2025 marks ten years of V. Press publishing solo-authored titles and, as part of our celebrations, we will be sharing our year-by-year publications over that period.
The press was originally launched at Ledbury Poetry Festival in July 2013 with a one-off poetry chapbook anthology before moving on to solo-authored poetry pamphlets in 2015.
Our first solo-authored poetry collection and our first flash fiction pamphlet came out in 2016. There have been illustrated poetry pamphlets, a dual-authored poetry pamphlet and a full-length flash fiction title along the way.
Today, we highlight our 2015 titles!
Ransom Notes -- Jacqui Rowe -- 1 May 2015
This is a sequence of little poetry fictions that are simultaneously very serendipitous and very idiosyncratic. Each poem is an abstraction from the lives of characters conceived by chance and who emerge through the writing without ever fully explaining themselves.
Originating from a process of cutting up and randomness, fragments of writing, sketches, poem drafts and found texts were initially combined to form documents resembling a kidnapper’s ransom notes. These were then crafted and shaped. It may be that the same people recur throughout the poems, heard variously in different voices from diverse points of view, or that they are several characters, interacting in and populating the same world.
“Ransom Notes is a beguiling construct of abducted and redeemed words, still trailing the resonances of unknown former contexts. From them, Jacqui Rowe has teased and finessed new narratives, characterized by dissonant echoes, tonal shifts, sudden depths and elliptical insights.” Alasdair Paterson
“Beautifully crafted poems which reveal themselves slowly with each read. This is a pioneering work by a poet on top of her game.” Antony Owen
A sample poem from the pamphlet can be found below. More about Ransom Notes and ordering can be found here.
PHLOGISTON
but light was not his field
dirtier in busy doors and tightly
woven doorways shades
of its refraction dimmed
and skimmed dishevelled ladies
his brain kept flaming
spills alive in bell jars birds
fell dead out of the sky his phantasy
revelled at length in patterns
of great earthquakes the certain
stars showed smiles
of loosened hair that wicked
away all terrible appearances
and unforeseen in time he went
for phlogiston and weeping said within
himself the first breath of a word
himself the first breath of a word
art brut -- David O' Hanlon -- 14 July 2015
Set against a background of literary and artistic allusions, art brut is a precise and moving sequence on childhood and teenage institutionalisation. Tackling the nature of trying to reshape memories and carve out something positive, this pamphlet is a concentrated crafting of raw experiences into a poetry that is alive with characters and thought-provoking truths. Stripping back the sometimes over-romanticised notions of institution life, David O’Hanlon creates his own sharp and haunting art that is very real and very gripping.
"The poems in David O’Hanlon’s first collection are ‘epiphanies of sun’ which shine a light on the poet’s experiences of psychiatric illness; to read them is to experience serial insights into a much overlooked and frequently taboo aspect of the human condition. Through poetry which is both lucid and engaging, O’Hanlon manages to transform his intensely personal experiences into something more universal: poems which can resonate with everyone (and not just those who have regular appointments with a psychiatrist). Bright lights cast dark shadows, and there are references to padded cells, catatonic states, self-harm, suicide attempts, OCD, et al, yet the deftness with which they are revealed, and the resilience, honesty and humour of this highly promising young poet’s writing, will leave you feeling uplifted. David O’Hanlon shows us that while the past can have a powerful hold over us, beauty, truth and poetry can emerge from the depths of anguish and despair. An astonishing debut." Fergus McGonigal
"If David O'Hanlon had written this sentence, you'd have shed a tear by now." Jenni Pascoe, JibbaJabba
A sample poem from the pamphlet may be read below. More about art brut and ordering can be found here.
"The poems in David O’Hanlon’s first collection are ‘epiphanies of sun’ which shine a light on the poet’s experiences of psychiatric illness; to read them is to experience serial insights into a much overlooked and frequently taboo aspect of the human condition. Through poetry which is both lucid and engaging, O’Hanlon manages to transform his intensely personal experiences into something more universal: poems which can resonate with everyone (and not just those who have regular appointments with a psychiatrist). Bright lights cast dark shadows, and there are references to padded cells, catatonic states, self-harm, suicide attempts, OCD, et al, yet the deftness with which they are revealed, and the resilience, honesty and humour of this highly promising young poet’s writing, will leave you feeling uplifted. David O’Hanlon shows us that while the past can have a powerful hold over us, beauty, truth and poetry can emerge from the depths of anguish and despair. An astonishing debut." Fergus McGonigal
"If David O'Hanlon had written this sentence, you'd have shed a tear by now." Jenni Pascoe, JibbaJabba
A sample poem from the pamphlet may be read below. More about art brut and ordering can be found here.
art brut
So, after my swirling black abyss, a work
still in progress, we turned to Sophie’s landscape:
a jazz-hands sun, the wide Vs, almost Ms
of birds, a green ribbon, edge to edge,
and, poking their heads up out from the grass
five earthworms, five pink splodges
more finger than worm, with blobbed eyes
and there’s-no-bad-in-life smiles.
Are they supposed to represent real people
or a specific event, maybe?
It’s a fascinating choice of subject matter.
Worms usually have quite negative associations,
particularly death, but yours are content,
blissful. Do you think maybe there’s
something in that, a desire to make
positives from even the worst situations?
She didn’t take it with her.
Like others left behind, it ended up
on the wall where, my sentimentality
assures me, it remains, unfaded.
The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile -- Claire Walker -- 1 October 2015
"Claire Walker's debut pamphlet The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile is a riveting meditation on motherhood and transformation that crackles with drama. There are moments of lyrical delicacy and oceanic longings, and Walker's perceptual acuity pitches the reader into a world where nothing is taken at face value – a girl might be a crocodile, a mermaid could become captor, and seeds are studied for their mnemonic potential. This is a work to be savoured." Carolyn Jess Cooke
"A confident and impressive debut by Claire Walker. The alluring qualities in this collection are the sense of mystique in many of her poems which at first glance appear elucidating. The stylistic fusion of narrative and illustrative poetry see-saws from the adult experience of life to a fabling account of the innocence and fragility of childhood and adolescence. Claire Walker is a writer who clearly cares about her craft and some of the dreamlike qualities of this collection are reminiscent of Joy Davidman’s work." Antony Owen
"A confident and impressive debut by Claire Walker. The alluring qualities in this collection are the sense of mystique in many of her poems which at first glance appear elucidating. The stylistic fusion of narrative and illustrative poetry see-saws from the adult experience of life to a fabling account of the innocence and fragility of childhood and adolescence. Claire Walker is a writer who clearly cares about her craft and some of the dreamlike qualities of this collection are reminiscent of Joy Davidman’s work." Antony Owen
This title is now out of stock, but more about it can be found here.
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