V. Press is very very happy to head into the autumn with news of forthcoming titles and a £500 donation to The Woodland Trust.
This is our second donation to the trust since we began publishing (2013
for a single chapbook anthology, then 2015 for our first solo-authored titles).
As a small press, one of our guiding principles is to operate as fairly
and sustainably as we can within our limited resources. Many of our titles are
print editions, using card and paper made from trees, hence our donation to a
cause that looks after trees. (We also use recycled paper for our collections
and FSC accredited paper for our pamphlets).
The photo above is V.
Press’s six titles for this year’s Michael Marks Pamphlets Awards at the top: Powerless Rangers by Jack McGowan, The Human Portion by Nicola Warwick, bed by Georgia Gildea, Braised in Wine by D.D. Holland, Dancing in Babylon by Elaine Baker and (m)othersongs by Sarah
Doyle.
The base features two
full collections out in October and November this year:
Not Enough
Rage (October) by Gram Joel Davies and Turn Around
When Possible (November) by Martin Zarrop. Brother by Sheila Lockhart
is our final pamphlet for the year (out at the end of November 2023).
More information about these titles can be found by following the links,
and details of our two most recent and our three forthcoming titles can also be
enjoyed below.
RECENTLY RELEASED
DANCING IN BABYLON
“Situated in the city of the apocalypse, and arranged as a play, this is a gentle and haunting sequence of poems. Within an anxiety-infused landscape of constant peril, Baker’s skillful narrator offers a counterbalance to the darkness of uncertainty. What ultimately triumphs here is the light, joy and beauty of what it is to love and be loved. These graceful, musical and emotionally resonant poems beautifully unfold their story of hope.” Vanessa Lampert“These poems are startling in their emotional clarity. They capture the surreal disconnection of lockdown as well as celebrating what a joy it is to be together once more. They are filled with a quietly powerful sense of wonder that is both passionate and melancholy. From tango dancers to taxi cab drivers, they draw us into a world that is heart-breaking in its beauty.”
Aoife Mannix
Dancing in Babylon is very elegiac and very cathartic.
ISBN: 978-1-7394122-0-3
36 pages
R.R.P. £6.50
More information, endorsements, a sample poem and ordering can be found here.
(M)OTHERSONGS
“It’s rare for me to recognise, and feel kinship for, a lot of contemporary poetry. I recognise and feel kinship with this. Not Enough Rage is like a series of controlled explosions. Trembling houses. A burning voice. Experience dismantled and sewn back together with glowing needles and a mouth full of stars.”
Bobby Parker
“Like a Dylan Thomas of the age of mental illness, Gram Joel Davies leaps and flies through the world with dark exuberance. These are speakable poems, full of love for unlovable places and impossible people. In touch with but not tied to rap's rhymes and rhythms, this collection, for me, shifts the modern world into the painful focus of real poetry.”
Peter Oswald
Not Enough Rage is very heady and very gutsy.
ISBN: 978-1-7398838-7-4
62 pages
R.R.P. £10.99
More information, endorsements, a sample poem and ordering can be found here.
TURN AROUND WHEN POSSIBLE
“Combining a scientific eye with a poetic sensibility (and a sharp sense of humour), Martin Zarrop’s work is thought-provoking and wry. These poems take the long view and they never shy away from difficulty, each expertly using form to amplify content. Turn Around When Possible is an enlightening, enjoyable read.”
Helen Mort
“Whether he is looking back fondly on the seemingly mundane details of a working-class childhood or exploring the vastness of interstellar space, Martin Zarrop’s poems are distinguished by their metaphysical wit, humour, and sheer accessibility. There is a mathematical precision to every poem in this collection, a focus on details, that leads inevitably and, with a minimum of fuss, to memorable insights into love, affection, the ineluctable passage of time, and humanity’s place in the universe. Turn Around When Possible is a delight from start to finish and shows Zarrop writing at the height of his very considerable powers.”
David Cooke
Turn Around When Possible is very uncertain and very quirky.
ISBN: 978-1-7398838-8-1
74 pages
R.R.P. £10.99
More information, endorsements, a sample poem and ordering can be found here.
BROTHER
“Sheila Lockhart has created something special with this pamphlet.
Brother is a poignant study of remembrance but one that manages to be almost joyful in its close observation of this lost life and the still-living world that goes on without it. It is special writing – clear, brightly configured, riven by pain, and perfectly formed.”
Niall Campbell“These calm and clear-eyed poems are remarkable in their refusal to be afraid. Holding darkness and light in delicate balance, they move from suffering and loss into what comes afterwards and later, finding consolation in the dogged aliveness of the natural world and, no less importantly, in the patterns and shapes of language itself. Sheila Lockhart has written a bold and beautiful book.”
Katharine Towers
The poems in Brother are a very heart-felt and very unflinching consideration of grief and healing after suicide.
ISBN: 978-1-7398838-9-8
36 pages
R.R.P. £6.50
More information, endorsements, a sample poem and ordering can be found here.
