The Interpreter’s House is showing at a screen near you!

The Interpreter’s House joined the ranks of E-zines last year –  a sign of the times, I think.

It’s always great to have a poem accepted, and issue 74 sits on my computer screen, offering some really strong prose and poetry from the likes of Jo Bratten, Natalie Crick, Josh Ekroy, Scott Elder, Helena Fornells, Sam Garvan, Roma Havers, Helen Tookey, Jean Taylor and Lydia Unsworth.

I’ve got four past issues of this fabulous lit mag on my book shelves. It always sported really eye-catching covers, and how nice to be able to flick through poems that I read perhaps years ago, but are still there, with my annotations, ready to read and enjoy again.

Of course, there are advantages to moving a magazine online. In the past, you would have to have part with a crisp fiver to read these poems and short stories. Now, just click on this link and read the entire magazine (including my poem ‘The Feral Dogs of Moscow’) for the cost of the electricity it takes to power your screen. Interpreter’s House (issue 74)

It also takes some of the sweat and risk away for the editors – those long-suffering heroes and heroines, without whom contemporary writers would be seriously marginalised. And it’s great to be able to share a poem you like with other people, in a matter of seconds, using a simple link.

Do people read work online, in the same way as from a book? Possibly not. Digital is both easier, and perhaps less impactful an experience. The temptation to flit is quite strong. Perhaps more pieces get read, but with less depth of concentration. I also like being able to flick through a book and stop at a poem that has an interesting layout. Not possible in this type of format.

Not withstanding, Georgi Gill and her assistant editor, Andrew Wells, must be congratulated on creating a really clean, clear look to their website. You instantly see who the writers are, and the title of their work. One click and you’re in. The quality of the work speaks for itself.

They’ve also slimmed the magazine down, so now you get to read 2 or 3 short stories, and about 17 poets.  A very manageable number, which can be read in one sitting.

And how about a Zoom launch, so you get a chance to hear the writers read their work? It would be lovely to ‘meet’ the team, which includes Louise Peterkin (poetry editor) and Annie Rutherford (prose editor).  Community is everything, as Covid-19 has shown. Anything that can bring us together is to be greatly celebrated.

The Interpreter’s House operates submissions windows for poetry and prose in February, June and October. So there’s still time to get your work in this month. Plus don’t forget to check out their reviews, which are published on a separate web page. Full details on the website.

Call for Guernsey ‘Poems on the Move’

If you’d love to see your words riding a Guernsey bus for a season, there’s still time to enter the 2019 International Guernsey Poetry Competition.

I was lucky enough to be a Poems on the Move Open winner last year (congrats to Josh Ekroy, Jonathan Edwards and Peter Wallis for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes). The selection was made by Daljit Nagra, and my poem ‘On Beacon Hill’ has been busy zooming around this lovely Channel island on one of its yellow buses.

Other winners (in three categories) sharing bus space, include Zilla Bowes, Lyra Davies, Scott Elder, Sue Proffitt, Alexander Soulsby, Simon Rees-Roberts and Anthony Watts. 

“I was impressed by the range of poetry that seemed to touch on every subject imaginable,” says Daljit Nagra in his judge’s summary. “I appreciated the discipline of the many poets who wrote succinctly and vividly remembering that the power of poetry lies in its turn of phrase, in its lively associations between unusual things, so that in a few words the reader can be held and transported at once.”

To read poems by the current winners, or to enter the 2019 competition, please visit: Poems on the Move. Entries must arrive by January 15th and could win you top prize of £1,000. This year’s competition will be judged by Bloodaxe poet Maura Dooley. She’s looking for poems of 14 lines or fewer, and that will fit on a single page of A4.

And if you’re planning a trip to Guernsey – perhaps for the International Literary Festival (1-6th May) – you may want to check out the buses on the island and read some of the winning poems while you stock up on potato peel pie!  

More information at: Guernsey Buses  and Guernsey Literary Festival