Tuesday 29 September 2015

Free Verse: London's Poetry Book Fair 2015

V. Press had a fabulous time at this year's Poetry Book Fair, where we were delighted to share a stand with Mother's Milk Books, next also to Fairacre Press and The Journal.

As last year, it was a busy day and one full of poetry buzz. It was wonderful to see so many people interested in and enjoying poetry, with a warm audience too for Jacqui Rowe's V. Press reading from Ransom Notes and Sarah James's Mother's Milk Books reading from Hearth.


Monday 21 September 2015

September and the start of autumn - season of mists, but also a season splashed with colour.

V. Press will be heading up to London for Free Verse Poetry Book Fair in Conway Hall on Saturday (Sept 26).

The event is a highlight of the poetry press year for us and we are delighted to be sharing a stand there with Mother's Milk Books.

V. Press poet Jacqui Rowe will be reading from her very serendipitous and very idiosyncratic pamphlet Ransom Notes at 2.30pm. We will also be taking along copies of David O'Hanlon's very real and very gripping art brut, now on its second print run, and advance copies of Claire Walker's very vivid and very resonant The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile. One of the poems from Claire's pamphlet is also included in the Free Verse anthology that is given out to visitors on the day. (If you are at the Poetry Book Fair, please do come by our stand and say hello.)

Looking slightly further ahead, we had a strong batch of submissions in the last open window, which meant a hard job narrowing the shortlist down to just five poets. We are now looking forward to reading full submissions from these poets before making the hard choice of which two to take on to publication. (With other manuscripts already in the pipeline for 2016, it should be a busy and exciting year for V. Press!)

Meanwhile, October sees the official launch of Claire Walker's pamphlet The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile. For those in or near Worcestershire, the event is open to the public and full details of the launch on October 10 can be found on Claire's blog here.