National Poetry Competition, The Guardian & Other Review/Event News

National Poetry Competition Celebrations

V. Press is very very delighted to see V. Press poet Natalie Linh Bolderston win third prize in the 2019 National Poetry Competition for her poem 'Middle Name with Diacritics'.

Big congratulations to all the winners and commended poets, especially Natalie. Her winning poem can be enjoyed on The Poetry Society website here, along with a video of her reading the poem.

More on Natalie's V. Press pamphlet, The Protection of Ghosts, can be found here.

REVIEWS

I, Ursula

"Disproportionately overlooked are non-metropolitan poets such as Ruth Stacey, whose second collection, the mysterious and fabular I, Ursula (V. Press £10.99) appears from an award-winning West Midlands micropublisher. The book conjures a Dantesque lost forest [...]"

Fiona Sampson, The Guardian, full review 'The best recent poetry – review roundup' here.

For a sample poem, more information and to order I, Ursula, please click here.

Patience

"[...] this collection actively encourages our seeing beyond the harrowing experiences that being human entails. [...] I feel I will recall Nina Lewis’ Patience in those darkest moments."

Mhairi Owens, Sphinx/OPOI (One Point of Interest), the full review 'A call to the light' here.

For a sample poem, more information and to order Patience, please click here.



Winter with Eva

"This is a love story so sensual that you can smell autumn leaves on the ground and taste snow on your lips. [...] It’s this mixture of words and meanings and connotations which adds depth to the poetry, and tension to the story. [...] Elaine Baker’s visually surprising images are a joy. [...]"

Candyce Lange, Sphinx/OPOI (One Point of Interest), the full review 'When reading a pamphlet is like watching a play' here.

For a sample poem, more information and to order Winter with Eva, please click here.

Making Waves [Albert Einstein: Science & Life]

"[..] And that is what I suppose struck me most — how human he [Einstein] was — this man who has always seemed to me larger than real life, distanced by his genius.

"There’s humour here, too. [...] After reading these poems, I think of the great man differently. He has stepped down from his stone pedestal. He has turned into a human being."

Helena Nelson, Sphinx/OPOI (One Point of Interest), the full review 'Oddly Human' here.

For a sample poem, more information and to order Making Waves [Albert Einstein: Science & Life], please click here.

The Escapologist

"So the world of these poems contains beauty and love, but it is undoubtedly ominous. Much is shared. Nothing is hammered home. There are careful layers, many of them, and the poems draw their reader back and reward re-reading. They are expert pictures from the life, and the poet has declared them fearlessly  her own."

Helena Nelson, Sphinx/OPOI (One Point of Interest), the full review 'Omens' here.

For a sample poem, more information and to order The Escapologist, please click here.


AND MORE

A recent article, and new addition to the V. Press Reading Room is a fabulous interview by Nancy Stohlman with Michael Loveday, about his flash fiction novella Three Men on the Edge.

'So You Wrote a Book? Michael Loveday' can be enjoyed here. More on Three Men on the Edge, including sample flash fictions, endorsements, reviews and ordering, can be found here.






EVENTS

Obviously, Covid-19 has affected many events and launches in the UK, including Elaine Baker's launches for her pamphlet Winter with Eva. Although these have been postponed, Elaine has been doing a series of daily video readings from Winter with Eva on Instagram and Twitter. Day 10, featuring her poem 'Water cooler', can be watched below.