Litfest
Mark Griffiths whom we published in Watermark (Flax002) has a new collection of poetry out. In his new guise as Fernado Smith comes “Welcome to the Golden Life” published by Searle Publishing.
Copies are available now via The Poetry Bookcase, price £9.99, and Fernando has kindly supplied us with a couple of signed copies too! Yay!
If you’ve been into the Poetry Bookcase recently, you’ll have seen a selection of the rather lovely poetry books published by Templar Press.
Templar Poetry is now in its fifth year and is currently inviting submissions for the 2010 Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Prizes. As you may know the prizes offer an opportunity for four winners to have their submissions published in Templar’s widely praised pamphlet format, and to to submit a full collection for later publication. Templar are committed to publishing excellent new poetry and are delighted that three of their first collection poets have been shortlisted in major book prizes, and several of their pamphlet poets have gone on to receive recognition in many awards and prizes.
Templar appoint a new judge each year and all work is read anonymously and judged purely on merit. Submissions may be sent online or by post and the latest date for submission is 8th May 2010. This year the Judge is Pat Winslow, herself one of the previous winners of the Pamphlet Prize.
Shortlisted poets have the opportunity to have poems published in Templar’s annual anthology, from which they also occasionally commision full collections. Many of the poets published in Templar’s anthologies have also gone on to have their work published by other poetry presses and recognised in other major poetry prizes.
The four winning writers, along with anthology poets, are offered an opportunity to read at the Derwent Poetry Festival in Derbyshire, where Templar celebrate the publication of their new titles each autumn.
Recently the role of the pamphlet (or chapbook) in contemporary poetry in developing and opening opportunities in the writing careers of new poets has been more widely recognised with the establishment, in 2009, of a major new prize, the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets, supported by the British Library and the Michael Marks Trust. This prize is a significant recognition of the role of the poetry pamphlet throughout the British Isles in offering modern poetry to new readers and audiences.
Further information is available on the Templar Poetry website.
Another lovely box of poetry books arrived in the Poetry Bookcase today from another new publisher.
Templar Poetry produce some beautifully bound and presented volumes and have some fine names on their list, including two of our local poets Mike Barlow and Jane Routh.
Along with the books came news also of the Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Competition 2010. Judged by Pat Winslow, the closing date is May 8th 2010.
Earlier this year it was announced that the Lancaster poet and writing teacher Elizabeth Burns won the first Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets for her collection, The Shortest Days.
The £5,000 prize was set up to highlight how effective pamphlets – defined in this case as a booklet of up to 36 pages – can be in introducing new poetry to readers. The Shortest days may only be 12 pages long, but was praised by the judges for it’s use of “a limited, light palette, which creates special, lyrical effects, particularly with her use of snow, and the colour white… this is gradually layered across the book, and all the judges felt that the play of light over the whole book was really very moving. It combines skill and direct engagement with the reader.”
“The Shortest Days” is published by Galdragon Press. The initial print run has already sold out, and the pamphlet is currently listed as being out of print, but luckily the Poetry Bookcase has copies still available. Act quick to get your copy.
All our lovely flax publications in one place… click on any of the publications to browse it in full.
Taking its name from the very lovely Grade II listed bookcase which stands in the Litfest office, the Litfest Poetry bookcase is now open to the public.
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for some time now to get to this point, and we’re very excited about it, so do please come by, browse lots of poetry books you’d normally never find on the high street bookshelves, buy a volume (or two – one to keep, one to give!) and let us know what you think.
We feel it’s a rare treat to have somewhere to browse and buy small press poetry books, and the stock will continue to grow, so do come back regularly and check what’s new.
We’ll be sending out news from the Poetry Bookcase occasionally, so if you’re not already signed up to the Litfest mailing list you can do so from our homepage.
Bookcase Opening Times: Tuesday – Friday 11.30 am – 5.00 pm.
We can also order books in so if there’s something you’d really like, do please ask or email shopkeeper@litfest.org
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