Image by Sharon McCutcheon
Dear writers, readers and friends,
Behold your June visual prompt, in all its shimmering glory. This one comes to us from photographer Sharon McCutcheon (https://unsplash.com/@sharonmccutcheon) via Unsplash. We are so impressed by the quality and commitment our writers bring to Visual Verse that, for this month, we are showcasing and celebrating you. We are publishing, in our lead spots, three regular contributors to the site: Liz Young, Michael Caines and Helen Laycock. Each of them has an extensive collection with us, and their work caught our eye. By inviting them to lead, we’ve discovered just how prolific you all are – self publishing, working for literary magazines, and submitting work to many different places while writing in different genres and winning prizes too. It’s incredible to publish your work each month and just goes to show, you never know who your neighbours are on the site, who is reading your work, and where that might take you next.
Before introducing our regulars, we are thrilled to announce our headliner Julia Webb, a Norwich-based poetry editor for “Lighthouse (http://www.gatehousepress.com/lighthouse/) “, a journal for new writing which we love (and which you should buy, read and submit to). Julia also works as a poetry mentor, creative writing tutor and she blogs about writing (http://visual-poetics.blogspot.com/) . In 2011 she won the Poetry Society’s Stanza competition. Her first collection “Bird Sisters” was published by Nine Arches Press in 2016. Her second collection “Threat” is due for publication by Nine Arches Press early in 2019. You can read more about Julia and her first collection on the Literary Consultancy’s Showcase (https://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/showcase/julia-webb/) or at Nine Arches Press (http://ninearchespress.blogspot.com/2016/05/featured-poems-julia-webb.html) or read some recent poems here (https://proletarianpoetry.com/tag/julia-webb/) and here
(https://atriumpoetry.com/tag/julia-webb/) .
So now to our wonderful regular contributors. We kick off with Liz Young (https://www.facebook.com/lizyoungwriter) on page 2, a self-publishing whizz who lives in Sussex where she writes anything from flash fiction to poetry to novels – wherever her imagination takes her. She was first persuaded to submit to Visual Verse by poet Vanessa Gebbie, whose poetry was featured in a local Arts Festival. Liz also uses another photographic prompt each week to write 100 words of flash fiction on her blog (http://lizy-writes.blogspot.co.uk/) . Her debut novel A Volcanic Race (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Volcanic-Race-novel-Living-Rock/dp/1979086575/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517654749&sr=1-1&keywords=a+volcanic+race) is getting amazing reviews from readers who are eagerly awaiting the forthcoming sequel.
On page 3 is Michael Caines, who works at the Times Literary Supplement (https://www.the-tls.co.uk/) and is co-editor of the recently founded independent literary magazine, Brixton Review of Books (https://twitter.com/BrixtonBooks) . He is the author of Shakespeare and the Eighteenth Century (https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/shakespeare-and-the-eighteenth-century-9780199642373?cc=gb〈=en&) and a founder member of the Liars League (http://liarsleague.typepad.com/) .
Helen Laycock (https://www.facebook.com/helenlaycockauthor/) is our final lead this month, and one of our most dedicated regulars at Visual Verse. Her poetry has appeared in Popshot, The Caterpillar, Full Moon and Foxglove (Three Drops Press) and Poems for Grenfell (Onslaught). Since winning the David St. John Writing Award for Novice Poetry in 2006, her work has been acknowledged in many competitions. She has also had humorous poetry published on Jonathan Pinnock’s website Spilling Cocoa Over Martin Amis. Helen also writes flash fiction, short stories and plays. She has compiled three short story collections and eight works of children’s fiction which you can discover here (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Helen-Laycock/e/B006PGFVL6) .
So, let us see what you make of this image, one that is oozing with inspiration. The image is the starting point, the rest is up to you.
Kristen, Preti, Lucie and Rose
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