Book a Poet

Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Pete Cox, Poet - Guest Blog, September 2012

“Amongst the many things that I enjoy writing, site-specific poetry has to be near the top of the list. Back when I was Poet-in-Residence for one of my city’s cemeteries (2005-2008) I created poetry trails through the old Victorian graveyard. The first was a series of riddles relating to the wild life of the site and as they ended with “What Am I?” one of the drinkers found something sharp to engrave into the laminated cardboard precisely what he thought the answer was. I’ve kept it as a memento of interaction with my audience, though not on general display. Now that I’m P-i-R for St. John’s church I’ve so-far written about the font, the church clock, the pulpit and a memorial stone. Now every-so-often an event will come up that sparks some creativity and if I can write a series of poems, I’ll put them together as a pamphlet to be given away and hopefully (shamelessly) generate some publicity for myself.

As it would be easy to label me a geek (my life is much like the characters in the American comedy series Big Bang Theory, except I have poetry rather than science) and I have always had a love of almost all things science fiction, the events at which I’m dishing out these pamphlets are often science fiction conventions. I can argue that poetry of the fantastical has a long and noble tradition passing back through Tennyson’s Locksley Hall to Beowulf and Gilgamesh. From Edgar Allen Poe the dark torch was passed to the writers who contributed to Weird Tales and other pulps of the ’thirties, H.P. Lovecraft and his circle. A couple of the most prominent poets who have used sf tropes in their work are Edwin Morgan this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith. (If you want to know more about genre poetry and current markets, I’ve written a piece for the blog of the horror author Sam Stone http://www.sam-stone.com/) As a result of these and other poems published in the genre small-press I’ve picked up quiet good reviews and been placed in the top three for the Data Dump award (a British prize for best published sf poem) a handful of times. Recently I found that an American book-dealer was advertising one of my pamphlets for a nominal amount. My reaction was to send him a few more and wish him well. In his own way he’s helping to publicise me and for the amount he wanted ($5) he was hardly exploiting the workers.

One British small-press publisher who both uses and reviews genre and non-genre poetry is Southend-on-Sea’s Atlantean Publications, who you can find out more about at http://atlanteanpublishing.blogspot.co.uk/ ".

© Pete Cox 2012

Monday, 3 September 2012

Penny Pepper Press Release: As Paralympians bring sporting pleasures, what of love, what of sex, for the ordinary disabled person?

With an exclusive Paralympic-suggested story, award-winning writer Penny Pepper releases the ebook "Desires Reborn" - the explicit loves and losses, desires and disappointments of a group of disparate disabled characters.

As Team GB pushes for medals in the London Paralympics, Penny prises open the long-closed door to disabled people’s relationships, in her explicit collection of short stories, available in all ebook formats, including Amazon for Kindle, and Itunes for Ipad, Ipod touch and Iphones.

Says author Penny Pepper: ‘I wrote the stories ten years ago. But people continue to ask about our relationships and our sex lives. It remains a deep taboo.’

The stories feature a wide range of characters and situations, some of which will be new to readers. Yet, as Penny points out, ‘Disability is a universal experience and within that is the need to be desired and loved – to explore sexual pleasure – as with all human beings.’

She has also written a cheeky exclusive story "Bound and Devoted" to commemorate the Paralympics, when the world will be focusing on disabled athletes and disabled people in general.

Penny, a writer and performer from Islington, London, brings her provocative voice to a wider audience with this release. A wheelchair-user since childhood, Penny has been a professional writer for over ten years. She is well-known across the spoken word scene and has taken work to New York, the Edinburgh Fringe, Trafalgar Square, London and throughout the UK.

Rob Young, award-winning writer says: ‘Desires Reborn is an intelligent examination of desire and disabled people. And if it’s passion your after why choose grey when you can have scarlet?’ Rob has worked tirelessly to help Penny’s work gain more attention. He adds, ‘Her intelligence, passion and sheer exuberance sing from the page. There is an elegant mind at work here. She distils her passion then filters it through craft without ever losing a drop of its raw emotion. That is a rare skill and should not to be underestimated.’

Penny leads an extraordinary life and dramatic life, not merely because she is disabled. Punk claimed her at an earlier age, and in the 90s her own band Spiral Skymade no 2 in the Italian indie charts. For the print copy of "Desires", Penny went through the roller-coaster experience of working with Tony Cowell, brother of Simon Cowell of X-Factor fame. Winning an ‘Erotic Oscar’, nude modelling and burlesque performing are a few of the other roles she has found herself in as she strives to breakdown barriers and discrimination.

Her hope is for "Desires Reborn" to reach a larger readership while the world focuses on the elite Paralympians. ‘We need the attention to stay after the games. In the everyday sense, ordinary disabled people are facing tough times with many unfair attacks on their basic freedoms. These pieces are in essence the political made personal. So I hope "Desires Reborn" can play a role in reminding people that hard-won rights are crucial and must remain if we are to live fully and with some contentment.’ She laughs. ‘At least, the point is, we should have the freedom to fail, to be miserable, to experience loss – as much as anyone.’

To encourage people to think, to question, to value difference and disability, bringing it back to the heart of society in a three-dimensional, full-bodied, and perhaps surprising way, is the passion that drives her as a writer. ‘I like examining what is in the shadow, what is not acknowledged. And our stories are unique because they have not yet been truly told,’ she says. ‘But we have to break away from the stereotyping – which is not of our own choosing. I aim to show that outside of labels - we feel and love, we hate, we yearn - and we lust.’

You can purchase 'Desires Reborn' for £3.99 at Amazon and at Itunes.

Free Premier League reading intervention

Saturday, 1 September 2012

Featured Poem for September 2012 by Kenneth Steven

An Extract from 'A Song among the Stones'

By Kenneth Steven

(This poem comes from a sequence of poems entitled 'A Song among the Stones', not long out from Polygon in
Edinburgh. It tells the story of hermits who are likely to have made the journey from Iona in the Hebrides to Iceland in the 7th or 8th Century).

the water lilies pearling the lochs
ruffled in the tugging of the wind

the sunlight comes wild and strong
in gusts like bunches of blown daffodils

this northernness novembered in a moment
driven slate-grey in a suddenness of storm

yet this is the place they came to find
an island thin to the divine

on the edge of the world
a beauty brittle as a bird's egg

larks spinning songs out of sheer sky
orchids blowing in hidden glens

and sometimes, just sometimes
the glory of God in the morning

© Copyright Kenneth Steven 2012.

Please do not use without the poet’s permission.

It's nearly Christie Week 2012!

Wherever you live, you can join in with Christie Week (September 9th – 16th). You could play the Mystery Man game all week or soak up the Christie Festival atmosphere with tweets from Devon.

The world famous Agatha Christie Festival will take place once again in Torquay and its surroundings from 9th-16th September. The festival, happening on what’s affectionately known as Agatha Christie’s Riviera, promises another jam-packed year of events. Firm favourites remain, plus numerous notable additions, including a BRAND NEW vintage ball – “Strychnine Ballroom” – and some 1920s pitch-and-putt in the appropriately named “Murder on the Links”. The Agatha Christie Theatre Company returns with a starry first class production of 'Murder on the Nile' – don’t miss Kate O’Mara as Miss Ffoliot-Ffoulkes - and Poirot will be on hand throughout the festival, plus there’ll be the opportunity to see Mathew Prichard discuss his grandmother’s greatest works in a panel debate with David Brawn (HarperCollins), John Curran (Secret Notebooks), and Radio Devon presenter and fan David Fitzgerald.

Search Twitter for #AgathaChristie during the week for updates on all the action.

For further information about the event and how to book tickets please visit http://www.englishriviera.co.uk/agathachristie/agatha-christie-festival.

Source: press release

UK and Ireland’s biggest HARRY POTTER fan revealed

Alissa Howard, a 17-year-old from Somerset, has been selected as the UK and Ireland’s biggest Harry Potter fan. Her entry was chosen as the best in the recent competition run by Bloomsbury to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.

Alissa’s entry (attached) was selected from over 6000 posted in bookshops and libraries throughout the UK. Alissa’s piece stood out for the originality in her poetic wording and in her colourful and neat artwork. Her last line of “You inspired a generation, now that’s magical” was especially loved.

After hearing of her win Alissa said: "I was quite surprised to hear that I had won, and now I just can't believe it. It'll take time for it to sink in but I am really happy to have been chosen as the winner."

Alissa has won a family holiday to experience the magic and excitement of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ only at Universal Orlando^® Resort, plus a leather-bound and numbered 15^th Anniversary Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, signed and dedicated by J.K. Rowling. 14 runners-up have also won copies of the leather-bound and numbered 15^th Anniversary Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, signed and dedicated by the author. With only 15 of these exclusive editions being signed by J.K. Rowling for the UK, the books will be a rare and unique item for the lucky Harry Potter fans.

To celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Bloomsbury launched a nationwide competition to find the UK’s biggest HARRY POTTER fan. Bloomsbury invited fans to write a letter of no more than 50 words explaining why they love HARRY POTTER. Fans could only enter by visiting a local bookshop or library and posting their letter in the specially designed postboxes. Over 1,800 bookshops and libraries signed up to take part.

From an idea born on a train journey, to its creation in a small café in Edinburgh, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the book that started a global phenomenon. Rejected by many publishers and with an initial hardback print run of 500 copies, it is the book that put Harry’s destiny in motion and created a whole new generation of readers. It is hard to think now that before 1997 none of us knew about Hogwarts, Quidditch or Voldemort (who was voted as the favourite literary villain in a recent Bloomsbury poll).

The competition results will be available to view from Saturday 1^st September on the HARRY POTTER competition website – www.bloomsbury.com/harrypottercompetition

Congratualtions to the 14 runners-up who are: Holly Smillie from Manchester (age 12), Julie Mason from Hounslow (age 17), Megan Wright from Derby (age 16), Nina Hamblen from Southampton (age 21), Chloe Esslemont from Cumbria (age 16), Rhiana Purnell from Oundle (age 10), Mackenzie Steele from St Helens (age 7), Catherine Smith from Glasgow (age 13), Carina Haouchine from Glasgow (age 15), Thomas James Weightman from Derby (age 8), Shafaye Abbott from Kent (age 16), Cliona Stubbs from Dublin (age 16), Alana Chalmers from West Lothian (age 14) and Charlotte Couch from Essex (age 11).

Source: Press release