The compass is set due north in the latest issue of The Rialto, with its dark, moody cover of a Scandinavian maiden linking arms with a wolf-man, plus promises of a ‘northern sampler’ of poems edited by Degna Stone.
Inside, you can find work by poets including Fleur Adcock, Claire Booker, Mary Jean Chan, Ella Frears, Tania Hershman, Sean Hewitt, Matt Howard, Anthony Mair, Jessica Mookherjee, Les Murray and Emma Wills, plus the first published poems of new poet on the block, CB Green (more please!)
The first twelve pages of this issue contain poems gleaned from The Rialto’s first pamphlet competition. “One of the things I enjoy most is finding writers who are new to us, or even new to just about everyone,” says the Editor, Michael Mackmin. Look out for the competition winner, Sean Wai Keung’s pamphlet, at FREE VERSE (and via The Rialto website) later this month.
And then there’s the northern sampler itself:
“I guess what I wanted to do was to highlight some of the fantastic poets who are writing in my region,” explains Degna Stone. “I chose poems that I felt have a vitality and urgency about the world; whether that’s by looking back and asking us to think about what how much, or how little, things have changed, or centring us firmly in the present and asking us to think about how we can move forward.
“So, get yourself a cuppa or a glass of something, take fifteen minutes out of your day, and have a read.” With poems by Anne Caldwell, John Challis, Pippa Little and William Stephenson among other northerners to read, I suggest you put aside a little longer to relish the magic of their windswept words. 
To buy a copy of The Rialto issue 88 (£8.50), take out an annual subscription (£24/19 for 3 issues) or submit to the magazine, please check out: The Rialto
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