Okay – I finally got my copy of the Forward Prize anthology – only a week after it was posted in Cambridge! Thank you Post Office, I really am grateful.
Sharp-eyed and otherwise well-informed readers will know that the reason I’ve been sent one is that, hurrah! Me and the Dead was clearly long-listed for the Forward, and they have chosen the poem “To My Next Lover” to be in the Highly Commended section of the book.
Looking at the company in that section is all the consolation one could ever need for not being shortlisted. I haven’t had a chance to read even half of it yet, but what I have read was often remarkable. Mimi Khalvati’s long elegy for EA Markham is just tremendous.
There are poems from seven Salt collections in the Highly Commended section – as well as Sîan Hughes in the shortlist for Best First Collection (but I won’t worry about that; the Schadenfreude element is that it is actually called the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection, and who wants that). (Good of him to put up the money, of course.) So it’s great news for Salt! And of those seven, five are books I’ve read and thought were great. I won’t pick them out. It’s a really strong list.
In fact, the news seems to be that there are lots of poems in the book from lots of small presses and tiny magazines. I do think the small and indie presses are the current big news in UK poetry and it is exciting to see how much great work they’re publishing. There’s a poem from the tiny yet compelling Egg Box Publishing. There are books from CB Editions, Arrowhead, Cinnamon Press, Penned in the Margins, Tall Lighthouse. There are I think three poems from Brittle Star magazine, and one from The Wolf… It’s great to see them all making a splash.
Here’s the book: it’ll be out on October 8, National Poetry Day.
And that’s not even counting who’s going to win! We’re not really talking about that.
With you completely on the shift towards the small presses. It’s hugely encouraging to see the Forward really beginning to reflect the amount of quality work being published by presses other than the mighty handful of Faber, Cape, Bloodaxe and Carcanet.
(Picador should have been in that mighty handful list too.)
Oh, and I’m mighty glad you’ve finally got your copy, Ms B!
And, at the risk of hogging the comments box, I should say I used that poem of yours in a workshop on Saturday, along with sonnets by Weldon Kees and Michael Donaghy. Worked really well.
Andrew, yes! But not sure Bloodaxe is really in the same category as those others; I think Neil is doing some very interesting stuff. And it’s big, it’s “established” – but it’s not complacent.
You did?? Jeez. I hate to say it but I always find that one a bit embarrassing, i was nonplussed when it got published. But people seem to like it. Which Donaghy, and which Kees? How did the workshop go?
The Donaghy and Kees in Don Paterson’s 101 Sonnets, respectively “The Brother” and “For My Daughter” (can’t recall whether that’s exactly the right title). The workshop went well, even if it was a bit tight on time. The theme was lies — or, at least, counterfactuals.
I don’t think you should be embarrassed by that poem at all, Katy. I love its playfulness of tone and structure. The line break at “future” works very well too because of the undertones of meaning it gives the next line with the way it begins “tense:”. It’s like a subtle counterpoint.
By the way, after reading your Donaghy post the other week I’ve just read Wallflowers. Oh yes.
Yes, absolutely to your comment about what Bloodaxe is doing. I’m not sure I’d accuse Faber of complacency, what with its new programme for (a small handful of) emerging writers and all. And I don’t think Carcanet is complacent at all (whether it’s one of the mighty handful is debateable too). I suspect that what might appear complacency in the other two is due to the pressures of being part of big, commercial publishing groups.
The epithet is slightly cheeky, slightly ironic given its provenance, but it’s certainly not lacking in affection and admiration (all those presses publish poets I enjoy, admire and respect deeply). After all, theoriginal mighty handful were hardly complacent. They gave us some enduring music, though not all of it in the mainstream of concert repertoire these days. (That’s where the irony comes in, though maybe I’m in danger of tying myself up in knots analysing my appropriation of a term I stole on a bit of a whim.)
You’re a very clever guy, Andy. I’m not sure I’d accuse anyone in particular of complacency, as such, but what I mean is they rely on their established position – and the pressures of the big houses maybe make them a little less adventurous, which isn’t the same thing as complacency, but it creates it in other people… but the very fact that we’re having this discussion indicates how badly the opening-out of the indie presses was needed!
Faber’s pamphlets are definitely a Very Good Thing – I’m particularly looking forward to Heather Phillipson’s – and you’re right, Carcanet occupies a cusp position.
Thanks for your remarks about my poem – I’m glad, and I personally think that line break is the best thing in it.
Sounds like a great workshop.
Thanks for the namecheck Katy. I’m really pleased for my Penned in the Margins poets Tamsin and Sarah – two Highly Commendeds out of four first collections submitted. I’m pretty happy w/ 50%.
And, of course, congratulations on your own Commendation!
Tom, from where I sit, it’s a great achievement. You should be bouncing!!
Dear Katy
What exactly do you mean when you say that Carcanet ‘occupies a cusp position’? It actually receives more Arts Council funding than any other poetry publisher in Great Britain plc. If you mean that it is no longer cutting-edge or particularly important, then that sounds to me like a pretty good definition of complacency!
Good luck with tonight’s poetry workshop.
Best wishes from Simon