Festive Greetings & Happy New Year!

Christmas Offer, 2016 Titles & Submissions

Christmas is  coming, so V. Press is getting in the spirit with a special Xmas Poetry Bundle offer, plus news of our 2016 plans.

Xmas Poetry Bundle

In the run-up to Christmas, we are offering a package of all three V. Press 2015 poetry pamphlets for £14.00 (including P&P in the U.K. only).

The paypal button for this poetry bundle is below and information about the individual pamphlets can be found in the following links: Ransom Notes by Jacqui Rowe, art brut by David O'Hanlon and The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile by Claire Walker.

V. Press Xmas 2015 Poetry Bundle
(£14, including P&P in U.K. only)

(The offer still stands after December 18, 2015 but with no guarantee of arrival in time for Christmas 2015.)

The New Year & New Titles

Our publications lined up for the first half of 2016 are: Book of Bones, a full-length poetry collection by Kathy Gee; Hometown, a flash fiction pamphlet by Carrie Etter and The Old Man in the House of Bone, an illustrated poetry pamphlet written by David Calcutt, with illustrations from Peter Tinkler. 

Strong submissions during this year's submission window has made our final selections particularly hard. We are now working with a number of poets on various projects and manuscripts…so hopefully more announcements soon about publications for later in 2016 and into 2017.

For those interested in submitting to V. Press

The past two years, we have run a month-long submission window in August. Next year we anticipate a few changes. These include widening submissions to flash fiction pamphlets, as well as poetry. We may have a slightly longer window period, a different timing for our submission period, and possibly two submission windows instead of just one. If you are considering submitting your manuscript to us, please keep an eye on the website from February 2016 onwards.

National Poetry Day Pamphlet Offer

Today is the UK's annual National Poetry Day. This year's theme is light, so we've lightened our already light prices to create a special poetry day offer.

For 24 hours only, U.K. readers can buy a package of all three V. Press 2015 poetry pamphlets for £12.50 (including P&P in the U.K.) - a saving of more than £5 on our full price!

The paypal button for this special offer was below (removed after the 24 hours), followed by a sample poem from each pamphlet.

Happy National Poetry Day!

From CLAIRE WALKER'S THE GIRL WHO GREW INTO A CROCODILE

The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile

When she was young, they'd swim. Take off

sandals and frilled ankle socks and jump

into the river. She loved to feel the water pull

ribboned hair to float behind her.

The games started with smiles: splashing; testing

who could hold a breath longest. They never matched her.

She was born to lie in wait, to feel the kiss

of the current in her ears until her head turned light.

But children wish to win. The others turned

as green as the rushes lining their pool. They plotted, held her

down too long. The water swilled round her lungs and she coughed

her heartsong out with it.

That night, she lay awake under a sky that was turning

tides with its dust covered ball. She pulled the cold rock

down, seethed until scales replaced skin, found the biting point

of a new jaw and wished for the crunch of bone. 

Next time, she waited in the shallows, camouflaged

in the rushes, cold blood immersed. Eyes broke

the surface, webbed feet treading water. The sun hit

her back and she felt her armour shine.

Then she made her move. Opened up

her huge grin. Felt never-ending enamel sink through flesh

as easily as arms stroke water. She snapped her jaws shut.

Swallowed the damage whole. 

Claire Walker

From The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile

From DAVID O'HANLON'S ART BRUT

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.

David O'Hanlon

From art brut

From JACQUI ROWE'S RANSOM NOTES

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

Jacqui Rowe
From Ransom Notes

Launching The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile

The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile

V. Press is very proud to announce the publication of The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile by Claire Walker.

Daughter, wife and mother; femme fatale, object of study and maker of myths…The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile explores what being a real woman has been, is, and could be in today’s society of celebrity, stereotypes and media spin. Beneath the poems’ sometimes quiet surfaces, a strong voice, pared word choices, precise images and thought-provoking metaphor make this a powerful pamphlet. The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile is very vivid and very resonant.

"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

"These are poems of growth, fertility and flow – rivers, plants, women. Claire Walker skilfully combines nature, myth and the everyday, and when reading her work, it’s difficult to imagine a world where things are ever any other way. The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile is a stunning, quietly powerful debut pamphlet, full of wistful smiles and blissful tears." Kate Garrett 

RRP £4.99

This title is now out of stock.

The Girl Who Grew Into a Crocodile

When she was young, they'd swim. Take off

sandals and frilled ankle socks and jump

into the river. She loved to feel the water pull

ribboned hair to float behind her.

The games started with smiles: splashing; testing

who could hold a breath longest. They never matched her.

She was born to lie in wait, to feel the kiss

of the current in her ears until her head turned light.

But children wish to win. The others turned

as green as the rushes lining their pool. They plotted, held her

down too long. The water swilled round her lungs and she coughed

her heartsong out with it.

That night, she lay awake under a sky that was turning

tides with its dust covered ball. She pulled the cold rock

down, seethed until scales replaced skin, found the biting point

of a new jaw and wished for the crunch of bone. 

Next time, she waited in the shallows, camouflaged

in the rushes, cold blood immersed. Eyes broke

the surface, webbed feet treading water. The sun hit

her back and she felt her armour shine.

Then she made her move. Opened up

her huge grin. Felt never-ending enamel sink through flesh

as easily as arms stroke water. She snapped her jaws shut.

Swallowed the damage whole. 

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.

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.

Chez Nous Recommendations for ART BRUT

art brut by David O’Hanlon is the kind of poetry collection you want to savour with a smoky single malt or a peaty real-ale.

As you muse on the poems and their literary connotations, I would recommend a Laphroaig 10 Islay Single Malt whiskey: its mix of iodine rich medicinal notes, upsurge of pepper and chilli spices, with just a dose of saltiness, is a perfect match for O’Hanlon’s sharply focussed trek through his teenage experiences.

"I open a drawer, the one where things
Rarely come out.  With the old love letters,
The plectrum thrown into a crowd
By James Hetfield, and my leaver’s book.."
(from 'Report')

Add a measure of water to open up the flavours, the hint of vanilla ice cream that evokes the child-like perception of the dark unknown and the taste of plasters and medicine that evoke institutional life.  

"It was rumoured, and wry smiles confirmed,
That somewhere within that labyrinth
Of wards, units and clinics in a dark corner
Like a repressed desire, was..."
(from 'Contained')

Or try these poems with a ‘Peat Smoked Ale from Loch Lomond brewery’: its tarry black texture and hints on the palate of honey, pine and caramel biscuit will mellow the senses as you imbibe the profound truths and insights of these poems, discovering wit, light and warmth in the midst of darkness.

"...understand the worth
of what you write.  Speak it.  Go on.
Like ink into a fish tank, pour it into the air:"
 (from 'The Summerhouse')


Jane Campion Hoye
www.inspire2speak.com

For sample poems or to buy a copy of art brut, please click here.


Jane Campion Hoye is a poetic writer, storyteller and performer, who has gathered knowledge of a diversity of wines from around the world…whether filming in a German vineyard or sampling the liquid silk of a smooth cabernet on Stellenbosch’s wine route in Cape Town.  And not only wine. Her poem 'Waterfall Glory', recently selected for international publication Inspired By My Museum, was first penned on a visit to the Guinness Museum in Dublin.