Volume 05, Chapter 02 | December 2017

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Image by Samuel Zeller

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Welcome to our final issue for 2017. This month we are bringing it all back to where Visual Verse began: Berlin. It was here, in this magical city, where Visual Verse was born in 2013. A spark of an idea from Kristen was fuelled by a beautiful design by Pete Lewis (also a Berlin resident at the time) and is now a raging fireball of amazingness thanks to the editorial leadership of Preti Taneja, her guest editors Eley Williams and George Spender and our deputy editor Lucie Stevens.

As Visual Verse has evolved, so too has Berlin’s writing talent, and this December we bring the best of this talent to you. We showcase Berlin’s diversity: from rollerskating, hotpant-wearing, rrrriot girl art to gothic cyborg tales, imagination and worldclass talent really are in abundance here. This month’s image is a photograph taken in a Berlin shop window and comes to us from Samuel Zeller (https://www.samuelzeller.ch/) . As is customary with our images, we will not reveal further details or give any context, but one thing is for sure about this one: no one will be indifferent to it. Love it or hate it, we know this image will evoke strong reactions.

Our lead piece by Jane Flett (http://janeflett.com/) is a mighty start to our December issue. Jane is a resident of Berlin where she makes up stories, plays cello, and rollerskates down Tempelhof runway in hotpants. She’s been published in over 70 literary journals and translated into Polish, Croatian and Japanese. Jane features in the 2012 Best British Poetry anthology and was voted Berlin’s best English-language writer in 2015 by Indieberlin. Should you wish to tap Jane’s writerly wisdom she sometimes runs courses in creative writing with The Reader Berlin (http://thereaderberlin.com/) but be warned: they sell out fast.

Rollerskating writers? Well, our next piece is from Sharon Mertins (http://nomadicgraphomania.com) , who says she spends her time in Berlin floating around in her thoughts, playing with fire and linking strands of thought together to turn them into elaborate tales. Her work has been published in Leopardskin and Limes, The Wild Word, Jersey Devil Press and Café Irreal.

And on page 3 we have our very own Lucie Stevens (http://www.luciestevens.com/) who is not only deputy editor extraordinaire of Visual Verse but also a writer, editor and maker of small projects. Lucie was awarded an ASA Emerging Writer’s Mentorship and a NSW Writers’ Centre Varuna Fellowship for her first novel, and her work has been performed by the Australian National Youth Theatre Company. When she’s not writing stories about children in formidable circumstances, Lucie helps make books about space with Curved House Kids.

Up next is Dan Ayres (https://www.clippings.me/danayres) , another Berlin-based writer, this time with a penchant for writing fantasy and short stories about the freaky side of technology. He has been published in Open Pen and The Wild Word and he was longlisted for the annual competition at The Reader Berlin. When dancing, he is devoid of bones.

We are utterly delighted to bring you the work of Isha Ro on page 5, a Jamaican writer living in Berlin. Isha writes creepy stories and funny stories and both of these involve an inordinate amount of murder. You can read more of her work at The Prosateur (http://www.theprosateur.com) .

And finally we complete this issue with fresh new words by Olivia Parkes (http://www.oliviaparkes.com) , a British-American painter and writer currently based in Berlin. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Zyzzyva, The New Haven Review, Gone Lawn, Blue Five Notebook, and American Chordata, among others.

For those of you in Berlin, or looking to visit or move here, keep an eye on The Reader Berlin (http://thereaderberlin.com/) for English-language writing events and courses and also check out SAND Journal (http://sandjournal.com/) , Fiction Canteen (http://www.transfiction.eu/the-fiction-canteen/) , The Wild Word (https://thewildword.com/) and Dead Ladies Show (https://www.facebook.com/thedeadladiesshow/) . These are a few of our favourite Berlin things.

So writers, you know the score: the image is the starting point, the text is up to you. Go forth.

Kristen and Preti

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Volume 04, Chapter 11 | September 2017

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Image by Alberto Garduño

George Spender is currently guest editor for Visual Verse. George is the senior editor of Oberon Books (https://www.oberonbooks.com/) , an independent publisher in London specialising in theatre and performance.

Dear writers, readers and friends,

It’s been three months since I began my guest spot with Visual Verse, and I’m keen to end on a high. I’ve had enormous fun in commissioning some of my favourite writers, and want to thank everyone who’s taken part for going outside their comfort zones and scaring their brains into writing something.

This month’s image, El sarape rojo, is by Mexican artist Alberto Garduño, probably painted around 1918. There’s a cinematic quality and a dry, piercing mischief to this image that should inspire some great responses.

Leading the September issue, we have the inimitable David Quantick. David is an Emmy-winning television writer, author, radiobroadcaster and journalist who’s written for over fifty different publications, from the Daily Telegraph to The Dandy. He and I met at the launch of a collection of absurdist writing by the gone-but-not-forgotten-and-more-people-should-know-about-him playwright N.F. Simpson, and published the marvellous writing manual How To Write Everything. He should be supreme inspiration to writers everywhere that there’s no such thing as writer’s block. As well as his off the wall contributions to Smash Hits, he’s written some of the best television of the past few decades, including Veep, The Thick Of It, Brass Eye and Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

That same night I met David, I also met Martha Sprackland (http://marthasprackland.co.uk/) , then assistant poetry editor for Faber & Faber. Twice a winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, she was also the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors, and was longlisted for the inaugural Jerwood–Compton Poetry Fellowships in 2017. Her work has appeared in Poetry Review, LRB, Five Dials, New Humanist, Magma, Poetry London and many other places, and has been anthologised in the Salt Book of Younger Poets, Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam, Best Friends Forever, Vanguard, Birdbook, and the Best British Poetry series. Her debut pamphlet, Glass As Broken Glass, was published by Rack Press in January 2017, and she is currently working on a full-length collection. A non-fiction book on sharks is forthcoming with Little Toller Books in 2018.

Finally, we have Dan O’Brien (http://danobrien.org/) , an internationally produced and published playwright and poet. He and I met after his extraordinary play ‘The Body of an American’ played at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill. His many awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and Performance Art, the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, the Horton Foote Prize for Best New American Play, the PEN Center USA Award for Drama, and, for poetry, the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. Originally from Scarsdale, New York, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

All that’s left to say is thank you, farewell, and remember – the image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

George
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Join us on Twitter:
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David Quantick @quantick (https://twitter.com/quantick)
Martha Sprackland @mj_sprackland (https://twitter.com/mj_sprackland)
Dan O’Brien @danobrienwriter (https://twitter.com/danobrienwriter)

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Volume 04, Chapter 10 | August 2017

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Image by Kassiël Gerrits/CODA Museum

George Spender is currently guest editor for Visual Verse. George is the senior editor of Oberon Books (https://www.oberonbooks.com/) , an independent publisher in London specialising in theatre and performance. This issue is introduced by Visual Verse curator and co-founder, Kristen Harrison.

Dear writers, readers and friends,

This month, I (Kristen) have staged my own little Shakespearean coup. I have overthrown both our guest editor George and our supreme editor-in-chief, Preti Taneja (http://www.preti-taneja.co.uk/) , to commission our lead writer myself. Fear not, for my reasons are pure and good. Our very own Preti has been posited on page one as our lead writer for August at my behest, and after much persuading! August sees the publication of Preti’s first full-length novel, We That Are Young (https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-shop/we-that-are-young) , a remarkable retelling of King Lear set against the rise of nationalism in contemporary India. Her publisher, Galley Beggar Press, call it “superb” while Andrew Motion has said the book is “Utterly engrossing, very smart, very moving… Subtle, ambitious and highly original”. Last month it was tipped by Justine Jordan, literary editor of the Guardian, as one of her Booker longlist predictions for 2017
(https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/jul/26/the-man-booker-prize-2017-longlist-who-should-be-on-it) . Preti has given a huge amount to Visual Verse since we launched, publishing literally thousands of submissions month-by-month, and developing a vibrant, talented community of writers. We would be nothing without her so to force her hand from editor to writer was a no-brainer. This is the only way for us, her Visual Verse family, to celebrate her debut. You can read the first chapter (https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/extract-we-that-are-young-taneja) of We That Are Young on the lovely Galley Beggar website and you can also order one of 500 limited edition copies (https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/shop-1/ehisxs910lbr9bpmdvl044yhkaofz7) , otherwise keep an eye out for it in all good bookshops from August 10.

So, here we unveil your glorious visual prompt by Dutch artist Kassiël Gerrits (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassi%C3%ABl_Gerrits) . It has two of my favourite aesthetic characteristics: the texture of a hand-printed work and perfect symmetry. Bliss. Preti kicks us off with a beautifully formed Three Lessons and she is followed by an exciting trio of writers commissioned by George.

On page 2 we present Livia Franchini (http://www.unitedagents.co.uk/livia-franchini) , a bilingual writer and literary translator from Tuscany, Italy. Her work has been featured, or is forthcoming, in Hotel, La Errante, The Quietus, 3AM: Magazine, LESTE and The White Review, among others. Her new English translation of Natalia Ginzburg’s The Road to the City is supported by the Italian Cultural Institute and is forthcoming with Twins Editions in 2017. Her Italian translations of Eileen Gunn and James Tiptree Jr. are forthcoming with Nero Edizioni in 2017. In 2016 she co-founded CORDA, a journal about friendship in the time of new borders. She is one of the writers-in-residence for the European project CELA, which will see her work translated into six different languages. Livia lives in London, and is currently working on her first novel. She is represented by Zoe Ross at United Agents. Find Livia on Twitter @livfranchini (https://twitter.com/@livfranchini) .

Next up we have Phil Porter (https://twitter.com/philipporter) , an award-winning playwright whose works include Blink (Soho Theatre), Vice Versa (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Man With The Hammer (Plymouth Theatre Royal) and The Christmas Truce (RSC). His play The Cracks In My Skin, for Manchester Royal Exchange, won the Bruntwood Award and Stealing Sweets And Punching People was produced by Theatre 503/Off-Broadway. In addition to his own works, Porter has edited and adapted a number of plays including Molière’s The Miser, Thomas Middleton’s A Mad World, My Masters (RSC, with Sean Foley), Shakespeare’s The Tempest (RSC/Little Angel) and Janos Hay’s The Stonewatcher (National Theatre). Phil Tweets at @PhilipPorter (https://twitter.com/@PhilipPorter) .

And last but by no means least, Peter Doggett (http://www.peterdoggett.org/) , a magazine journalist and editor who spent two decades interviewing hundreds of musicians, authors and other public figures before becoming a full-time author ten years ago. In 2000, Penguin Books published his pioneering history of the collision between rock and country music, Are You Ready for the Country, which was later commemorated by a double-CD set issued by Warner Music. In his 2009 book, You Never Give Me Your Money, he traced the seeds of the Beatles’ split, and then followed the desperate and ultimately vain efforts of the four ex-members to deal with the fall-out, and escape its legacy. He is also the author of You Never Give Me Your Money and F**k: An Irreverent History of the F-Word, published under his mischievous pseudonym, Rufus Lodge, for the HarperCollins imprint, The Friday Project. Peter lives in London with the artist and illustrator (and professional counsellor), Rachel
Baylis. Find him on Twitter @Peter_Doggett (https://twitter.com/@Peter_Doggett) .

So writers, where will this bold and abstract prompt take you? You know the score, the image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Enjoy,
Kristen Harrison (Curator and Overthrower)
George Spender (Guest Editor)

—

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Volume 04, Chapter 09 | July 2017

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Image by Rupert Jessop

We are excited to welcome George Spender to the helm as guest editor of the next three issues of Visual Verse. George is the senior editor of Oberon Books (https://www.oberonbooks.com/) , an independent publisher in London specialising in theatre and performance.

Dear writers, readers and friends,

It’s July, and that means it’s rehearsal time for the biggest arts festival in the world. Thousands of writers, directors and performers are preparing to swarm to Scotland for the Edinburgh festival, hoping that their show will achieve critical acclaim, transfer to a major theatre, or if they’re really lucky, just about break even. Official figures for the 2016 festival list 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows taking place in 294 venues, so we are expecting big things in 2017. To mark the release of the festival programme in July, we have created a playwright special. We start with a visual prompt from photographer Rupert Jessop (http://www.rupertjessop.com/) whose fabulously whimsical scenes are full of drama and narrative. In response to the image we have four remarkable playwrights, taking us into a new genre of writing for Visual Verse.

Our lead writer is playwright and poet Glyn Maxwell (http://glynmaxwell.com/) . Glyn has long been regarded as one of Britain’s major poets, but is also an accomplished playwright, with several of his plays having been staged in the UK and USA, including Liberty, which premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe. His adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, The Beggar’s Opera, Cyrano De Bergerac and Wind in the Willows were staged at Chester’s new theatre Storyhouse. In 2012 Glyn published the acclaimed On Poetry, which considered the art through the eyes of four imaginary students. The imaginative, ‘sequel’ Drinks With Dead Poets: The Autumn Term, was published in 2016, with a paperback edition out later this year.

Our second playwright is Rita Kalnejais (https://www.oberonbooks.com/rita-kalnejais.html) . Originally from Australia, Rita worked as an actor before turning to writing. Rita was a resident playwright at Sydney Theatre Company in 2011/12. Her play for Soho theatre in London, First Love Is The Revolution premiered in 2015, and followed the story of a teenage urban fox falling in love with a teenage urban boy. The Evening Standard described it as ‘a cult hit in the making’. Her phenomenal play This Beautiful Future (http://www.theyardtheatre.co.uk/2017/04/writer-rita-kalnejais-on-this-beautiful-future/) , which premiered at the Yard Theatre in Hackney in 2017, is a love story set in World War Two. French farm girl Elodie and German soldier Otto are experiencing love for the first time, while outside, the world around them is exploding. Rita has a truly original mind, and her poetic dialogue crackles. Critic Andrew Haydon as the ‘best thing on in London at the moment bar none.’

Our third playwright is Texan-born, Chicago-based playwright Reginald Edmund (https://pwcenter.org/profile/reginald-edmund) . Reginald was the Artistic Director for the Silver House Theatre in Houston as well as the founder and producer for the Silver House Playwrights Festival and the Houston Urban Theatre Series. He is the founder of Black Lives, Black Words (http://www.blacklivesblackwords.org/) , a theatrical phenomenon that started out in a basement in Chicago, that now takes place all over the world. Reginald curates performances of short plays responding to the Black Lives Matter movement on both sides of the Atlantic, asking ‘Do Black Lives matter today?’ A collection of the plays was published in 2017. Themes of race, gender, and empowerment, as well as a wicked sense of humour, define Reginald’s work.

Our final playwright is Caitlin McEwan (https://twitter.com/caitlinmcew) . Originally from Edinburgh but now based in London, her play Monsters was awarded a special commendation in the Soho Young Writers Award 2016. Her play, Harry (http://www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/whats-on/harry) , a dark comedy about friendship, fandom, and Harry Styles, was performed in April 2017 at Theatre N16 in Balham and will play at Edinburgh’s Underbelly venue through August. Her play Thick Skin was selected for the 2017 National Student Drama Festival.

So writers, bring us the drama, in poetry, prose, dialogue or whatever style takes you. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Enjoy,
George Spender

—

Join us on Twitter:
Visual Verse @visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
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Glyn Maxwell @glynofwelwyn (https://twitter.com/glynofwelwyn)
Reginald Edmund @reginaldedmund (https://twitter.com/reginaldedmund)
Caitlin McEwan @caitlinmcew (https://twitter.com/caitlinmcew)

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