Thursday 2 February 2017

Butchers Dog newsletter

The latest Butchers Dog newsletter has a call out for poems and a reminder that the Northern Writers Awards deadline for entries is today:

New Dogs - meet our new guest editors.

Send us your mintest poems!

Hello!

I hope you're all set for the final month of winter. You probably want to hunker down until March brings (slightly) warmer weather but don't go into full hibernation mode until you've sent us some poems to consider for BD9. The deadline is 28 February.

We're delighted to be joined by the fantastic poet Edward Doegar (who will be our sixth Guest Editor) and BD poet Laura Tansley is joining us as Assistant Editor. You can find out a bit more about them on our website.

Which, handily enough, is where you can also get hold of a copy of our latest issue (guest edited by Clare Pollard). If you're still a bit skint after Christmas you'll be pleased to know that selected back issues are available for just £3.

Well, that's all from me. On with the news!

Degna

The times they are a-changin'

Well it's a turbulent old world just now so I guess it's fitting that we've given our editorial team a shake up too (though hopefully the consequences won't be quite as dramatic as recent political events).

When Andrew Sclater and Amy Mackelden stepped down to concentrate on their other projects last year, we wondered how we might ever replace them. It was definitely a hard task but I'm pleased to say that we've found some canny folk to step into their shoes. And here they are...

George Aird is a 22 year old student from the North East of England. He is currently studying for an MA in Contemporary Literature at Durham University, as well as undertaking editing work around the region. He has also completed a first collection of poems, The City Talks.

"It's a really exciting time for poetry in the North of England. The recent success of Jacob Polley alongside the rising notoriety of independent presses in the region is great to see. I'm really looking forward to getting involved with one of the best emerging platforms for new poets! "

Twitter: @G_Aird

Joanne Clement was born in Darlington and lives in North Shields. She is a poet and PhD researcher at Newcastle University, where she is currently writing a collection in response to the tale-piece prints of wood engraver Thomas Bewick. The study was awarded a Northern Bridge Studentship from the AHRC. In 2012 Jo received a Northern Promise Award from New Writing North.

"It’s a real pleasure to have been welcomed into the Butcher’s Dog editorial pack. To draw a parallel between reading and running, I’m looking for poems in which the head is not conscious of the body’s hard labour. Poems with a firm foot on the ground but with legs enough to keep me guessing just where they might take me."

Twitter: @_dodo

James Giddings was born in 1990 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He completed his MA Writing at Sheffield Hallam University where he was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant. His poems have been widely published both online and in print, and in 2015 he was awarded a Northern Writers award. His debut pamphlet Everything is Scripted won Templar Poetry’s Book and Pamphlet Award.

"Butcher's Dog was pretty much the first print magazine I was published in so it'll be great to be the person making the decisions this time."

Twitter: @giddingstweets

(mini) Workshop -
Polaroid Ekphrasis

Firstly, dig out a photograph. Look through those old shoeboxes or open up a forgotten folder on your computer. The right photo will stop you in your tracks. Be ready with pen and paper, referring back and forth from image to page. Write what you see and think. Pause to slow this process down. Perhaps you’ll focus on a person or a place in the photo. Take no detail for granted, leave no stone unturned. Perhaps it’s the person taking the photo you’ll write about or maybe you’ll ask about other images on the reel. Write for as little as five minutes or as long as the ink flows. Use the best of these lines to find your way into a poem.

Joanne Clement

Just one more thing...

There are still a couple of days left to enter the Northern Writers' Awards, so what are you waiting for?

Established in 2000 by New Writing North, the Northern Writers’ Awards supports work-in-progress by new, emerging and established writers across the North of England. The Awards support writers creatively as they develop their work towards publication, as well as helping them to progress professionally and navigate their way through the publishing industry.

You can submit an application up until 11:59pm on 2 February 2017