Category: Competitions

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At the National Poetry Competition awards night

Fiona Larkin

Yesterday evening Peter Kenny and I stood in the doorway of the wood-panelled hall at the Art Workers’ Guild in London and surveyed the throng: who were all these very tall, young people? I’ve no idea who gets invited to these shebangs, but it was a mystery to me – ten years ago the event would have stuffed full of the grandees of the poetry world. Now it’s all become a very youthful. Which I’m not complaining about, just observing!

So on to the ceremonies, and we were given readings of all the seven commended poems and then the top three. All poets did a good job, and the judges too, particularly the smiling Romalyn Ante. I particularly enjoyed Kit Buchan’s ‘Hallow’een Ghazal’, read very confidently from memory, and Matt Barnard’s second-prize ‘Two Boys at Midnight’. And then who should be announced as the winning poet but Fiona Larkin –  out of the Pindrop stable no less! –  and someone I feel actually know, with a lovely poem ‘Absence has a grammar’ – actually the title alone is prize-worthy.

I asked Fiona afterwards – what was it like getting the call? “It was back in January,” she said, ” I had a message to call the Poetry Society, and I assumed my direct debit hadn’t gone through or something…” Haha! An anecdote to dine out on for some time I think. How wonderful!

 

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National Poetry Competition and a Finished Creatures launch

Lee Stockdale wins the National POetry Competition 2022

Just grabbing a few minutes on Easter Saturday to write this. There’s only so much gardening you can do before needing a break. So, now I’ve tackled the wayward honeysuckle…

Last week, Peter Kenny and I treated ourselves to an informal ‘works do’ by going along to the prize giving for the National Poetry Competition on the South Bank in London.  We were  armed with a handful of home-made business cards for Planet Poetry, just in case, I and even gave a couple out, but we didn’t do any ‘roving mic’ interviews or anything, as I’m not sure we’re organised enough for that. But we enjoyed hearing the winning poems and (naturally) dissecting everything on the train home.

We talked about it on the podcast, so I won’t repeat myself here. The winner was Lee Stockdale, an American poet who we heard had entered the competition many times before before nailing the jackpot. Of course, hearing each poem read, just once, wasn’t nearly enough time to appreciate any of them properly. Certainly, there were poems (including the winner) which left me a bit nonplussed by on the night, but I warmed to them subsequently after reading them in the Winners’ Anthology.

Poetry competitions are a bit nuts, aren’t they? But lovely if you win, of course, and even a ‘commended’ or a ‘longlisting’ in the National can be a boost. But to keep entering all the competitions and never win anything I guess you need to have a thick skin and healthy self-belief. I think you have to remind yourself there is always, always an element of luck, and even if your poem does well in a competition it’s no guarantee everyone will like it. I speak as someone who once had a poem longlisted in the National, which I then confidently submitted over and over again to magazines and not a single editor would touch it. Some you win, some you lose!

On to this week and I was back at the Betsey Trotwood again, this time for the launch of Finished Creatures 7. I was very grateful to Jan Heritage for taking a wee poem of mine for this, the ‘shelter’ issue. As always, Jan managed the time splendidly while keeping things  relaxed and informal. I was very pleased to hear reading a good number of poets I’d never come across before, such as Katie Byford and Steph Morris

It also made my day when Jefferey Sugarman came up to tell me how much he appreciates my submissions list. Thank you, Jeff!

By the way, do have a listen to this week’s Planet Poetry episode, which includes an interview with the delightful Liz Berry about her new book The Home Child.

 

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You win some, you lose some…

As a fresh writing impetus I’ve joined Bill Greenwell‘s online poetry workshop this term, a group I’ve been thinking about for a while. Abegail Morley always spoke well of the mentoring she had from Bill, and I have a lot of time for Sharon Black, under whose auspices the workshops are run. Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, Peter Kenny and I have been busy recording interviews for the new season of Planet Poetry. Watch out for the Season 3 opener later this week (hopefully!)

A lot seems to have happened in the last couple of weeks. Despite my previous blog post when I talked about going back to York to finish my MA in Poetry & Poetics, I decided to pull out. Let’s just say I couldn’t cope with the chaotic organisation there. I don’t think York is particularly geared up to dealing with part time students who commute long distances and have (what??) commitments in their lives other than university.

I’m very sad not to be immersed in the close-reading of poetry, and finishing the MA. But the stress of spending hours on Trainline looking for fares, losing money on non-refundable tickets that turn out to be useless because the timetable has changed again… on top of the considerable academic load… something had to give. Some people have suggested I move my ‘credits’ to another Uni, but I could only find two Universities in the UK (York and Belfast) offering this course. Now, if I wanted to do a creative writing MA, that would be a lot easier!

Soooo… actually I feel a weight has been lifted. More time to write (or think about writing!), more time to devote to Planet Poetry and my work on the submissions windows spreadsheet, plus I’m looking forward to all the music-related admin for concerts on the run up to Christmas, planning for Spring workshops, and enjoying my birthday in The Hague researching a future choral trip. I’m also still tied up with my sister’s estate as her co-executor (now is not the time to be trying to sell a flat).

On the good news front, a week or so ago I happened to check my email at lunchtime on a Saturday, to see that Visual Verse were running a competition – but it was only open for 24 hours. Visual Verse is an online magazine for ekphrastic writing – they post a new image every month and people respond to it. This was a bit different, in that there was only a day to write something and submit. I rather liked the image, so I had a go, and was one of the winners. It’s ages since I won anything so this was a really nice boost for me on National Poetry Day. It was also extraordinary to read the other winning poems and see how different our takes on the image were!

Speaking of NPD, the evening before I was at the Eastbourne Poetry Cafe awards night for their ‘Eastbourne and the Environment’ competition, handing out comments and certificates to the winners. The poems received in the Under 18s category were particularly encouraging, and lovely to see the two young winners take to the stage to read their work. I chatted to one set of parents, who were grateful for events like these to be happening. I know competitions can be seen as problematic, but they do at least give young poets (and potential young poets) a focus and (for the winners at least, but I hope for everyone) encouragement to keep reading and writing poetry.

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National Poetry Day (week of)

Prole 33 and Frogmore Papers 100

So Thursday is National Poetry Day, which I shall be celebrating with my Hastings Stanza group, doing what poets do… agonising over line-breaks, commas and what have you.

Before that though, on Wednesday, I’ll be at the Fisherman’s Club for the prize readings of a local competition I was a judge for, on the theme of ‘Eastbourne and the Environment’. A theme that was interpreted in some interesting ways! Hastings Stanza member Jackie Hutchinson is among the winners, so I’m looking forward to hearing her winning poem.

Last week I was in Lewes for the launch of The Frogmore Papers‘ 100th issue, an amazing feat, and under the editorship of Jeremy Page the whole time. We heard readings from some of the contributors and from co-founder Andre Evans on how it all began in a cafe in Folkestone. It’s a lovely story, and having heard it a few times it’s now taken on almost mythic status, up there with Aeneas crossing the Mediterranean to found the city of Rome, or Phil Knight making rubber outsoles on his mum’s waffle machine for the first Nike trainers. Anyway, having read the edition from cover to cover I can confirm it’s a fine book – and let’s face it, some of our ‘little magazines’ coming in at 90 pages or more deserve to be called books.  On that subject, I can also recommend Prole 33 which recently arrived, weighing in at 140 pages (although about half of it is short stories.)

The Lewes event was also the launch of Clare Best‘s new collection, End of Season (Fine di Stagione), published by the Frogmore Press, in which the poems are presented in both English and Italian. It was lovely to hear both Clare and Jeremy reading the poems in both languages – very evocative. I’m enjoying the book especially as it is about a beautiful place on Lake Maggiore called Cannero where Nick and I stayed for a week back in 2019 (on Clare’s recommendation).

Meanwhile, if you’re a member of the Poetry Society you may notice a piece I’ve written for Poetry News on magazines’ submissions windows, which should be hitting your doormat this week.

Nothing much to report on the new writing front, although I have just sent out another tranche of poems that have been languishing in the ‘am I ever going to go back to working on these or shall I just send them out’ pile. So that’s 22 poems out to magazines at the moment, and one pamphlet submission.

Happy National Poetry Day Week!

launch of Frogmore Papers 100
At the launch of Frogmore Papers 100 and ‘End of the Season’: Andre Evans, Neil Gower, Jeremy Page, Clare Best, Alexandra Loske and Peter Stewart
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Orford Ness

Orford Ness

Some years ago now I visited Orford Ness Nature Reserve, a strange and mysterious place on the coast of Suffolk. Strange in the same way as any place with ‘Ness’ in the name, mysterious because of its history as an atomic test site and before that as a place of experimentation in radar and ballistics. Even though wildlife has reclaimed this marginal sweep of land, the area is dotted with derelict structures and unexplained features some of which are still off-limits to the visiting public.

A few months later my poem ‘Searching for the Police Tower, Orford Ness’ won the Poetry Society Stanza Competition 2014, fuelling my (long-gone) belief that I was destined to be the Next Best Thing in poetry. I had no idea at that point that a zillion poets had already ‘discovered’ Orford Ness. Those were heady days – that period many poets go through, in which you imagine yourself being snapped up by Faber and consequently winning the Forward Prize. Although I now see the folly of it, I would never laugh at anyone for having such a dream. Rejoice in each and every early or small success! Live for that moment, as it may never return!

Anyway, my point is that even your oldest, earliest successes can have a longer shelf life than you think  A few weeks ago I got an email from someone at the National Trust who had been looking for poems about Orford Ness to display in the Visitor Centre there next year, as part of some kind of festival. She’d discovered my poem on the Poetry Society website and would I mind if mine was one of the poems to be displayed. Why would I say no? It’s so nice (and unusual) to get such a request. Will anyone waiting for their ferry ride over to the Ness in 2023 bother to read my wee poem, up on the wall with plenty of others? And will it enhance the enjoyment of their visit? Will they remember (or even read) my name? Who knows. But there’s no harm in imagining it.

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Happy days

Blickling Hall

Some lovely poetry stuff recently – firstly the launch of Finished Creatures in Lewes, the first in-person poetry reading I’ve been to for (pretty much) years. Editor Jan Heritage created a warm atmosphere as always and invited contributors to read their own poem plus another one from the magazine. Although Paul Stephenson and Roy Marshall weren’t actually there, their poems were popular choices! Both before and afterwards we spilled out onto the sunny patio at the Depot to eat, drink and catch up. Perfect.

Then I had some unexpected good news. A poem of mine won the Ruth Selina Poetry Prize, an annual competition held at the University of York and open to anyone in the department of English and Related Literature. It was judged by JT Welsch and Vahni Capildeo. Ruth Selina was a promising student who died at a very young age, and her family endowed both this prize and another at Leeds University. I feel very proud to have won it, especially as I’m currently on a year’s leave of absence from my course, so it’s nice to keep the connection going and remind myself I’m still a student there.

We’re just back from a hot, sunny week in North Norfolk. We seem to be very lucky with the weather when go away in September. I just wish I’d taken more summer clothes! We rented a holiday cottage in Blakeney, completely unaware that it’s the most expensive place we could have chosen (£18 for pub fish & chips, anyone?) But we had a lovely time and managed to actually self-cater, despite the cottage lacking a few essentials. The North Norfolk coast is gorgeous and we also managed a day on the Broads (in which I discovered I CANNOT drive a boat) as well as visits to historic houses and churches. A few pics below.

Meanwhile Planet Poetry is about to begin its second series… I have some interview editing to do!

Blakeney Harbour
Blakeney Harbour
Holkham Beach
Holkham Beach
Holt to Sheringham steam railway
Holt to Sheringham steam railway
Obligatory trip to see the seals at Blakeney Point
Obligatory trip to see the seals at Blakeney Point
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On encouraging children’s interest in writing poetry

I recently had a text from one of my stepdaughters who was passing on a question from her five-year-old: “Nana, how are poems made?”

Hmm! I tried to think very hard before responding. How to say something encouraging and likely to engage a five-year old, while still being honest? No doubt there are teachers or ex-teachers reading this who would have plenty of good suggestions. All my teaching experience has been with adults, and having been a Brownie helper for a short time I learned very quickly that I had no idea how to seriously pique the interest of a 9 year old, let alone a 5 year old. The last thing I wanted to do was to say anything that would put my granddaughter off poetry for life.

I wish I could remember what I thought about poetry when I was five. Did I love nonsense poetry, silly stories and loony rhymes? I’d hate children to think that’s all poetry is about. Is it the only way ‘into’ poetry for a five-year old, or is that just setting low expectations?

Anyway I tried to say something funny and interesting and intriguing, about looking very hard at what you see around you and playing with new words to describe things, reading aloud and enjoy words that sound the same, all that kind of well-meaning nonsense. I never got a reply, so even that was probably deemed to be over the girl’s head, who knows!

So now, having volunteered to help Live Canon with its brilliant Children’s Poetry Competition, I find myself with a whole folder of poems by 5, 6 and 7 year olds to mark. Luckily we’ve been given pointers about the kinds of things to look out for and ‘reward’, which helps me greatly in terms of where to set the bar.

It’s great fun to do: very encouraging that so many children that young are writing poems and impressive how some are already capable of tackling serious themes. I’ll try not to agonise about the responsibility, as I’m really only ‘another pair of eyes’ and won’t have to make the final decisions. I’ll be interested to see if any of my favourites make it to the winners’ list though!

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So no fireworks this week then? Hmmm

What a week. That election (can’t bring myself to watch). Another lockdown starts. Planet Poetry Episode 2 coming up. And I’ve just turned 60.

Planet Poetry

Peter Kenny and I were thrilled and touched by the feedback on our podcast first episode. Episode 2 goes live on Thursday, when I’m interviewing Clare Shaw (yeah, baby!) and Peter meets editor of Channel magazine Elizabeth Murtough.

Meanwhile we’re having an editorial meetup tomorrow in Lewes, the day before what would have been Bonfire Night but is now the day before lockdown. The Bonfire Boys and Girls have been told by their societies not to congregate or let off any ‘rookies’, but I can imagine the pubs will still be a tad busy. What are we thinking of? It should make a colourful recording.

Search for Planet Poetry wherever you subscribe to podcasts, or you can listen to episodes here after they are live.

The York MA

I’ve handed in my first assignment! Not that it carries any marks, it’s just a chance for them to make sure we can put one word in front of another, know how NOT to plagiarise and NOT to being a sentence with ‘and’. And I hope I’ve passed.

Whether I’ll make it to another ‘face to face’ seminar this term is anyone’s guess, but it’s looking unlikely. Ah well. More zooming.

Submissions, writing etc

Bad news! I’ve nothing out to mags at the moment. But I do have a dozen or so poems that have been rejected numerous times this year, so I ought to go back to them really, but I’m enjoying reading and writing about real poets at the moment, too much really, to bear looking at my own attempts, but that’s OK. It’ll happen.

Actually I had a poem in The Frogmore Papers recently, and I’ve two poems forthcoming in Prole next month I think, all of which I’m very grateful for, so I shouldn’t be moaning anyway.

The updated ‘Guide’

It’s out! My updated version of ‘A Guide to Getting Published in UK Poetry Magazines’ is here and I’ve sent out the pre-orders. Can I tempt you to a copy? Or someone you know? What else are we doing to do during lockdown except write and send out our poems? It’s a mere £6 including UK postage (£1 extra to send to the EU and £2 extra to North America).

Comps news

No, I’m not reneging on my vow to NOT enter single-poem comps this year. I did waver a bit when it came to the National Poetry Comp deadline, but as someone said on Twitter, having made the long list last year I rather feel lightning won’t strike twice (unless you’re Ian Duhig of course, who actually WON it twice). But that shouldn’t stop you, of course! I’ve been asked to promote the Cafe Writers Competition which closes 30th November (1st prize £1,000) and there are a plethora of magazines with their windows wide open this month, but more about that in a forthcoming post.

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Musings on Mantel, comps deadlines and a lovely Rock Rose

And so it goes on

Life has settled into a gentle daily routine, namely breakfast (in the garden most days until this cold snap), desk work, chores or gardening usually in the morning, salad and cheese/crackers or mackerel pate for lunch, then reading, more gardening, a walk or a run, a bit of yoga, a game of Scrabble at 6-ish, an episode of Spooks,Van Der Valk or whatever in the evening. Having regular punctuation points (and giving thanks daily to all the relevant gods for our fortunate situation) seems to help keep frustration at bay. And if all else fails, cups of tea. It reminds me of the various office jobs I’ve had in the past – it didn’t matter how frequently it happened, every time someone said ‘cup of tea anyone?’ the answer was always ‘LOVE ONE’.

The garden is starting to bloom. This is a marvellous thing.

Cistus in flower

I finished Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light. I’m still thinking about it. Did I enjoy it more than the first two books? No, but then how reasonable is it to say that Wolf Hall was the best? It was the first, so it had the most impact. When it comes to Mirror, we know it’s the third part of the story of Thomas Cromwell, and it’s hardly a spoiler to say it ends with his death.  But how on earth do you write about real people like this, real people, not fictional characters, many of whose lives have been recorded and dissected over the centuries, and weave them into a story that’s original, alive, relevant, thrilling even. As a reader, you know what’s coming but still can’t wait to turn the page. It’s extraordinary.

I’m not a great reader of fiction. Mantel’s trilogy has made me curious about some of the other people who appear as characters her the books and what became of them, such as Rafe Sadler, who went on to serve four monarchs, and William Herbert who has a bit-part in Mirror: he rose to become the first Earl of Pembroke and was given huge swathes of Wiltshire to build a house and start a dynasty. His daughter-in-law Mary was apparently a brilliant woman and her brother was Philip Sidney – a poet whose name I knew but am now getting to know his work…

Philip Sidney The Major Works

Poetry reading, poet readings

Poet friend Judith very kindly sent me a copy of Mary Jean Chan’s Flèche (Faber)which I’m looking forward to reading, and I also have a copy of Jackie Kay’s Darling (New & Selected)(Bloodaxe), a collection I’ve been itching to read for some time. And I’m hoping to get hold of Charlotte Gann’s new collection, The Girl Who Cried (Happenstance), for which there’s going to be an online launch on May 21st.

Fleche by Mary Jean Chan

Couple of comps to mention

Yes I know, I’ve sworn off entering single-poem comps for this year, but perhaps I can do my bit for mags and organisers by promoting them.

The Frogmore Poetry Competition, judged by Maria Jastrzębska is closing soon, on 31st May – enter here.

The Bridport Prize closes 31st May – poetry judge is Mimi Khalvati.

Live Canon Collection Competition, deadline May 25th – lots of winning chances here, do take a look.

Not poetry, but…writer friend Danielle Sensier has asked me to mention the Chalk Circle Short Story Competition which is now open until 31st August, judged by Vanessa Gebbie…

Magazines update

If you’re on my mailing list you should have received an email last week about magazines whose windows are closing soon.

If you didn’t get this and/or would like to be on the list, please join via the webform on my ‘about’ page:

NB I’d be grateful if you would join via the form, as if you ask me to add you I may not see your request or be able to act on it right away – thanks!

I’ll be compiling the next update to my Poetry Magazines Submissions Windows spreadsheet at the end of this month.

That’s it for now – take care.

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A dry month in Purgatory and book launch imminent

Day Four of No-booze-vember and I’m thinking of making an advent calendar to count down the days to when I’m allowed a glass of wine.  Last year it all made sense – nothing much happening in November, Christmas to look forward to…I certainly wouldn’t want to do this in January, the most dreary of months and impossible to get through without AT LEAST the odd hot toddy.

But this year November is alight with events: my first concert with a new choir, a friend’s birthday ceilidh, two book launches (one of which is my own – hell’s teeth can a girl not have a drink at her own launch?), a meal out with an American work-friend I haven’t seen in 7 or 8 years, a night at the Troubadour AND a reading in London with a host of starry poet-names. What was I thinking?

I’m trying to see it as a creative experiment-slash-meditative opportunity. It’s a happy coincidence that I’ve finished Dante’s Inferno and have moved on to Purgatorio, which is surprisingly, well, surprising. According to Dante (and I’ve only got as far as the introduction, so not yet immersed in the poetry) Purgatory is where most of us go when we die, to think about how we’ve lived our lives and how we might do better. The idea is that if we take responsibility for and (importantly) are penitent about this, then there’s a chance we’ll get to heaven. It does involve a bit of pain and much patience but compared to Hell (or living through this Brexit debacle) it’s not all that bad really. There’s no guarantee if or when you get to move on – some poor sods have been there for a thousand years – but the hope is always that when you get out it’ll be an upward not a downward move. So not drinking this month feels like a small kind of penance. Not that I imagine it’s anywhere near enough for all the bad behaviour I could be charged with when the time comes.

Meanwhile things are gearing up for the Live Canon pamphlet launch which is scheduled for Monday 25th November, at the Boulevard Theatre Bar in Soho – fancy! It used to be the Raymond Revue Bar apparently, so I just hope my poems are seedy enough to do justice to the place’s heritage. Still not sure what the title of the pamph will be, but a lot can happen in three weeks (I hope!) I’m looking forward to meeting & reading alongside fellow launchees Miranda Peake, Tania Hershman and Katie Griffiths, and toasting all of us with a glass of sparkling water…

A few bits and bobs on the submissions front – one poem on the Bridport shortlist (which is a lot longer than it sounds), two poems accepted for Stand magazine, although they may only want one of them as the other is in the forthcoming pamphlet, and one for The Moth, very exciting for me as I feel they are seriously good magazines and it’ll be a first appearance for me in both. And actually the poem that The Moth have taken is one that I’ve been trying with for ages – I started it six years ago, and it was in my ‘Business Class’ pamphlet (the one that nobody wanted as a collection). It’s had 12 iterations over the years and I’ve tried it on any number of journals. Then earlier this year I asked Catherine Smith for advice on a pamphlet submission and I was wailing about this one. She spotted the potential issues right away and suggested a bit of re-ordering, and as a result it’s now good enough for The Moth. This isn’t the first time Catherine has helped me on poems that aren’t quite ‘there’.  She’s the real deal, for sure.

On the other hand I wish I could say I had a bunch of poems out at the moment but I haven’t started anything new in weeks. Several poems in for competitions (actually pretty much the same poems in different comps) and of course you never know. Can you imagine winning the National and then having to withdraw the poem because it was commended in the Waltham Forest comp? TEE HEE. Not that I’m dissing the WT AT ALL (results not out yet!) but I know that Paul McGrane (being involved in both comps) would blow the whistle on such a thing, and *AHEM* quite rightly!

Getting back to reality, I’m fortunate to be going to Cumbria in December for Kim Moore’s Poetry Carousel, so four days on a poetry roundabout and I should have a few proto-poems in the pipeline (not if I don’t kick THAT sort of alliteration in the teeth though). The other Carousel tutors are Malika Booker, David Tait and (gulp) Clare Shaw (the subject of this mildly inappropriate post last year) … it’s gonna be hot stuff.