Tag: poetry resources

Books/

Links to useful poetry resources (publishers, magazines, competitions etc)

The Saison Poetry Library

I thought I’d post some links to poetry resources I’ve been bookmarking. I’m sure these are just the tip of the iceberg so if you know of anything similar to add to this list please let me know in a comment – thanks. These are mostly UK but I’ve included one good US resource also.

Write Out Loud Poetry Directory – this is an Aladdin’s Cave of links, to magazines, small presses, courses and regular competitions. Lots of publications I’d never heard of. Recommended.

The Saison Poetry Library on the South Bank in London has a list of UK poetry magazines, although it isn’t up to date (eg it still has old details for Poetry London, Ambit, etc and lists several publications that are defunct) so best to double-check the info you find there. The Poetry Library’s Competitions listings are useful.

The Poetry Can is a site for poetry development in the South West but it features a national list of Poetry and Literature Festivals. This could be useful if you’re looking for gigs to promote your books, or planning to organise an event of your own. The site’s Resources page contains a number of useful poetry links.

The Scottish Poetry Library has an excellent website with resources and opportunities for poets, teachers and families and lots of useful poetry links. I’ve never visited the library but it looks brilliant.

On the Literature Wales site there is information about courses at Ty Newydd, competitions, events and opportunities for writers.

What Editors Want: A Must-Read for Writers Submitting to Literary Magazines by Lynne Barrett in The Review Review. This is a great general resource for writers wanting to research lit mags, although it’s focused on the US there are still many relevant articles here. And if you’re looking to crack the US scene here’s a listing of links to over 600 US print and online literary magazines.

Here’s Carrie Etter’s list of UK Pamphlet publishers currently accepting unsolicited submissions – although it dates from March 2012, so again, not guaranteed to be up to date but a good starting point.

If you’re looking for something a bit more quirky, essential reading is this list of 15th century collective nouns. Excellent tweet-fodder.

*** [added 5-12-13] Thanks to Carrie Etter for pointing me to a list of poetry publishers compiled by Helena Nelson at Happenstance – it’s a downloadable PDF available from this page. Last updated August 13, so pretty much up to date, although as Nell acknowledges, it’s dependent upon people letting her know about changes in circumstances or new publishers.

*** [added 7-1-14] Wonderful piece here on putting together a collection – On Making the Poetry Manuscript, by Jeffrey Levine – check out the rest of his blog while you’re there, it’s a great resource.

Photo: The Saison Poetry Library

Inspiration/

Another three great poetry blogs

Thought it was about time I shared a few more blogs, one I’ve been following for a while and two that have come to my attention just recently.

Clare Pollard's blog
Clare Pollard’s blog

I’ve particularly been enjoying Clare Pollard‘s ‘poetic journeys’ – most recently through Kent, from Broadstairs and Margate to Canterbury and one of my favourite places, Dungeness. The journeys are part-travelogue and part-personal pilgrimage, illustrated with poetry extracts. Clare also blogs about everything from gardens and lullabies to writing children’s fiction, her own poetry and that of others, and her day to day life as a working poet. A rich and interesting read.

Surroundings - Rob Mackenzie's blog
Surroundings – Rob Mackenzie’s blog

Rob Mackenzie isn’t a prolific blogger, but he always seems to put an effort into his posts – so I guess he comes under the ‘I’ll only blog when I’ve got something interesting to say’ category of blogger. Quality not quantity. There are some neat posts here – Rob’s musing on the nature of celebrity, the music of David Bowie and the real truth about what a poem in the Guardian gets you. And check out the sidebar – his blogroll is phenomenal, and there are masses of links to poetry magazines & webzines, poets’ blogs and resources, as well as to his own poetry publications, articles and reviews. This must have taken a lot longer to compile than a few blog posts. Respect.

Very like a whale - Nic Sebastian's blog
Very like a whale – Nic Sebastian’s blog

I think I have Rob Mackenzie to thank for pointing me in the direction of Very Like a Whale.

Although the most recent posted is dated May 2013, don’t let that put you off. I was very excited to find this blog – not least of all because of Nic’s interest in nanopress publishing (“aka alternative poetry publication, with gravitas”) something I’d not come across before. See this post about what it is, and Nic’s interviews with three nanopress publishers.

And that’s not all, Nic has written a ‘ten questions’ series in which he poses key questions to people in the poetry biz. I have only read a couple of the interviews in the ‘Ten questions for poetry editors’ series, and there are about a dozen more to feast on. I am glutton for this stuff – good thing it has no calories. I dare you not to enjoy it.