Edition 2 of Steel Jackdaw magazine is now available and it features work by Somewhere Else poets Iris Ann Lewis and Frank McMahon.The quarterly arts magazine, conceived by Jason Conway during the summer of 2020, aims to showcase the work of passionate and captivating creatives – and encourage people to make positive action to help protect the environment, and support community building. You can find out more by clicking here
Sophie Livingston was interviewed live on Sue Kinnear’s evening programme on BBC Radio Wiltshire this week after her story ‘Secret Recipes’ was chosen to be part of the BBC Upload programme. Sophie said: ‘Being interviewed live is pretty nerve-wracking, but I was thrilled the story was chosen, and Sue was lovely.’ The interview gave Sophie a chance to talk about The Improbable Book Cafe – a free website, where people can go to listen to short stories and poetry. To find out more click here – and to listen to the interview click here.
This month’s poem is ‘Testament’ by Tina Baker, available by clicking on the Poem the Month logo. To visit our archive of work, access our year by year drop down menu from the ‘Poem of the Month’ tab above.
Sophie Livingston is celebrating the publication of two of her poems in Black Bough Poetry’s Covid anthology ‘Dark Confessions’. Black Bough publishes short, image-based micro-poems and the follow-up anthology, ‘Freedom and Rapture’ will be published later this year. To find out more about Black Bough click here, or follow them on Twitter @blackboughpoems. Dark Confessions is available on Amazon here .
Many congratulations to Frank McMahon whose poetry was picked from a total entry field of over 12,500 to make the final 100 in the Erbacce poetry competition. The Erbacce Press is based in Liverpool and the annual competition attracts entries from all over the world. Frank’s work was highly commended and his poems will be published in Journal 68 of Erbacce.
To find out more about Erbacce-Press click here.
Two very different poems, ‘Post Mortem’ and ‘Dennis Kelly,’ both by writer Dave Walklett are featured in the ‘Poem of the Month’ slot for May. You can access all our featured work by dipping into the archives, which are found in a drop-down menu by holding your cursor over ‘Poem of the Month.’
Frank McMahon’s poem ‘Lock and Key’ will be published in Edition 2 of Steel Jackdaw Magazine, due out on the 26th of April as an eBook. The poem was initially inspired by seeing padlocks in Bristol. Frank says: ‘This then led me into an area of musing about the impulse of first love, how relationships flourish ( or not ), how they cope with life’s challenges and, I suppose, the nature of love itself and how that changes over time. My first version was too short and not engaging at all. In rewriting it, I also played with the words lock and key and span out some variations. I was nervous about sending such a long poem and really delighted it has been accepted.’
Iris Anne Lewis is delighted to have been highly commended for her pamphlet Times Thread in this prestigious competition run by Frosted Fire, the publisher for Cheltenham Poetry Festival.
On May 1st Cheltenham Poetry Festival is hosting an online event to celebrate the poetic talent discovered through the competition. Iris will be reading one of her poems at this event along with the other prizewinning, highly commended and commended poets at the event.
In attendance will be the competition judges, Angela France, David Lukens, and Lee Potts who will each share a little of their poetry, and comment on the wealth of good poetry in the competition entries.
The event takes place on Zoom on May 1st at 7pm. Tickets are free and may be booked at this link https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/online/online/2021-frosted-fire-firsts-contest-leading-poets-readings/2021-05-01/19:00/t-dzoroa
Somewhere Else Writers Group 