Volume 08, Chapter 10 | August 2021

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Image by Veronica Lissandrini

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Dear writers, readers and friends,

Rise, write and shine. Your August issue is here and isn’t it a beautiful one? With the help of my co-curator this month, Divya Ghelani, we showcase four women to watch: one artist and three writers, all with abundant talent. I was deeply moved by this month’s writing – actual tears in some cases – and I felt a kind of tectonic shift as I read them. I felt the impact of both excellent writing and work that speaks to the moment we are in. That combination is the dragon we chase at Visual Verse. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Our writing prompt comes from Italian artist Veronica Lissandrini (https://veronicalissandrin.wixsite.com/portfolio) , whose work spans visual art and writing. She has a fierce manifesto on her website that centres many of the values we share: freedom, creativity, disruption, truth, community, joy and dream. Follow Veronica on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/iamverolix/) to see more of her fabulous work.

And now, our magnificent lead writers: On page 1, we welcome Amy Stewart who makes her Visual Verse debut with a brilliant piece, Luna. Amy is a writer living in York and she recently won the Word Factory Northern Apprentice Award (https://thewordfactory.tv/word-factory-apprentice-award-announcement-2021-22/) . She is currently researching a PhD at the University of Sheffield about female circus artists and the carnivalesque. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the 2021 Mairtin Crawford Award and the 2019 Bridport Prize. Amy’s work can be found in Test Signal (DeadInk Books/Bloomsbury, 2021), Ellipsis Zine, Bandit Fiction and the York Journal.

On page 2, we are thrilled to feature Avrina Prabala-Joslin (http://www.avrinajos.net) , one of our regular contributors whose talent shines brighter with every submission. Avrina is a South-Indian writer living in Berlin. Her short story She’s a Tank, a Battalion, a Banyan won the Short Fiction/University of Exeter International Short Story Prize 2021. Her works have been shortlisted for the Indiana Review Fiction Prize 2021, Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize 2021 and the Berlin Writing Prize 2019. She’s currently finishing a novel that follows a few nomads and we are very excited to read it.

Alaya Mays, on page 3, is a student at Western Washington University studying German and Creative Writing. She has been writing and performing her own spoken word poetry since she was 16. Alaya tells us she has a special love for calculus, sushi, and playing cards at brunch. Her first piece on Visual Verse was published when she was still in school and we are enamoured by her work: the style and maturity she already displays is something special. Watch this space.

My deepest gratitude to Divya Ghelani (https://www.divyaghelani.com/) who co-curated this month’s writers. Divya is a British-Indian writer living in Berlin. She holds and MA in Creative Writing from UAE and in 2016 she won an Apprenticeship at The Word Factory (http://www.thewordfactory.tv/site/divya-ghelani/) . (http://www.thewordfactory.tv/site/apprentice-scheme/the-workers/) That’s where we were introduced to Divya’s work and she was later featured in Volume 5, Chapter 3 (https://visualverse.org/submissions/the-peacock/) . Divya has also been published in the BareLit Anthology, Litro: India, Too Asian, Not Asian Enough, Radio 4 and many more. As it turns out, she can not only write herself, but also spot exciting talent in others. Thank you, Divya.

So, know what to do. Deliver us your dragons. We are looking for fresh, innovative, experimental writing between 50-500 words, in response to this image. Challenge yourself. Push your boundaries. Go beyond the literal. Write within an hour to conjure thoughts and ideas you didn’t know were in you.

The image is the starting point, the rest is up to you.
Kristen,
with Divya Ghelani and Team VV

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Volume 04, Chapter 12 | October 2017

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Image by Leio McLaren

Dear Readers,

October: the month of transition. Memories of summer will be lingering for some, while for others it is about to arrive. For us, October marks the twelfth and final issue in Volume 4 of Visual Verse, so we are both reflecting and looking forward at the same time. Thinking about this, we are pleased to bring you a brand new visual prompt from Leio McLaren, a photographer based in Sydney, Australia who has a beautiful way of capturing new horizons.

In response, we are thrilled to bring you the writing of Cynan Jones who was born in 1975 near Aberaeron, Wales where he now lives and works. He is the author of five short novels, The Long Dry (Parthian, 2006), Everything I Found on the Beach (Parthian, 2011), Bird, Blood, Snow (Seren, 2012), The Dig (Granta, 2014), and most recently Cove (Granta, 2016). He has been longlisted and shortlisted for numerous prizes and won a Society of Authors Betty Trask Award 2007, a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2014 and the Wales Book of the Year Fiction Prize 2015. He is shortlisted for the National Short Story Award, 2017 for his story, The Edge of the Shoal, which judges called a “lyrically, poetically written account, lit with poignancy.” You can
listen to it on the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05gy8f1 ) . The winner will be announced on Tuesday 3^rd October. Goodluck Cynan!

Next up is newcomer Gonzalo C. Garcia who was born in Santiago and spent his first years in Chile’s Colchagua Valley region, before moving to Switzerland and eventually to the University of Kent, where he studied for a PhD under Scarlett Thomas. His debut novel We Are The End, comes out October 19^th from Galley Beggar Press, and is nominated for this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award, which is up for public vote (https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/first-book-award) here (https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/first-book-award) , should you wish to cast yours. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Warwick.

Sending you off is Dolores Walshe a poet, playwright and fiction writer who comes to us garlanded in awards. Most recently, Dolores won the highly competitive
Berlin Writing Prize (http://thereaderberlin.com/home/competition/) which is organised by our friends at The Reader Berlin in partnership with the Circus Hotel and SAND Journal (http://sandjournal.com/) . Part of the prize is a one month writing residency in Berlin in Jan/Feb 2018. This year she was also shortlisted for the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Award 2017 which she has won second place in twice (2015, 2009), and shortlisted and commended in the Anthony Cronin International Poetry Award 2017. Her stories have been broadcast by RTE Radio One (that’s in Ireland for our international readers) – and the list goes on – you can read more about her and her brilliant work, here (https://www.munsterlit.ie/Southword/Issues/29/walshe_dolores.html) .

So – whether you feel like the tide is rising or you’re feeling washed up, we are here to inspire you. Writing is survival. The image is the starting point, dear writers – the text is up to you.

Preti and Kristen

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Gonzalo C. Garcia @Gonzo_Garcia (https://twitter.com/mj_sprackland)

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