Easter News - Submissions and Reviews

HAPPY EASTER & OPEN SUBMISSIONS WINDOW

We're delighted to open our poetry submissions window today.  This year V. Press will have three different submissions windows: poetry (April/May), flash fiction (July) and guest editors (April). Full submissions guidelines and details can be found here, please do read and follow them carefully. Thank you.

REVIEW NEWS

“David Clarke’s Scare Stories (V Press), written from a soldier’s perspective in enclosed rhyme, employing a taut sonic register, impresses with its post-apocalyptic vision of war being made as a film for pleasure. It is a conceit that works as the notion of the viewer and participant are conflated through the use of the first person plural throughout. The natural rhymes and pithy language produce a sense of an emerging pattern for a possible near future.” David Caddy, Tears in the Fence, 67, Spring 2018

V. Press is also very delighted to share that How to Parallel Park by James Davey is the April publication over on Atrium Poetry. The feature, which includes three poems from the pamphlet, can be enjoyed here. The pamphlet is available here. 

Romalyn Ante is named 1 of  '10 Poets Bound to Shift UK Poetry', fourhubs, March 2018. Her V. Press pamphlet Rice & Rain is available here. 

Very very exciting news!

V. Press is very very excited to be heading up to London today for the Ted Hughes Award ceremony. We also celebrate a V. Press title in a Vogue list of must-reads, great reviews, interviews and looking forward already to this year's Flash Fiction Festival!!!

So, where do we start:

THE NAGASAKI ELDER

Antony Owen's The Nagasaki Elder has been shortlisted for the 2017 Ted Hughes Award, judged by Gillian Allnutt, Sally Beamish and Lemn Sissay.

The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry seeks to recognise excellence in poetry, highlighting outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life. The £5,000 prize is donated by Carol Ann Duffy, funded from the annual honorarium the Poet Laureate traditionally receives from HM The Queen.

V. Press will be with Antony tonight when the winner is announced at the Ted Hughes Award & National Poetry Competition awards ceremony in London.

His work is described by The Poetry Society as: 'A harrowing collection responding to a journey through bombed cities of Japan and drawing on accounts of survivors.
From the judges: “shocking to read, but at the same time strangely beautiful and gentle... relevant to our times, hardhitting, and brilliantly written”.'

Antony has also written a piece for The Poetry School about his experiences that fed into the collection. This can be found, along with a sample poem, here.

For another sample poem, to find out more about The Nagasaki Elder or order a copy of the collection, please follow this link.

* V. Press is also very delighted to share news of Antony Owen's success in ‘Writing Armistice’, the Army’s Poetry Competition 2018, where he's won the Museum of Military Medicine Commendation for his poem ‘A Black Nurse Tends to Wounds’.

RICE & RAIN

We're very pleased to see Romalyn Ante and her V. Press pamphlet Rice & Rain listed as one of Vogue's '9 Poets to Know for World Poetry Day', March 2018!!!

The pamphlet also has an amazing and detailed review in the latest issue of The Ofi Press Magazine.

"The way Ante intersperses Filipino words into the poems is like the sprinkling of exotic spices. Her word-menus-recipes encourage an armchair traveller like me to imagine the places, meet the people: take a bite, drink a spoonful, listen to a story, try to understand what it means to grow up in one country and migrate to another one that’s far away.

"Her poems are carefully structured and take turns that surprise and reveal...

"Ante shows us challenging realities, hope for the future, the past’s importance and the enduring ties of family. I highly recommend this well-written pamphlet which will appeal to a wide audience."

But these are just a few of our favourite parts from this review by E.E. Nobbs. The full review can be enjoyed in the magazine here.

A sample poem and copies of Rice and Rain are available here.

STABLEMATES

V. Press is very very delighted to to take part in the monthly Stablemates poetry evening at The Poetry Cafe London on Thursday, April 26. Jill Abrams has invited V. Press poets Stephen Daniels and David Clarke , and V. Press editor and poet, Sarah James/Leavesley to share poetry (& maybe a few words on running the press) from their recent pamphlets and collections: Tell Mistakes I Love Them, Scare Stories, plenty-fish and How to Grow Matches.

Doors open 7pm, poetry starts promptly at 7.30. Venue: The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton St, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9BX. Tickets are £6 in advance from Buy Now button on the Stablemates website here or £8 (cash only) on the door.

INTERVIEWS

We're very pleased to share two recent interviews over at Zeroflash.

V. Press author Jude Higgins talks about her V. Press pamphlet The Chemist's House and other writing projects and advice here.

V. Press editor Sarah James/Leavesley chats about the press and her own poetry and fiction writing here.





FLASH FICTIONAL FESTIVAL

We're absolutely delighted that this year's Flash Fiction Festival at Trinity College, Bristol from July 20-22 will feature a V. Press showcase.

The showcase on Sunday, July 22, will feature readings from this year's V. Press titles: There's Something Macrocosmic About All of This by Santino Prinzi and Michael Loveday's flash fiction novella Three Men on the Edge.

V. Press editor Sarah Leavesley presents 'A Flash Guide to V. Press' over on the festival blog here, where you can also find out more about the festival and book tickets.

THREE MEN ON THE EDGE

Talking of flash fiction and launches...V. Press is also very very delighted to have opened pre-orders for Michael Loveday's flash fiction novella Three Men on the Edge.

More about the title and some sample flash fictions can be enjoyed here.







SUBMISSIONS

Finally...for now! We're also delighted to give advance notice of our 2018 new submissions windows.  This year V. Press will have three different submissions windows: poetry (April/May), flash fiction (July) and guest editors (April). Full submissions guidelines and details can be found here, please do read and follow them carefully. Thank you.

Ted Hughes Award Shortlisting (& Submissions)

V. Press is very very pleased to share the news that Antony Owen's The Nagasaki Elder has been shortlisted for the 2017 Ted Hughes Award, judged by Gillian Allnutt, Sally Beamish and Lemn Sissay.

The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry seeks to recognise excellence in poetry, highlighting outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life. The £5,000 prize is donated by Carol Ann Duffy, funded from the annual honorarium the Poet Laureate traditionally receives from HM The Queen.

This year's award shortlist of seven poets/works features:

Jay Bernard for Surge: Side A (Speaking Volumes)
Caroline Bird for In These Days of Prohibition (Carcanet)
Kayo Chingonyi for Kumukanda (Chatto)
Inua Ellams for #afterhours (Nine Arches Press)
Matthew Francis for The Mabinogi (Faber & Faber)
Antony Owen for The Nagasaki Elder (V Press)
Greta Stoddart for Who’s There? (BBC)

Antony Owen's work is described by The Poetry Society as: 'A harrowing collection responding to a journey through bombed cities of Japan and drawing on accounts of survivors.
From the judges: “shocking to read, but at the same time strangely beautiful and gentle... relevant to our times, hardhitting, and brilliantly written”.'

V. Press's very very big congratulations to Antony for his shortlisting in this important award. The winner will be announced at the Ted Hughes Award & National Poetry Competition awards ceremony held this year on 28th March 2018.

More information about the award can be found on The Poetry Society website here, along with a sample poem from The Nagasaki Elder.

For a different sample poem, to find out more about The Nagasaki Elder or order a copy of the collection, please follow this link.

SUBMISSIONS NEWS

To celebrate Antony's success, we're also delighted to give advance notice of our 2018 new submissions windows.  This year V. Press will have three different submissions windows: poetry (April/May), flash fiction (July) and guest editors (April). Full submissions guidelines and details can be found here, please do read and follow them carefully. Thank you.

Review News!!!

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ROSE AND BLACK - Poetry Book Society Review

V. Press is very very delighted to share this review of Claire Walker's Somewhere Between Rose and Black in the Poetry Book Society Spring Bulletin 2018. More information and a sample poem from the pamphlet can be enjoyed here.

BUY Somewhere Between Rose and Black now, using the paypal link below.

Somewhere Between Rose and Black (with P&P options)

Somewhere Between Rose and Black (with P&P for UK delivery only) £7.50 GBP Somewhere Between Rose and Black (with P&P for rest of world) £12.99 GBP

RICE & RAIN - review 

"Personal poems, a picking over her elsewhere past, where her Phillipine relatives' stories got binned '...like their old passports... /...as they put olives in their mouths they will pretend / to accidentally bite off their mother tongue.' ...A small collection deserving of exploration."

From a paragraph review by Sam Smith, in The Journal.

More information and a sample poem from Romalyn Ante's Rice & Rain may be enjoyed here.

BUY Rice & Rain now using the paypal link below.

Rice & Rain with p&p options

Rice & Rain with p&p for the UK only £7.50 GBP Rice & Rain with p&p for rest of the world £12.99 GBP

THE NAGASAKI ELDER - review 

"Antony Owen has divided the collection into two named sections, 'Inferno' and 'The Human Blitz'. Owen deals with the devestation wreaked on Hiroshima in the first part, while focusing on closer to home in the form of the Coventry blitz during World War II, alongside placed such as Basra and Chernobyl.

"...The second section of the book, though shorter is no less powerful...

"This is a brave and bold publication by V. Press... Antony Owen is to be commended for tackling such harrowing subject matter..."

From a considered and detailed review (including a close-up look at two of the poems) by Andrew Taylor in The Journal.

More information and a sample poem from Antony Owen's The Nagasaki Elder can be enjoyed here.

BUY The Nagasaki Elder now, using the paypal link below.

The Nagasaki Elder with packing & postage

The Nagasaki Elder with p&p for the U.K. £11.50 GBP The Nagasaki Elder with p&p for Rest of the World £16.75 GBP

SCARE STORIES - review

"...his sustained use of form is also quite admirable. With controlled nerve, Clarke offers a sequence of quick, dark bites, with glinting teeth."

Becky Varley-Winter, Sabotage Reviews, the full detailed review here.

Scare Stories will also feature at this year's Cheltenham Poetry Festival in a poetryfilm and live performance on Tuesday, 24 April.  

More information and a sample poem from David Clarke's Scare Stories can be enjoyed here.

Buy Scare Stories now using the paypal link below.

Scare Stories (with P&P options)

Scare Stories (with P&P for the U.K.) £7.50 GBP Scare Stories (with P&P for rest of the world) £12.99 GBP

Launching How to Parallel Park

V. Press is very very delighted to launch James Davey's How to Parallel Park, our first poetry title for 2018.

"Stark, poised, precisely observed, James Davey’s poetry well demonstrates how much more emotion is conveyed the greater the restraint. The poems also exhibit an impressive musicality, from the lilting to the percussive. Each poem rewards rereading." Carrie Etter

"These poems by James Davey are vivid, articulate and entertaining. They evoke the peculiar intensity of childhood fears, the angst of adolescence, the tremors of first loves. Davey has a gift for clear-eyed dramatic presentation, as well as an often-humorous take on human condition and a true empathy for the various characters he comes across, be they ‘pyroman’ a down-and-out who accumulates trash to burn, the terrified child taken on a hunting trip, or the lover discovering the ‘colours’ of a girlfriend. This is a promising and well-wrought debut." Amy Wack

"Davey’s work is confident, crafted, elegant in its simplicity. The poems are full of moments of recognition for the reader, subtle emotive power balancing understated humour. I trust him to show me something worth seeing with no fluff around the substance." Anna Freeman

Set in England and Italy, the poems of How to Parallel Park are very emotive, very molto a pelle.

How to Parallel Park is James Davey's debut poetry pamphlet. A sample poem can be found below.

Hand-puppets

I am ten, slouched on a kitchen chair,

staring through a television set

on which the presenter is talking to hand-puppets. 

Sitting on the back step, Dad pulls a dead rabbit

from a plastic bag, calls me over. Watch carefully,

he says. He cuts a surgical incision in its belly,

spoons out its viscera with his fingers.

Intestines slip from its gut. I shiver.

A delicacy, says Dad, smacking his lips.

The carcass lolls over his hand – eyes enamel.

He splays it on the stone step, severs

its head, legs, presses down on his blade,

cracking the pelvis in two –

a sound like splitting wood.

He rips free the pelt, presents it to me.

I hold it in open hands.  

Ledbury Poetry Salon

V. Press is very very delighted that Jacqui Rowe will be reading from her collection Blink at Ledbury Poetry Salon in June.

Jacqui will also be discussing her poems at the Ledbury Poetry Festival salon event on Tuesday, June 5.

Information from Ledbury Poetry Festival about the next four salon events can be found below, followed by a paypal link for ordering Blink.

Ledbury Poetry Salons, 7pm – 9pm, The Master’s House Panelled Room, £5 For the first half of the evening a Featured Poet will read and discuss their poems. This is followed by an Open Mic. Come along and expand your enjoyment of poetry through readings and conversation!

Tuesday 6 February with featured poet Adam Horovitz
Join us to hear poems from The Soil Never Sleeps, a new poetry collection from Adam Horovitz. As poet in residence for the Pasture-fed Livestock Association, Adam was commissioned to visit four of their farms across England and Wales and write about them. He reflects passionately on his love of Britain’s landscape and especially its farms.

Tuesday 6 March with featured poet Roz Goddard
Roz Goddard will read from a new pamphlet Spill published by Flarestack Press. Previously she published The Sopranos Sonnets and Other Poems with Nine Arches Press. Roz Goddard has worked for many years as a poet of the Festival’s Poets in Schools programme and is also a project manager for is also project manager for the ACE funded West Midlands Readers Network.

Tuesday 8 May with featured poet Roy McFarlane
Roy McFarlane was born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage and spent most of his years living in Wolverhampton. He has held the role of Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, Starbucks and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Poet in Residence. Roy was highly commended by the Forward Prize for ‘Papers’, published in the Forward Book of Poetry 2017. Other anthologies, including Out of Bounds (Bloodaxe 2012) and he is the writer and editor of Celebrate Wha? Ten Black British Poets from the Midlands (Smokestack 2011). His first full collection of poems, Beginning With Your Last Breath, was published by Nine Arches Press (2016).

Tuesday 5 June with featured poet Jacqui Rowe
Jacqui Rowe has had four poetry pamphlets published and her poems have appeared widely in magazines, such as Tears in the Fence, Bare Fiction, The Interpreter’s House, and Poetry Review. She has also read her own poems on Radio 4’s Poetry Please. hosted by Roger McGough. Her first full collection, Blink, is published by V Press. Co-founder and co-editor of the award-winning independent press, Flarestack Poets, she is a sought after mentor for other poets and a tutor for the Poetry School.

TO BUY A COPY OF BLINK NOW, USE THE PAYPAL LINK BELOW Blink with p&p options

Blink with p&p for UK delivery only £11.50 GBP Blink with p&p to rest of the world £17.00 GBP

New year, new reviews!!!

V. Press is very very pleased to simultaneously finish 2017 and start 2018 with news of even more reviews!

Following on from December's top title listings from The Poetry School, Jacqui Rowe's Blink and Stephen Daniels' Tell Mistakes I Love Them both featured on David Clarke's end-of-year listings at A Thing for Poetry.

"Blink showcases Jacqui's range, both emotionally and culturally, from occasional poems and ekphrasis to responses to Apollinaire and Verlaine; all held together by a characteristic clear-sightedness. Drawing as it does from Jacqui's previous publications, her first 'proper' collection is arguably a 'New and Selected', but it still feels remarkably cohesive."
David Clarke, A Thing for Poetry

"Stephen's carefully conveyed sense of the surreal qualities of the everyday allows him to address the big themes from surprising angles, for instance in one poem where intimations of mortality lurk in the background as he describes getting a mole checked by his doctor. He's one of those poets who writes poems about things that other poets wouldn't write poems about, which is only ever a good thing."
David Clarke, A Thing for Poetry

David's full article and listings can be enjoyed here.

New Year's Day also saw the publication of a new review of Tell Mistakes I Love Them over at Sabotage Reviews.

"The poet produces some fantastic lines, which shine out for me:

‘was nine and had serrated breath’ (The first person I ever hated)
‘my family – twisted amphibians -snap at intimacy…’ (Surface Tensions)
‘The sofa apologised’ (Pyromaniac)...

...Daniels shares his hurt in a very immediate way, that can only provoke a visceral and lasting response. We have all been hurt like this."

Paul Goring, Sabotage Reviews, full review here


BUY a copy of Blink now using the paypal link below:

Blink with p&p options

Blink with p&p for UK delivery only £11.50 GBP Blink with p&p to rest of the world £17.00 GBP

BUY a copy of Tell Mistake I Love Them now using the paypal link below:

Tell Mistakes I Love Them (with P&P options)

Tell Mistakes I Love Them with postage & packing for the U.K. £7.50 GBP Tell Mistakes I Love Them with P&P for the rest of the world £12.99 GBP