Made it into Magma

I can’t actually believe that I didn’t blog about this when it happened back in 2017. Getting a poem accepted by Magma has been No. 1 on my list of ‘I will be a proper poet when…’ ever since I started writing. And I have submitted and got rejections a few times.

But this time, success! I jumped up and down when I got the acceptance notification. I may have squealed, there was possibly a fist pump and a yell of YES!

The launch of Magma 68 Margins, took place at London Review of Books bookshop and I was asked to read. Reading at the London Review of Books bookshop is probably No 2. on my list of ‘I will be a proper poet when…’ So it’s ridiculous that I’ve waited until now to post about it. Maybe it’s because even when it was happening, none of it felt real? Oh the nerves were real alright. I was terrified. Here I was reading alongside Fleur Adcock and Katy Evans-Bush on hallowed ground. My knees were buckling and although I got positive feedback, I can see the tension in my body in the photos taken of me reading.

I think there are things in life that you build up and build up in your mind, and if/when they ever happen it’s too much to process at the time. It’s not until now, a year and a half later, that when I glance at my bookshelf and see my contributor’s copy of Magma, that it all feels real. Thank you to editors David Floyd and Lucy Howard-Taylor, and to the Magma Board members, particularly Lisa Kelly, for making a dream come true.

I’m just about to have another dream come true – my first joint poetry collection London Undercurrents, with poet Hilaire, is being published by Holland Park Press on Thursday 28th March, detail here.

A book.

That’s, like, No 1. on my list of ‘I will be a proper writer when…’

This time I vow to stay in the moment and to channel nervous energy into excitement instead. I very well may fist pump and yell YES too.

Keeping great company in the library

In 2018, Hilaire and I had two of our London Undercurrents poems published in Paper Swans Press Little Book of Suffrage.  Our poems, What did Mrs Despard ever do for us? and Cat and mouse fit snuggly into this small and perfectly formed pocket book of poems about women’s suffrage – a little book that packs a punch. You can buy a copy here or borrow it from Battersea Park Library.

MPK – my poetry home from home

For several years now I’ve been lucky enough to be a member of the poetry collective Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. Founded in 2001 by Malika Booker, Roger Robinson and Jacob Sam La Rose, MPK has become a huge family of poets and writers, including prize-winning poets Warsan Shire and Inua Ellams.

We meet every other Friday, three terms each year, where we practise our craft, learn about form, give feed back on each other’s work and learn from visiting poets. In 2018 myself a group of the current members, led by MPK Director Jill Abram, were invited to read at the Second Home poetry festival Holland Park. 

It was a great opportunity for us to share the poems we’ve written in an MPK class, or have been influenced or enriched by being a MPK member. It was also a lovely shared experience – poetry/writing can be a solitary craft, and being held compassionately in the welcoming arms of the MPK family is a joyous thing.

Seraphima Kennedy, Soul Patel, Joolz Sparkes, Jacob Sam La Rose, Rishi Dastidar, Maisie Lawrence, Malika Booker, Jill Abram, Dean Atta, Mehmet Izbudak, Katie Griffiths

Great weather for international poetry

Founded in January 2012 by Jane Ormerod, Thomas Fucaloro, and Brant Lyon, great weather for MEDIA are a New York based writers collective which ‘focuses on the unpredictable, the fearless, the bright, the dark, and the innovative..’

They run regular monthly poetry readings at Parkside Lounge, Manhattan, and publish fiction and poetry, plus an anthology of international writing each year. I had the pleasure of being one of their featured readers at Parkside Lounge a few years ago and since then have submitted poems to their anthology call outs. Second time lucky, my poem Day Four was accepted for publication in their anthology The Other Side of Violet.

Jane Ormerod (pictured below) asked me to be one of their featured readers at the UK launch of the anthology, at the Poetry Cafe Betterton Street in September 2017. I joined a stellar line-up of writers – Martin Ouvry, Roddy Williams, Gayle Richardson, Chris Stuart and Jane Ormerod – the newly refurbished Poetry Cafe proved to be a fantastic venue, and indeed it was great weather for it.

 

 

Nevertheless, she persisted

I’m still catching up on writing posts for this blog from the past couple of years, to bring it bang up to date. It has been actually rather lovely to go back a couple of years to before this Brexit shitstorm we find ourselves in today (good luck and power to all those on the Peoples’ Vote march this afternoon).

2017 feels like a more innocent, kinder time. Which is not true. In the Summer Trump had said the first of many, many shite things. This particular shite thing was about women and it ignited the Women’s March, and bolstered the growing #metoo movement. Against this backdrop, Jacqueline Saphra and Sophia Blackwell formed The Persisters group and created a fundraising poemathon at The Star of Kings in Kings Cross, called Holding the line. A zine designed by Andrea Robinson with artwork by Sophie Herxheimer, accompanied the performances and all proceeds went to Women’s Aid (find out more about Women’s Aid and make a donation here).

I was lucky enough to have a poem in the zine and to be invited to read at the poemathon. It was a brilliant event and life-affirming. We’ll keep on persisting. Whatever the next few months brings.

Reading at the London Book Fair.

London Undercurrents

The London Book Fair attracts over 25,000 visitors. Who wouldn’t want to read at one of the publishing industry’s main trade fairs? When our publisher Bernadette at Holland Park Press suggested she could pitch for a slot for us to read from our forthcoming collection at this year’s fair we jumped at the chance. 

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Our first review – on Emma Lee’s Blog

London Undercurrents

We’re delighted with the first review of our collection, on Emma Lee’s blog. Are you interested in reviewing our book? Contact Holland Park Press to request a review copy. Have a good weekend!

Two poets explore the hidden histories of women based north and south of the river Thames in London through poems with Joolz Sparkes focusing north of the river, and Hilaire south. Poems are grouped by theme so chronologically they jump around and are marked N or S to indicate the writer. Some poems feature a […]

via “London Undercurrents” Joolz Sparkes and Hilaire (Holland Park Press) – book review — Emma Lee’s Blog

View original post

Our first review – on Emma Lee’s Blog

London Undercurrents

We’re delighted with the first review of our collection, on Emma Lee’s blog. Are you interested in reviewing our book? Contact Holland Park Press to request a review copy. Have a good weekend!

Two poets explore the hidden histories of women based north and south of the river Thames in London through poems with Joolz Sparkes focusing north of the river, and Hilaire south. Poems are grouped by theme so chronologically they jump around and are marked N or S to indicate the writer. Some poems feature a […]

via “London Undercurrents” Joolz Sparkes and Hilaire (Holland Park Press) – book review — Emma Lee’s Blog

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