Poetry, brainchildRead more ⟶
Poetry Library takes The Great Vowel Shift
OK so it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but the email from the Poetry Library says they get sent between 200 and 300 unsolicited publications every month, and my Telltale pamphlet The Great Vowel Shift has made the cut. It feels like vote of confidence. And yes, since I don’t have the might ofRead more ⟶
Stanza Bonanza – Brighton & Palmers Green
It was a lovely evening at the Poetry Cafe last night – and a very high standard of readings I felt – there was music too: I don’t normally go for bits of singing inserted into poetry, but Tom Cunliffe gave a riveting performance including just that. It set the atmosphere alight. It was nice to encounterRead more ⟶