Back of A Vast

by Mark Goodwin, now available from Shearsman Books.

http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/authors/goodwinA.html

Mark Goodwin is a climber and a walker. He delights in touching ground with his hands and passing through ‘landscapes’ using his legs, his lungs, and his heart. These poems go abroad, but focus mostly on Mark’s love of exploring British mountains, moorlands, coast and even English ‘rurban’ rim-lands (where rural & urban clash or collaborate).

“Mark Goodwin is one of several talented British poets currently re-inventing the pastoral. A lyric “I” survives in these poems, but barely:these are texts about how certain landscapes leave you ‘weathered’, ‘shed’, ‘flicked open’, ‘meshed’, ‘dispersed’. Language and body are ruptured to the brink of coherence, by code-switches, by scale-slides, and by a cracking open of words themselves, as if they were stone or mineral. The resulting voice renders the experience of being at large in the wild world, and catches at what happens when you ‘let a moment explode’, and find perception—in Goodwin’s brilliant phrase—‘smashed to peace’.” —Robert Macfarlane

Spires and Minarets

A new pamphlet of Paul Sutherland’s poetry Spires and Minarets has been published by Sunk Island Publishing. Information about Spires and Minarets can be found at http://www.scribd.com/doc/29317530/Spires-and-Minarets .
Retail cost, £3.50 + 50p (post and parcel) Cheque to N.P.Sutherland please and sent to Jasmine Cottage, 4 Church St., Market Rasen, LN8 3ET

Some quotes about Spires and Minarets,

‘Spires & Minarets traces Paul Sutherland’s modern pilgrimage through parts of Lincolnshire, one of England’s most ancient (and yet forgotten) shires. His direct experience of the landscape, its birds, animals, plants informs his poems and prose pieces, as do his encounters with the people who live in that landscape. Underlying it all is an appreciation and celebration of the continuity of human habitation within a specific place. Originally an outsider (Canadian born, long settled in England; Christian become Sufi) Sutherland nevertheless becomes absorbed into the landscape and its history. Lincolnshire becomes home. In this way the English landscape reveals again its extraordinary power to accept and transform; and having doing so, gives back its richness in literature. Spires and Minarets adds to and expands the scope of our tradition of nature and landscape writing, opening it up in ways that no one could have expected.’
Michael Blackburn, poet and publisher, Sunk Island Publishing

‘In Spires and Minarets Paul Sutherland takes the reader on a journey which is both physical and spiritual through the Lincolnshire fens. I particularly like the notebook format which mixes short and long entries, prose and poetry. Immediate and sensitive observation of landscape, its wildlife and small objects discovered in it are starting points for lyrical writing and impassioned meditation on central subjects.’
Myra Schneider, published poet, editor, workshop leader.

April Renga

The second collection April Renga is published by Wellhouse Press in association with Dream Catcher. Paul Sutherland has long had a fascination with Japanese style of linked verses or renga and has written and been involved in writing many examples of the form. In April Renga he is both a contributor and editor of a sequence of 36 miniature ‘renga’ poems. It’s a perfect bound 40 page book with firm laminated colour designed cover in about A6 size. The sequence was written by members of the Driftnet Poets with Paul Sutherland’s guidance and contribution over three years including the process of editing and re-writing.

One reader has described the book as, ‘a beautiful production and with one poem per page the idea of renga or linked poems is more understandable and enjoyable. You can see better how the poems are subltly related, rather than in a narrative structure.’

Renga highlights the importance of ‘spacing’ in poetry. In the Foreword, to the book, Paul writes, ‘The form [renga] asks the reader to do more than pause but to undertake an imaginative leap to perceive or imagine how separate poems might be related without direct narrative or logical links.’

April Renga costs £6.00 + 50p (post and parcel) Please make cheque payable to N.P. Sutherland. The two books can be purchased at the slightly reduced rate of £10.00 including postage and parcel. Cheques sent to: Jasmine Cottage, 4 Church St, Market Rasen, LN8 3ET

Living Poets II.III is now available as a free download from dragonheartpress.com, featuring the work of Uriah J. Oxford, Gary Beck, Lauren Elizabeth Pope, Steve DeMoss, Shurooq Amin, Richard Lighthouse, Lee Slater, Suma Subramaniam, Mahesh Patel, A. E. Connors, Margaret Hothi, Sreeman Mishu Barua, Charles Frederickson, Joseph Murphy , Usha Kishore, Catherine A. Housley, Lacey Perkins, Dorette Botha, Jane Stuart, Gill McEvoy, Ariel Feist, Misty Dormady, Ben Wilensky, Steve De France, Jane Gillespie, Jeremy Duffield, Harriet E. Rose, Susan Maurer, Bruce Nelson, Eric Proeschold, Denise Bristow and Sean Woodward.

Dragonheart Press of Derby has published powerful new poetry since 1985. Having embraced digital platforms in 1995 it offers free and paid-for digital editions of its Living Poets anthology and the works of select poets from the region and beyond. 2010 sees the launch of its new website and annual poetry competition as well as the new Dragonheart Press Store which also features Mind Body & Spirit titles from Capriconvs Books and music from ZOSHOUSE | Records.

Five Leaves, in Nottingham, publishes four young adult fiction novels this month. Vintage by Leicester writer Maxine Linnell, is time slip novel based in 1962 and 2010, when two girls find they move into the lives of each other and that teenage life in ’62 and now are very different. Maxine is a member of Leicester Writers Club and this is her first novel. Five Leaves also republish Leicestershire writer Gill Vickery – again a time slip book, set centuries ago and in modern times, The Ivy Crown. Pagans will love the book… Sticking to time slips, Robert Swindells joins the Five Leaves roster with the republished Follow a Shadow, set in Bronte country. He has been signed up for a new novel next year. Another established writer, Sherry Ashworth from Manchester, also joins Five Leaves with her new novel Revolution. In this book a group of teenagers move from protesting against their school being closed to something more dangerous.

Each book is priced at £5.99 and available from bookshops and www.fiveleaves.co.uk

Leicestershire writer Emma Lee’s story “Snowena” features in “Gentle Footprints” story anthology to raise funds for wildlife charity Born Free

Emma Lee has written a short story about a snow leopard which is included in an anthology of 19 stories, “Gentle Footprints” published by Bridge House Publishing. Proceeds will be donated to international wildlife conservation charity Born Free and its patron, actress Virginia McKenna OBE, has written the book’s foreword.

Virginia McKenna, whose association with lions started with her starring role in the 1966 movie Born Free, about a couple who raised an orphan lion cub, says of Gentle Footprints: “As someone who, for over 45 years, has been fascinated by animals, animal issues and their relationship with humans, I have been intrigued by this diverse and yet symbiotic collection of stories.

“Each writer has, of course, his or her own style, personal passions and individual focus on their chosen subject but, without exception, one is drawn into the narrative and enters, briefly, the particular world or moment being revealed.”

Gentle Footprints will be officially launched at this year’s Hay Festival. On Friday June 4 guest speaker Virginia McKenna will discuss the anthology and her work with Born Free, and there will be short readings from selected authors.

The book will retail for £11.99 of which £1 plus a share of the author’s royalty will be donated to Born Free.

Leicester small press comic publishers Factor Fiction have decided that 2010 is the year to go digital. They will be making their titles The Girly Comic and Violent! freely available online.

The Girly Comic was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award for Best Comic of 2008, and features stories from an eclectic mix of genres, but that all have female protagonists. A new comic strip will commence every Monday, and will run one page per day over several days. On Wednesdays, there will be feature reviews of comics that are likely to appeal to Girly readers. On Fridays, Selina Lock (Editor of The Girly Comic) will be blogging about the world of comics in general. Check it all out at: http://www.factorfictionpress.co.uk/webcomic

Violent! features stories with a black sense of humour, and pays homage to comics of the 1970s, such as Action. Jay Eales (Editor of Violent!) will be putting new issues of Violent! together in PDF form, but instead of printing, folding and stapling, he’ll be releasing them into the wild for free download every three months. He’ll also be continuing a rolling programme of putting strips from the archive up on the webcomic blog at: http://factorfictionpress.co.uk/violentwebcomic/

Factor Fiction are always open to new creators, and submission guidelines can be found on The Girly Comic and Violent! websites.

http://www.factorfictionpress.co.uk

Nottingham cartoonist Brick, alter ego of travel writer John Stuart Clark (The Chalke Way, After the Gold Rush) has signed his first graphic novel to Knockabout Comics, publishers of Alan Moore’s epic From Hell. Titled Depresso (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Being Bonkers), it will be launched in April at the Frankfurt Book Fair and later in the UK and USA.

www.briackbats.co.uk

the brilliant second novel by Nottingham writer
NIGEL PICKARD

Attention Deficit, the story of a teacher in one of our toughest comprehensives, is about far more than education, as the parallel narratives of Harry, the teacher and Lewis, an excluded student on his final last chance, reveal.

Nigel Pickard’s intelligent prose is always utterly convincing.

Attention Deficit is a fast-paced, provocative and, at times, very funny exploration of what happens when your life begins to get away from you.

‘Attention Deficit’ is Nigel Pickard’s second novel. The much acclaimed ‘One’ was published by Bookcase Editions in 2005.

Attention Deficit – Fiction paperback. £7.99 ISBN 978 0 9562193 5 0 Available from: www.weathervanepress.co.uk

22a Hilton Crescent, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 6HT mail@weathervanepress.co.uk www.weathervanepress.co.uk

East Midlands based novelist Maria Allen publishes her debut novel Before the Earthquake with Tindal Street Press in February. Maria Allen is half Italian, half English and has lived in different parts of Italy and the USA. She has worked as a journalist, in TV research, publishing and most recently in teaching. She lives in Loughborough.

Find out more information about Before the Earthquake at: http://www.tindalstreet.co.uk/books/before-the-earthquake

Bright Sparks is a collection of poetry by mental health service users, published by the Bright Sparks arts in mental health group. The booklet comes out of the smoking cessation project run by the group last year. It’s a really great read, and includes poems by Nick King and Jo Twist among others. Download the booklet and find out for yourself.

Bright Sparks poetry booklet

Nottingham fiction publisher Weathervane Press announces the forthcoming publication on 23/01/10 of their latest novel:

THE DAWNING – A dark and mysterious domestic thriller set in the Peak District; the stunning second novel by Nottingham writer Megan Taylor.

It is New Year’s Eve, a time for fresh beginnings – but for each member of the fragmenting Haywood family, this night could mark the end. Set against a backdrop of wintry beauty on the edge of a Peak District town, ‘The Dawning’ explores the danger that can arise, even at the heart of a family, over the course of one dark night. ‘The Dawning’ is Megan Taylor’s second novel. ‘How We Were Lost’ was published by Flame Books in 2007. Both novels demonstrate her ability to create characters we believe in and care about, and bring them vibrantly to life on the page.

‘The Dawning’ – Fiction paperback. £7.99 ISBN 978 0 9562193 4 3 Available from: www.weathervanepress.co.uk

In this, his second full collection, Peter De Ville borrows a chemical term from his past as the title for a further exploration and ‘testing’ of the inner life of the people he encounters while living in northern Italy, and the ‘spirit of place’ which connects him and them to the haunting Italian landscape. He relates this to his deep attachment to the town and country landscapes of his native England and draws the reader into taking a journey which involves understanding a world where distances have shrunk and where we all struggle to understand our place in increasingly near but diverse cultural communities. De Ville’s richly musical, resonant verse is muscular yet elegant and well-crafted. At times challenging, at times idiosyncratic in its emotional exploration of the complex beauty of our world, the poetry infects the reader with the poet’s boundless curiosity and enthusiasm.

Peter De Ville started a career as a chemist in the research and development laboratories of a large UK industrial chemicals firm but decided to break and take a degree in English and has worked as a university lecturer in Italy. He writes short stories, articles, plays, reviews, has completed a novel and had poetry published in a wide range of British and other European and American magazines of differing editorial persuasions, and in anthologies and Internet magazines.

A full collection of his poems, Open Eye, was published by Tuba Press in 2003 and 25 poems Ciao Marco Martial, inspired by reading the Latin poet, by Shoestring Press in 2007. A further full collection Taking the pH is published by Tuba Press.

Peter De Ville is also a translator and has done into English a work by Umberto Eco on the Genoese artist Eugenio Carmi, and the poetry of Giorgio Caproni. He has translated the two-part novel by the Genoese fantasy-science fiction writer Roberto Quaglia, Paradoxine: The Adventures of James Vagabond.

www.tubapress.eu

A new poetry collection from Michael Tolkien has recently been published by Poetry Salzburg. For full details see the publishers website:

http://www.poetrysalzburg.com/

The first three parts of No Time for Roses explore various kinds of illusion in our formative experience and in our emotional, artistic and spiritual lives. The final part celebrates the power of love and mature perspectives over negative influences such as the loss of circumstances, objects and people we are attached to.

“[...] his poetry is fluent, crafted, easy on the eye and mind [...] it has a wide range of subjects and is anchored in a believable reality presented in detail which is allowed to speak for itself [...] his stance avoids sentimentality with a detachment which is not indifference [...]”

Eddie Wainwright, Envoi 144
“When moving away from the personal [...] his poems combine immediacy of description with dense but unobtrusive abstract thought [...] some of his nature poems leave the reader almost breathless with a sense of the transcendent [...]”

Julian Bell, Ambit 182