Image by R. Coad/New Zealand Archive
Dear writers, readers and friends,
May Day, Labour Day, Workers’ Day: in many countries around the world today is a public holiday. It is also a day of both rest and unrest. Here in Berlin, where Visual Verse was born, protesters are marching the streets for fairness. Their voices rally against a fast-moving gentrification that Berlin has long resisted and while the chants are for a better future, there is also something nostalgic about it. It feels as though a memory, longing for home and ‘a more simple time’ never seem to leave us no matter who or where we are. The future speaks with the voices of the past.
For this new issue it therefore felt right to bring you a prompt from the past. Our image is curated by The Curved House’s very own Alice Connew, also a photographer (https://www.aliceconnew.com/) , who unearthed this vignette by R. Coad from the New Zealand Archives. The image is accompanied by three magnificent pieces of writing – some of the best we have featured. Read these, and then read everything they have written.
Our first lead is by Rebecca Tamás, a poet currently based in York, where she works as a Lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University. Rebecca is the winner of the 2016 Manchester Poetry Prize, and is a Fenton Arts Trust Emerging Writer awardee. She is the editor, with Sarah Shin, of Spells: Occult Poetry for the 21st Century, published by Ignota Books. Her first collection of poetry, ‘WITCH’ (http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2019/01/witch/) , a Poetry Book Society Spring Recommendation and a Paris Review Staff Pick, came out from Penned in the Margins this year.
On page 2, we present Christodoulos Makris. He has published several books, pamphlets, artists’ books and other poetry objects. His 2015 book The Architecture of Chance (Wurm Press) was a poetry book of the year at RTÉ Arena and 3:AM Magazine. One of Poetry Ireland’s ‘Rising Generation’ poets, he has presented his work widely across media and borders, and is currently Writer-in-Residence at National University of Ireland Maynooth, with other recent residencies and commissions including StAnza Festival (Scotland), the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and European Capital of Culture. He is the poetry editor at gorse journal and associated imprint gorse editions, and co-director of Dublin’s multidisciplinary performance series Phonica. His most recent book is this is no longer entertainment (https://www.dostoyevskywannabe.com/this_is_no_longer_entertainment_/Original) , a book-length documentary poem just out from Manchester’s Dostoyevsky Wannabe press April 2019.
And on page 3, one of the most brilliant short story writers working today: David Hayden. He was born in Ireland and lives in England. His writing has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Granta online, Zoetrope All-Story, The Dublin Review and PN Review, and in the Faber New Irish Writing Anthology, Being Various, edited by Lucy Caldwell. His first book was Darker with the Lights On. And here’s Egress (http://magazine.nytyrant.com/egress-david-hayden/) , an extra short story up for your delectation on NY Tyrant.
So, you know the drill. Send us your 50-500 words, written in response to our image and in the space of one hour, by the 15th of May. We will publish the 100 pieces we love the most. And tweet when we can. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you…
Kristen, Lucie, Preti, Rithika and Luke
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