Isabelle Charlotte Kenyon's Blog, page 4

Manchester Literature Festival: Azita Ghahreman & Maura Dooley

On Monday I attended a poetry event as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, and was introduced to 2 poets completely new to me, Azita Ghahreman and Maura Dooley.Azita Ghahreman, is one of Iran's leading poets, and has lived in Sweden since 2006. She has published five collections of poetry, her latest being Negative of a Group Photograph with Bloodaxe Books. It was Maura Dooley, a fantastic poet in her own right (I promptly got one of her books out of the library), who was commissioned to translate this book from Farsi, into English, and the two performed a series of poems from the book, both in Farsi and English.Because I could not understand the Farsi, I listened to Azita's tone. Soft and lyrical, the combination of one language, and then the translation, was genuinely transporting. Azita said that poetry has ben one way of writing about her difficult relationship with Iran, and a regime which is stifling to tackle head on. Therefore cryptic poetry, sidling around a number of upsetting topics, has been a form of expression for Azita.For Maura, working on the project for 6 years, she begun to think with Azita's emotion and style and she found that she could not both work on her own collection and Azita's!The feeling I took away from the event was a feeling of communities coming together and concluding how many similarities there are between us as humans, despite differing languages and cultures.

Introducing the Charity Partners of 'Persona Non Grata'!

The profits of Persona Non Grata, are being split between 2 important charities. One is Crisis Aid UK,which is primarily a disaster relief charity, and aims to eliminate world poverty. This definitely falls under the theme of 'social exclusion' - through no fault of their own, innocent people (such as those in Yemen, Rohingya, and Indonesia) find themselves without food, without family, and are left to fend for themselves. The above video explains how the profits will be used!Next up is Shelter, a charity that works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing. They do this by giving advice, information and advocacy to people in housing need, and by campaigning for lasting political change to end the housing crisis for good.The book will be split into the following sections:1. To be without a home2. Asylum Seekers3. War/Collateral damage4. Family/Grief/The People We Leave Behind5. Invisibility6. A matter of politics7. British Humour or OptimismYou can pre order here- which helps a small press cover their print run and of course, goes to 2 amazing charities!

October Book Reviews: Glimmerglass Girl and Tiny Poems for Gentle Hearts

Holly Lynn Walrath writes with about being a woman and growing, with self reflection and a certain element of fragility. 'Glimmerglass Girl' had some delicious descriptions such as 'hot cups of blueberry coffee' and 'bitter African cocoa flour'. I enjoyed the specifics of Holly's world, because I could both picture and taste her imagery. The collection touches on society's perception of female aging. In the poem 'The Young Wives', Walrath describes how thirty 'rose up/and devoured us'. Whether she means a sense of self or age as a form of invisibility, it is clear from the title, that Holly feels alienated in some way.My favourite poem was 'I am Going to Find the Unicorns', which seemed to be a statement against every label society had ever given the author: 'Not the human's idea of them,all bright purple and cheeky.No, the real ones. Blood and hornsand teeth.'This collection had some beautiful illustrations but this sometimes meant I really struggled to read the text behind the image! I also wanted to see some stylistic choices behind line breaks - it may be particular of me, but regular line breaks which gives a poem a jagged form which makes me crave a justification. The self reflection within this collection is where Holly's writing is most powerful. In poem 'I think my taste is questionable', Holly writes: 'I drank Jello shotsthat gulped down, formed a strange pilelike Gummy Bears at the bottom of my self respect.'In conclusion, this collection had some lovely descriptions which stuck with me (and made me hungry!) and I think many people will find this personal style of writing relatable and memorable.Glimmerglass Girl is available at www.finishinglinepress.com'Tiny Poems for Gentle Hearts' by Isabel Scheck'Tiny Poems for Gentle Hearts' by Isabel Scheck is a collection of short poems which describe love and heartbreak. The book is divided into percentages, and each of the 150 poems is a percentage of the whole. I’m going to look at 2 example poems:‘One day she hopesto be a mum to alovely boy or girlor both that shecan cherish lookafter and love untilthe end of time.’The poems read in a diary form, without elaboration and without in-depth detail, so the ideas have to be taken at face value. The sentiments expressed throughout this book are lovely and gentle, but for me personally, I would liked to see some thought behind each line break, so that a sense of individual style emerged.‘Felix was soenchanted byLyla’s star-filledbrown eyes andstrawberrylip-glossed lipsthat the rest of theworld faded away.’I think this book would be ideal for young adult readers, because the description lends itself to whimsical dreaming and although to me, the level of description and storytelling is quite simplistic, I think it would bring a lot of joy to this age group of readers and introduce them to poetry.Overall, Isabel wanted this collection to warm hearts and thaw souls. Although not the type of poetry that they usually read, I found that it was comforting bedtime read, and for those readers who love small formats of poetry, which they can dip out in and out of, this is ideal.You can buy Tiny Poems for Gentle Hearts here.

Ghosting for Beginners: A Review

Anna’s Indigo Dreams pamplet, 'Ghosting for beginners' is a rich mix of earthy exploration of nature, politics and the afterlife. From poem such as 'Wood Garlic', I was drawn into a world of ancient nature and otherworldly force (such as Shakespeare’s head witch, Hecate). The description, 'ripping the stitch of root/from the dark weave of earth' made me see nature as powerful and in this poem, Anna explores how humanity is rooted in nature – and that our vulnerability can be seen as a shared trait. Saunders' collection is political but subtly so. She describes cars as 'a carnival of sick cockroaches with gaudy shells' which makes a guarded statement about pollution and what effect our habits are having on the planet. More explicitly, Anna explores in 'A murmation above the city’, how politicians gather like dead mist, gathered together as one mind, with no independent thoughts. Anna is satrical (which I love) and in poems such as 'How to paint a Brexit Angel’, she sums up the current political situation in a comedic and clever style.A theme of Indigo Dreams Pamphlets seems to be folklore and ancient traditions or oral storytelling. The most interesting story for me in this collection was learning about the Chinese traditional of Ghost marriage, whereby a bride can still go through with her wedding even if her fiance dies! Overall, Anna Saunders has created a clever collection which beautifully weaves from one theme to the next. I will now go and read all of Saunders' work, which is clearly that of an experienced artist with a unique voice as a poet. Buy a copy from Indigo Dreams here

The London Haiku Project moves to Barcelona!

Cycles By Joe Woodhouse Joe starts his second collection by way of an introduction which outlines his relationship with the medium of the haiku – in that it the form motivated him to document the world around him – making him ‘look up, and out, at life’. Joe started his journey with The London Haiku Project, which was then rendered ‘fake news’ when he moved to Barcelona (I’m very jealous) – and this collection is all about that move, and his transition from writing about one busy city environment, to the delights of fiesta – loving Barcelona. The poems are not given titles as such, but descriptions such as ‘spring warmth...rumbling’ underground, stuck with me. Haikus such as :‘financial district cash machine framed (by two beggars)’aptly sum up the divisions in London; the wealth gap. Haikus focusing on London characters made me laugh:‘high street
 old man speaks to himself about himself’- from the elderly to the Millenials, we explore the city:‘rail tracks split his thumb hovers which emoji?’Then we are in Barcelona, it is clear, by the section ‘Sea’, in which lizards creep and palm trees quiver. The poem’s flow slows and the effect on the reader is calming, as Joe’s pace of life slows also:‘cloud surfing dolphins flow across a sundown sky’.There is something universal about his calming contentment in haikus such as:‘September sundown treasuring the warmth of her skin’.It is an enjoyable experience to have read Joe’s first collection and to find his second, so sophisticated and refined – I find myself quietly connecting with the haiku:‘rainfall Drowning in the music of it all’.You can buy Cycles here.

In the Spotlight: Selcouth Station's Haley Jenkins

This week I had a lovely catch up with Haley Jenkins, who if you don't know, is the fabulous editor of up and coming small press, Selcouth Station.So you're the editor and founder of Selcouth Station Press. How did the idea come about? The idea happened very organically and I would hesitate to say I had a plan when I began! I had experience putting books together and working with writers, originally however I saw Selcouth Station as a group blog and a way for me to be socially awkward and social at the same time! However when it came to it, it was just me writing solo and trying my best to reach out to others. I quickly met some wonderful writers, such as Leo X Robertson (Bonespin Slipspace) and Mike Aaron (Cuteness Overlord). I began receiving review requests and I actively hunted down people for interviews, trying to convince them I came in peace and wouldn't bite! I have always been an editor and dreamed of getting into publishing, so when we were approaching 500 Twitter followers I rather riskily said: Hey guys, if we hit 500, we'll become a micro-press! The rest is history...The name 'Selcouth' is an Old English word for unusual, strange, beautiful, I wanted to publish work mainstream publishing houses would turn down because they couldn't see a profit in it or the writer was new and unknown. Mainstreaming publishing has a lot of perks, but they tend to be more about the business rather than people and my heart is with the people. I called my press 'Station'' because it is a place where anyone can get on a train with us and leave whenever they want, it is a place of chance encounters and transitions from here to there. What are the challenges and rewards of starting your own indie press?The biggest challenge is becoming legit and trying to ensure nothing you do is illegal ha! As I began with a Kickstarter, I needed to register as a small business (specifically a sole trader) and for tax returns, as I needed to explain the sudden income. I researched on what counts as expenses (answer: most things) and what I would have to pay tax on (answer: anything left over). There are also the more practical queries: who is going to print our books? The first printer I had in mind couldn't provide the service the press needed, so I then had to source another one. Another practical query: how do I pay my authors? I decided the best way was to give them 20% of the 100-copy print run, which they could then sell on at £5.00 each, totaling in £100 profit for the twenty books. They could order more at 50% reduced rate. Writers should be paid for their work wherever possible, whether it is in physical copies or in cash. The biggest challenges for me was ensuring everything I planned to do was fair and legal. The biggest rewards so far is seeing the books arrive with the authors and the Kickstarter backers, laughing uncontrollably as people tweet images of our books and review them! It has been a wonderful experience! We never stop supporting our authors and you know what? They have never stopped supporting us. We have a fantastic relationship with them and we are so excited to meet our next authors! I say 'we' as I have been joined by Sandra and Lorna, two wonderful writers and editors who believe in the press. Who are 3 of your favourite writers and why?Now this is a hard one because I rarely have favourite authors, but favourite books. However, I can give you three who have stuck with me for a long time. J.R.R. Tolkien was my first love, my mother would read chapters to my brother and I in the evenings when we were little. We would be huddled in blankets and hot-water bottles because we didn't have heating for a long time. I was convinced no book could ever beat 'The Hobbit', so when I was twelve I marched into my grandparents' living room and declared I would be a writer and I would write something on par with Tolkien. Angela Carter continues to be a favourite and I have just read Edmund Gordon's The Invention of Angela Carter, an exquisite biography of a fantastical, clever writer who showed me I didn't have to be conventional. I fell head over heels in love with The Bloody Chamber during college and continue to read her work. She has such daring and passion, I've always blown away by her books, even the more trippy ones like The Passion of New Eve. Neil Gaiman is the most recent addition to my Top 3. I have read his short stories and Neverwhere, yet it took until reading The Sandman comics for me to really acknowledge him as a favourite. I loved his voice, his passion, I must have listened to a hundred interviews of him talking about his work, yet I needed to find my Gaiman. I am five volumes into his comic series, I am at once scarred and inspired by his dark stories of dream and darkness. What are you working on at the moment? Oh dear, how much procrastination can I get away with here? Well, if I'm being honest, I am slowly working together a poetry book called Saga City. I'm still exploring it. So far I know it is going to be experimental poetry with a mythos of made-up words, collages from early 20th century women's magazines, twenty sound-poetry pieces ripped from the biographies of twenty historical women in arts/literature and more personal issues like body image and anger. I want it to be a beautiful book where I can use colour, so I will likely have to self-publish it as colour is expensive to print. It will focus on ancestry and origins. All origins are lonely, to quote Maggie O'Sullivan's book (Veer Books), and I believe it is essential we connect with them, whether than is the landscape your ancestors worked on or the internal dreamworld you visit during your blue days. What would your advice be to writers just starting out?Be afraid. I don't mean this in a 'oh god you are walking into hell' way, though I will not deny being a writer is tough. You cannot be truly brave without fear. Being brave is not about 'not' being afraid, but being afraid and still fighting for what you believe in. You are allowed to feel like the worst writer in the world, as long as you keep writing. Self-hate and anxiety are two demons I have lived with for a very long time and while I have tamed them a little, there are still days when I believe the Fraud Police will turn up and arrest me. I want to tell YOU, the writers, YOU are ALLOWED to feel this way. You look at other writers and you judge yourself by what you perceive: oh look how effortlessly they write, oh look how they achieve their dreams, oh if I just put in the hours I know I could do that. I will tell you now: if you are a new writer and you are feeling confident, you are doing something wrong. And hey, my inbox is open to you if you want to chat. Haley Jenkins holds a Creative Writing Master's Degree from The University of Surrey and a Creative Writing Bachelor's Degree from The University of Roehampton.In 2016, Haley was awarded First Prize in the Elmbridge Literary Competition for her short story 'Talisman' and in 2014 won 3rd Prize in the Hopkins Poetry Prize. She has been published in two anthologies by Fincham Press - The Trouble with Parallel Universes (2014) and Screams & Silences (2015), as well as publications such as, Guttural Magazine, Rag Queen Periodical, Tears in the Fence, painted spoken and The Journal of British & Irish Innovative Poetry. Her work has also appeared in online zines such as datableedzine, epizootics and ez.Pzine (Pyre Publishing). In 2016, she completed editing Bigger than Bones, a volume of essays and creative work with a focus on the body, produced by interdisciplinary.net.Haley's first poetry chapbook was published by Veer Books (August 2017). Haley has presented work, both creative and non-fiction, at The University of Roehampton, The University of Falmouth and Mansfield College of The University of Oxford.

2 Fabulous Eyewear Poet Reviews

Fealty by Ricky RayRicky Ray’s collection ‘Fealty’ feels like a life achievement. So much is covered and explored – life, philosophy, politics and dreams. Ricky imagines in a poem ‘A Place’, what a world without waste, and selfishness, would look like. I enjoy the quiet political undertones of this collection and this poem specifically, in which Ricky imagines what could happen if we deconstructed society: ‘a place where economy/ is what one does with what one has’.This dream is mundane next to dreams in which he compares thirst for liquor to hunger for blood, identifying similarities between his own qualities and that of a panther, and a wild boar. The imagery in this collection, verges on fairy tale, in its exploration of the weird and wonderful, and this has the ability to transport the reader. For example, ‘Thanksgiving with Vegetarians’ begins, ‘In a field, somewhere out west, where an eagle feather refuses to land’, feels reminiscent of oral fairy-tale traditional beginnings ‘Once upon a time, in a land far away…’ I found myself laughing at lines such as ‘We live longer and call it progress’ and ‘He said it was time to stop writing poems and start living them’. This is a clever collection which has something to delight all readers and lovers of poetry. Ricky Ray is clearly a poet to watch!Circling For Godsby Jo BurnsJo Burns ends this collection with the line, 'Weave. Weave your life well'. This line sums up the sophistication and intellect with which Burns writes. I'm not embarrassed to say I had to look up most words within this book!! My favourite poem, Green Milk, weaves nature and the mountains into a religion: 'But the hymns bursting streams are kaleidoscopic. If there must be religion, then let this be it ' The collection explores belief systems and Jo takes the reader on a journey around the world. She also weaves mythology into her descriptions (which is where my dictionary was no help) but I enjoyed the mix of the two worlds! Mythology can be seen as religious in itself.

Review: Apple Water: Povel Panni by Raine Geoghegan

Punctuated with Romani language, Raine Geoghegan's new chapbook, published by Hedgehog Poetry Press, is a feast of poems and short prose.Each poem comes with a micro dictionary at the bottom of the page, where you can learn the words for fire (yog), hedgehog (Hotchiwitchi/jog jog) and more. The style throughout the collection is both simple and blunt:'Me mum's cookin' sushi stew,Me Dad's chinning the koshtie's.I'm practisin' handwritin' with a fine pencil'.Factual yet intimate, Raine captures a simple and stripped back way of living with care and love - a happiness which is breached my police hatred of travellers. Raine describes one day when the 'gavvers' came and 'started to wreck the site. One of 'em kicked the kittle off the yog' - the men forced to sit back and watch, for fear of being taken away.My favourite poem, although it seems against Hedgehog Poetry Press to say so, is 'HOTCHIWITCHI/HEDEHOG', in which Raine informs the reader how to cook a hedgehog,'when you open up the clay,the spines will come away,chank it while its good n'ot'.Although I won't be using this recipe, it added a... flavour to the collection! This collection is released 15 November 2018 from Hedgehog Poetry Press.

Blog tour: Crowd Surfing with God by Adrienne Novy

Crowd Surfing with God by Adrienne Novy'God taught the sky how to jump, built a bowling alley in the clouds to give us thunderstorms' 'Lights' - 'i hunch over a pink plastic bedpan, my body regurgitating her gospel.'My Review:Novy compares God and her relationship to that which she loves - playing music: ' music is a preventative for self-destruction '. She explores her religion through music it seems -and where this may work with and against her: 'let’s get really queer on the chorus. Jesus can kick it with us when suburbia gets uncomfortable. ' Generally, there is a really positive portrayal of her faith: 'If heaven is a hive, I want to swim in it'.There are a lot of references to time spent in hospital for a arm that 'doesn't go all the way up' and there is an exploration of how she views herself with this disability. It is slowly revealed to be Lupus. It seems hospital was a defining part of her childhood: 'you, the Sick Kid, were so brave today, swallowed the hospital library whole, called it taking your medicine. ' However, Novy has a great dark humour streak and turns her experience into light hearted words: 'the doctors took out my appendix along with unknotting the shoelaces of my stomach & intestines. my body is now a game of Two Truths & a Lie.'. Later, Novy describes her struggle to see herself as a woman through the harsh realities which Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome brings her - a genuinely heart breaking line: ' I ask myself how anyone will love this garden if nothing can ever grow here'.I was really touched by Novy's connetion to Anne Frank's (unedited) diary - that Anne's exploration of sexuality and the world around her, her own humanity, brought Novy confidence in herself. This collection is certainly varied and next to this heavier poem, I laughed at Novy's playful writing, twisting the Bible's creation text: '& so god created MySpace & god wore sleeveless denim jackets & shopped at Hot Topic & thought about stretching her ears & in the beginning god said, let there be alternative rock music in the early 2000s'. For some, rock bands really are representative of God!In true form, this collection ends with a suggested playlist.Extract: if the honeybees die, then we will die with themCarrie Fisher died within a milky-clouded sky sleep & I imagine her mother’s ventricles clogging with honey.If heaven is a hive, I want to swim in it, like the way a Falcon does with space, cosmos beading of its wings.Loss is an act of inheritance: two houses entombed in amber, carbonite; family photographs, antiques webbed in hexagons.My body is a white dress sewn of ash, Prozac urn, wishful wedding-funeral. Inside of me lives my father’s mother & my mother’s mother & everything my mother taught me, too. I call Carrie my Space Mom to make myself feel closer to the newest star of grave soil.After we are long long dead & this planet’s two suns have been extinguished, we will burst with light to greet the world again as keepers of a millennia, the royalty of galaxies & garden trellises: a fresh & new & brilliant hope.Synopsis:Crowd Surfing With God is a coming of age journey through poems: a story of self- acceptance that discusses growing up with a rare genetic disorder & mental illness, family & being in a multifaith household, pop culture, & the acts of playing & listening to music bringing you closer to yourself & to healing.Link: www.halfmystic.com/product/cswgReleased August 21st, 2018 70 pages, paperback ISBN: 978-1-948552-02-8

Insiders

Yes, this is a spoof title of my 'outsiders' call out!I wanted to keep you posted with the plans I have got for Fly on the Wall Poetry Press...The first thing is, I am seeking funding for the press. This will allow me to open chapbook submissions for the press, which will be free to enter, and will be aimed at socially engaged poetry, with 10% of the profits going to the charity of the poet's choice! This will be in keeping with the aims of a charitable press. Therefore I aim to the press to achieve an activist status, in its conviction that words have power to enact social change!Funding would also mean I would be paying my anthology contributors for individual poems which is very important to me.I will also be taking a part of the press online, starting in October. My online press will be inspired by the themes of past anthologies - mental health, and outsiders. This will allow those who would've liked to be part of the anthologies, all who are inspired by the poetry within them, to have their work published online. It is also a way of ensuring that the anthologies are continually updated in some way, to reflect our changing world.Generally, I will be focusing on freelance editing, and I'm excited for the directions I can see myself going down in future!