Image by John Samuel Pughe / Library of Congress
Dear writers, readers and friends,
Our November issue begins a whole new volume and marks our 7th birthday. Lots to celebrate!
After such a reflective year we are starting to understand just how significant this publication is. Every month for the past seven years, you have written fresh new pieces that reflect exactly what was going on in the world at that very moment. This makes Visual Verse a unique living document of our times. As a literary archive it is as diverse in its styles and themes as it is in its writers. And it is a true collaboration. We have done this together – us and you – and we are so thankful for all of your contributions and support over the years. We are also constantly in awe of the way you support and amplify each other. Our Twitter world is a happy one and that is thanks to you creating a safe and positive space for eachother’s creative output and wellbeing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Without further ado, let’s get stuck into the November birthday edition. Alongside a spectacularly hectic image by 19th century cartoonist John Samuel Pughe (courtesy of the Library of Congress) we feature three brilliant writers who have never before been published by Visual Verse.
First up is Stu Hennigan, with a poem that feels pretty darn accurate for 2020. Stu is a writer, poet and musician living and working in the north of England. His work has featured in Lune (https://lunejournal.org/) and is forthcoming in the short story anthology The Middle Of A Sentence (http://thecommonbreath.com/onlineshop.html) , published by The Common Breath (http://thecommonbreath.com/) . He’s currently working on a narrative non-fiction work about the extreme poverty he encountered whilst delivering food parcels during the pandemic.
On page 2 we present US writer Lindsay Parnell (https://twitter.com/LMParnell) , whose debut novel Dogwood is out with Linen Press (https://www.linen-press.com/shop/dogwood/) . Her short fiction has appeared in 3AM Magazine, The Honest Ulsterman, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Underground Voices and others. Currently she is working on a short story collection titled Birds with Broken Necks. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Meryl Streep is her president.
And from her home in Singapore, we welcome Damyanti Biswas, whose short fiction has been published, or is forthcoming, in Ambit, Litro, Puerto Del Sol, Griffith Review Australia and Pembroke Magazine among others. Damyanti serves as one of the editors of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her debut novel You Beneath Your Skin (http://mybook.to/YouBeneathYourSkin) was published by Simon & Schuster India in autumn 2019 and has received rave reviews. You can sign up to herwriting tips gazette (https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?u=2a3ccb7a141fae0477c5dbef4&id=d4e577d951&fbclid=IwAR3DiiAjUqyrX2ddcPo9UF0_hrNul_KLCDwvZHgpS8l2QBTRnJz428DRy5g) and follow her tweets atdamyantig (https://twitter.com/damyantig) .
So, you know the score. Submit your own piece by 15th November for a chance to be published in our birthday issue. Submissions must be original/new work between 50-500 words, written specifically in response to the image and within an hour. Please check our submission guidelines (https://visualverse.org/about-visual-verse/) for more info about the kinds of things we will not publish.
And remember, as we approach the holiday season, if you are gifting books please consider buying direct from small presses like Linen Press and The Common Breath (links above) or from Indie retailers and your local bookshops. Small businesses need our support more than ever.
The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY US!
Preti, Kristen, Lucie and Luke
Instagram
Follow us @visualverseanthology (https://www.instagram.com/visualverseanthology/) for a daily visual writing prompt.
Tweet Us
@visual_verse @stu_hennigan (https://twitter.com/Stu_Hennigan)
@damyantig (https://twitter.com/damyantig)
@LMParnell (https://twitter.com/LMParnell)
Start Timer (https://vclock.com/timer/#countdown=01:00:00&enabled=0&seconds=3600&title=Visual+Verse%3A+One+image.+One+Hour.+50-500+Words.+)
Submit (https://visualverse.org/submit/)
** #DailyVisual
————————————————————
Don’t forget you can join us every day on Instagram for a 15-minute, 5-50 word writing challenge.
Visit Visual Verse Anthology on Instagram now… (https://www.instagram.com/visualverseanthology/)
mailto:visualverse@thecurvedhouse.com
https://www.facebook.com/visualverseanthology
Tweets by visual_verse