Susie Wild's Blog: Wildlife, page 18

Where Have All the Good Guys Gone? A Tribute to Norman Schwenk

I was so sad to hear that we had lost the poet Norman Schwenk this week. Norman was a wonderful encourager of my writing when I was starting out and a bright spark of a poet and educator. I enjoyed working with him over the years, including bringing out his last book with Parthian in 2016, Love What is Mortal: Selected Poems.

Norman was Parthian Publisher Director Richard Davies' PhD supervisor, and he pays a moving tribute to him in Wales Arts Review: Where Have All the Good Guys Gone? A Tribute to Norman Schwenk

Sea Horse: Happy New Year!

 

Welcome 2023. I went to the sea and saw a sea horse.

Wales Arts Review Name 'Pearl and Bone' Best Welsh Poetry Book 2022

It was so lovely to end the year with the news that Wales Arts Review named Pearl and Bone, the second poetry collection from Mari Ellis Dunning as Best Welsh Poetry Book 2022 and to have another of our titles, the debut Strange Animals by Emily Vanderploeg on the shortlist. 

Clearly, I think all our 2022 poetry books, poets and editors are wonderful or I wouldn't have picked them, if you've had a backlog of great books to read, it did feel like 2022 was a bumper year for releases, then why not catch up with our 2022 list:

The language of bees – Rae Howells

Tempo: Excursions in 21st Century Italian Poetry edited by Luca Paci (bilingual Italian/English hardback)

Pearl and Bone – Mari Ellis Dunning

Strange Animals – Emily Vanderploeg

All available from Parthian Books and your favourite bookshops on and offline. You can also catch Mari offering her writing tip as part of Jo Bell's Writers Advent for Day 18. 

I was also pleased to see another book I worked on at Parthian, An Open Door: New Travel Writing for a Precarious Country – ed. Steven Lovatt on the shortlist for Best Welsh Non Fiction Book 2022.

Finally my plans for the rest of the year were cut short. I had a splendid time dancing, eating Greek food, laughing at comedy and drinking nojitos at a dirty blues and jazz bars in That London for Bear's Big Birthday in early December and then – of course – I got well and truly knocked down with Covid for the first time afterwards making the festive season VERY lowkey indeed. 

This did mean, good for little else, that I managed get to catch up on some telly, the best of which, not just because of the name, was The Bear – I love food and drama and this stirs both into the pot –  excellent / excruciating TV – perfectly balanced with salt, fat, heat and acid and a great cast. Devour it. I also enjoyed Emily Blunt's The English mini series.

Finally in 2022, due to the strange diets of domesticated bears, I have finally beaten my nemesis the omelette, which I can now not only cook but also get onto a plate without it breaking. Considering the things that I can cook, I've no idea why this particular dish has been so hard to master and I'm not sure that I am a master yet, but it has been an important step in facing the things I think I cannot do over the last couple of years, big and small. Watch out for more of that in 2023.

Wishing you all the happiest of New Years and sending you joy and sparkle wherever you are Xx

REVIEW: 'deft, witty, and heartwarming' ��� George Sandifer-Smith reviews Windfalls for Poetry Wales

There's a lovely review of Windfalls in the new issue of Poetry Wales... 

���Windfalls, Wild���s second collection, delivers another deft, witty, and heartwarming series of poems��� Wild writes of overgrowth, decay, and the curious beauty and distraction of these things, as a neighbour���s overgrown fruit tree bombards the speaker's garden��� This contrast between the fascination of the untamed and the mundane ��� bills, meals, old relationships ��� is a golden thread that passes through the poems within Windfalls.��� ��� George Sandifer-Smith

Get your hands on a copy from the Poetry Wales website

Submissions are also open until the end of the month, so send some poems in if they fit the theme!

REVIEW: 'deft, witty, and heartwarming' – George Sandifer-Smith reviews Windfalls for Poetry Wales

There's a lovely review of Windfalls in the new issue of Poetry Wales... 

‘Windfalls, Wild’s second collection, delivers another deft, witty, and heartwarming series of poems… Wild writes of overgrowth, decay, and the curious beauty and distraction of these things, as a neighbour’s overgrown fruit tree bombards the speaker's garden… This contrast between the fascination of the untamed and the mundane – bills, meals, old relationships – is a golden thread that passes through the poems within Windfalls.’ – George Sandifer-Smith

Get your hands on a copy from the Poetry Wales website

Submissions are also open until the end of the month, so send some poems in if they fit the theme!

PHOTO: Thanksgiving Poetry Editors Meeting

 

A thanksgiving meeting of editors!
☔ I am so glad I braved all the weather for a gorgeous catch up with these two poets, stars and editors while Zoë is over from the States... 
and I received my first festive gift of the year. A lovely time had by all!🎄ID: Zoë and Peter on one side of a restaurant table, Rhian and Susie on the other.

RAINBOWS: Tenby

I had a wonderful time in Tenby this week, where the weather was less storm, more showers and double rainbows. This allowed me to stroll along the shore some of the time without being blown away, to explore the fort, and to do some research and scribbling with a wild-mood-swings sea view. As well as launching Celine's Soho Salon anthology by reading some poems at Tenby museum. 

You'll find a few more photos on Instagram, but this one is a favourite from my mini-creative-getaway!

LISTEN: Writers on Reading

In this brand new interview episode, poets George Sandifer-Smith and Mari Ellis Dunning join Sophie and Jonathan to discuss their latest collections, Empty Trains (Broken Sleep) and Night Travel at the Right Speed (Infinity Books) from George, and Pearl and Bone (Parthian) from Mari, and how they were able to process their lockdown experiences through their work.

As Mari's editor, I have worked on both her full collections with Parthian, so I recommend you listen for wonderful readings from Pearl and Bone and also for George who talks about not one but two poetry books that he has recently released. 

George was also very kind, giving Windfalls a shout out. He's recently reread the collection in his capacity as the new Reviews Editor at Poetry Wales and a piece about it will appear in the new winter issue. He said: ‘Also, recent things that I’ve read that I loved ... Windfalls was just spectacular, so musical in its use of free verse, and so much colour in it, such a wonderful collection of poems.’

GIG ALERT: Voices on the Bridge, 30 November 2022

 

… and my last gig of the year (probably)! Come along to Storyville Books in Pontypridd on the 30th for the next instalment of Voices on the Bridge where I’ll be reading with other great people and there will also be wonderful music from Ben.

GIG TOMORROW: Celine's Soho Salon Book Launch, Tenby Museum