Volume 06, Chapter 05 | March 2019

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Image by NASA

Dear readers, writers and friends,

March arrives and with it new horizons. We are propelling you into space with this incredible image from NASA and a line-up of truly special writers.

This month’s leads transport us from space to the places many never go, inside one of the most difficult environments the UK can imagine. These never-before-published writers have devised these pieces in workshops conducted inside one of the UK’s high security prisons.

Half of the writers are students at Cambridge University, and half are men who have been incarcerated, some for many years. They are all participants in Writing Together, part of a programme called Learning Together (https://www.cctl.cam.ac.uk/tlif/learning-together/details) , which is run by the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge.

The group has been working together for a while, learning the basics of fiction, poetry and script writing; but this was the first time they had written to an image, within a set amount of time and word limit, and asked to hand that work in. It was typed up on the outside and now, here it is.

These writers are published anonymously but each is celebrated for their individual creativity and unique response to this image.

So writers – with stars in your eyes; with the memory of your childhood wish to walk on the moon; with a sense of connection or of isolation; with a yearning for freedom or missing a loved one – go forth. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Preti, Kristen, Lucie, Rithika and Luke
@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)

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Volume 04, Chapter 07 | May 2017

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Image by Alejandro Alvarez

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Behold the glorious hues of our May image. We have been craving colour: bold, bright, saturated colour. Perhaps it’s because the weather is having trouble making up its mind. Perhaps it’s a plea to the sun Gods to deliver us heat and optimism. Whatever it is, this image by Alejandro Alvarez has sated us, and has inspired three wonderful new pieces of writing.

We kick off the May issue with the award-winning poet and short story writer, Anthony Anaxagorou (https://twitter.com/anthony1983) , whose literary prowess extends to publishing and to poetry education. Anthony has published several volumes of poems and essays, a spoken word EP and a collection of short stories and we are thrilled to be among the many publications to have published his work. Anthony also founded Out-Spoken in 2012 and Out-Spoken Press in 2013 and was a judge for the BBC’s 2016 Young Writers Awards. Visit his (very stylish) website to find out more (http://anthonyanaxagorou.com/) .

Painter turned poet, Jera Sulamari, offers us this hommage to the artist Shaffic Aboud, who died in 2004. Jera is the daughter of Lebanese parents, who has recently arrived in London via Paris and is beginning to express the memories of home via spaces she visits in contemporary cities.

And finally, by some magical twist of fate, we are extremely lucky to have a brand new piece of writing by Chris Townsend (https://twitter.com/@marmeladrome) , essayist, columnist and editor who has been published in The Paris Review, LA Review of Books and Berfrois, among others. Chris completed a doctorate in English literature at Cambridge University before moving to Berlin, where he is now based. Find out more on his blog (https://christownsendwriting.wordpress.com/) .

So, dear writers, what words will you paint with this burst of blue? The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Enjoy,
Kristen and Preti

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