Last weekend I was at the Troubadour in London on a Sunday afternoon for one of Anne-Marie Fyfe’s themed writing workshops. It was intense without feeling like hard work – I felt I’d been challenged and came away with a number of useful seedlings of ideas that may one day make their way into poemsRead more ⟶
Category: Blog
Bare Fiction, Marion Tracy’s new book & other news
It’s gone a bit quiet here as I’ve been preoccupied with all sorts of things – our new flat is taking shape, so I’ve been spending time choosing paint colours, painting, filling, putting putty into windows and all kinds of decorating jobs. There are tons of boxes all over the place, and the thing youRead more ⟶
Andrew McMillan’s ‘Physical’
Even though we have NO bookshelves at the moment and about 40 boxes of books we can’t unpack, I had a bit of a poetry book-buying splurge lately (this – AND even though I’ve just taken out two poetry books from the library, having discovered the poetry section at Eastbourne Library isn’t too shabby). AndRead more ⟶
A (tell) Tale of Two Collectives
I’m fortunate to be a part of two writers’ collectives, one is of course Telltale Press and the other The Needlewriters. Needlewriters is based in Lewes and consists of about 6 or 7 of us (not entirely sure how many at the moment!) and we’re all writers of prose, poetry or both. We host quarterlyRead more ⟶
UPDATED – List of poetry magazine submissions windows
**UPDATED 28-4-16 – new listings in red, with thanks to those who have contributed.** Many UK poetry magazines have now adopted the ‘submissions window’ model, and it can be tricky to keep track. I’ve started making a note of these, and also those that welcome submissions all year round, and thought you might find itRead more ⟶
The rejections behind poem acceptances
Apparently I’m well known for broadcasting my rejections, but that’s no reason not to tell of the acceptances. Just when I was thinking I’d lost my way (the second half of 2015 was particularly bleak in terms of one rejection after another) some poems have come good. Specifically: a poem forthcoming in Poetry News, another inRead more ⟶
World Poetry Day – Sussex Poets’ showcase
John Myers (aka Mister John) runs a regular poetry evening here in Eastbourne at the Underground Theatre cafe. I’m giving it a good plug not least of all because next month I’m the guest poet. And I do also want people to support the event, as we’re not awash with poetry events in Eastbourne (YET).Read more ⟶
Lynne Hjelmgaard book launch
[…] Outside each propelling constellation but inside that feeling of boat. It demands and bruises, cuts pride, hardens stomachs. […] (‘That Feeling of Boat’) It was such a pleasure to be at the launch of Lynne Hjelmgaard’s new collection A Boat Called Annalise last night. Hosted by publisher Seren Books, it was a warm occasion,Read more ⟶
Readings, talks, good poetry stuff on the horizon
Last Thursday I was at Roehampton University where I’d been invited by Principal Lecturer Louise Tondeur to talk to her Creative Writing students about Telltale Press, collaborative working, the importance of submitting work to magazines, marketing your work/yourself, that sort of thing. I get a bit scared when faced by a room of people (mostly) underRead more ⟶
Today’s poetry world – where do we all fit in?
This is a guest post by Ann Perrin. Ann and I both attend a fortnightly poetry course in which we are introduced to poets, movements and styles, with the aim of improving our writing. The sessions also include writing exercises and about once a term each poet gets a chance to workshop a couple of poemsRead more ⟶