Success for poets Iris Anne Lewis and Frank McMahon, who both have work published in the latest edition of Steel Jackdaw, a quarterly online arts magazine that aims to promote creative expression and positive purpose. To find out more or to purchase edition 15, click here.
Our prose piece this month is ‘History’ by Alan Passey. Alan has been writing and making up stories for most of his life. He’s amazed at how little has survived despite having a loft full of boxes. As a young man, his reaction to sitting his GCE Chemistry exam was to write a poem and submit that instead of wrestling with the Periodic Table. He wasn’t given his poem back. Since then, poetry and short stories have slotted in between the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the travails of ordinary life. He had some success with publication in the 90s but sadly failed to build upon it.
In 2012, Alan began blogging at singlemaltmonkey.com and soon found himself on the front page of WordPress. An honour which brought him short-term international recognition and thousands of views in a matter of days. His 15 minutes of fame had begun but quickly came to an end when a comedian on Radio 4 pinched his tagline – “another sandwich-related injury”.
Alan still blogs, writes poetry and short stories, and dreams of becoming the new Raymond Carver. ‘History’ can be read by clicking here.
Sophie Livingston was thrilled to hear that her short story ‘Hawk in a High Flown Nest’ had been shortlisted for this year’s Bridport Prize.The Bridport is among the most prestigious awards in the literary calendar and attracts entries from around the world. This year’s short story judge was Wendy Erskine, who described judging the competition as ‘a privilege and actually surprisingly moving.’
Book Launch
The historic surroundings of the Friends Meeting House in Cirencester was the venue for the launch of Iris Anne Lewis’s first poetry collection Amber. Former member of Somewhere Else, Gill Garret also launched her latest collection The Photo I Didn’t Take at the event. ‘It was lovely to share the stage with Gill,’ said Iris. We were both thrilled that well-known Cheltenham poets, Angela France and Anna Saunders, supported our joint launch by reading some of their poems to the packed audience.
The two newly launched collections acted as a foil for each other with their different subject matters and approaches. The Photo I Didn’t Take reflects on the small, seemingly insignificant aspects of lives, places and events whereas Amber enables the reader to experience deepest history, myth and private emotional worlds. Or, in the words of a classical music lover in the audience, Gill’s poetry is like chamber music, whereas Iris’s resembles a full-bodied symphony.
Both books are available on Amazon. The Photo I Didn’t Take can be found here, and Amber can be found by clicking here or by going on the “publications” section of our website.
Frank McMahon read his poem ‘Reverberations’ at the Gloucestershire Writers Network prize-giving on Sunday 13th of October, as part of the Cheltenham Literary Festival. The competition theme was ‘Weather,’ and Frank’s poem shared the joint runner-up prize with two local poets.
“Earlier this year Frank published his third book of poems, “The Light will Always Return.” Available by clicking here or going to the “publications” section of the Somewhere Else Writers website.
Do go to hear Frank McMahon reading his poem ‘Reverberation’ at the Cheltenham Literary Festival this Sunday, 13th October, at the Regency Hotel at 7.15 p.m. The event features winners and runners-up in the respected Gloucestershire Writers Network annual competition, this year judged by Michael Johnstone and David Ashbee.
This month, Somewhere Else Writers offers readers a contemporary haiku, written by Norman Smith – the newly elected Group Chair.
Norman says ‘I capture fleeting thoughts and moments. This poem is about two people falling in love.’
He continues to travel to places that will inspire him. He started writing for his school magazine ‘The Retfordian’. Then, when a student, he wrote short stories in The Irish Mountaineering Club Magazine.
It was while working in Japan that he became fascinated by the haiku; the short intense poems still fill him with joy. You can read his haiku here.
You can also read our August and September works—Sunset in the Golden Valley by Linda Dyson here and Bee or not bee by Graham Bruce Fletcher here.
We’re very excited to announce the launch of Iris Anne Lewis’ debut poetry collection ‘Amber’ at the Friends Meeting House in Thomas Street, Cirencester, next Sunday (29th September) at 2.45pm.
She will be sharing the stage with her friend, and fellow poet Gill Garrett, who will be launching her collection ‘The Photo I Didn’t Take.’
Iris was born in the Rhondda, Wales, and her work has been featured at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and the Bradford on Avon Arts Festival. She was awarded 1st prize in the Gloucestershire Poetry Society Competition in 2020 and was highly commended in the Wales Poetry Award 2022. She is widely published in magazines and anthologies, most recently Artemis, Black Bough Poetry, Ink, Sweat and Tears and The High Window.
She is an active participant in local poetry events and open mics. Her journey into creative writing started with a week’s residential course at Ty Newydd, the National Writers’ Centre of Wales. In 2018, she founded the Cirencester Poetry Group and 2020 marked her sixth appearance at the Cheltenham Literature Festival as a prize winner.
Somewhere Else Writers Group 