Volume 07, Chapter 10 | August 2020

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Image by Andi Sapey and Other.Dance.Art

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Dear writers, readers and friends,

Welcome to the high holiday month of August, when we lighten your mood and invite you to transform with us into beings that might, if we wish hard enough, grow out of our human limitations and fly.

Today’s image is one of freedom within confinement. It is a collaboration between British photographer Andi Sapey (https://www.andisapey.co.uk/gallery/) and Other.Dance.Art, in which two dance artists explore the restriction of space and time during lockdown. In response to this wonderful image we have some very special lead writers…

On page one, we bring you Otis Mensah (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKKXT6kV3PhtKhsuqThWsH1nq7lsONrcd&feature=share) , an alternative hip-hop and spoken word artist, and Poet Laureate of Sheffield, UK. He has described his work as a means of challenging dominant models of masculinity, which he believes suppress the discussion of emotions, with negative consequences for mental health. As a hip-hop artist, Mensah has performed at the BBC Music Introducing Stage at Glastonbury Festival and his new book of poems, Safe Metamorphosis (https://prototypepublishing.co.uk/product/safe-metamorphosis/) is out now from Prototype Publishing. Follow Otis on Twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/otismensah) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/otismensah/) .

On page two, please welcome Maria Fusco (http://mariafusco.net) , a Belfast-born, Glasgow-based writer and Professor of Interdisciplinary Writing at the University of Dundee. She writes fiction, critical and theoretical texts and is published internationally and translated into ten languages. She has won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship (2019) and a Jerwood Creative Catalyst, and is a Hawthornden Fellow. She has also been an invited Writer-in-Residence at Lisbon Architecture Triennale, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and Whitechapel Gallery, London. Her most recent work is: ECZEMA! (2018-19).

Our page three is reserved this month for one of independent publishing’s most versatile voices: Heidi James (https://twitter.com/heidipearljames) . She is the author of So the Doves, Wounding and The Mesmerist’s Daughter. Her new novel, The Sound Mirror (https://bluemoosebooks.com/books/sound-mirror-0) , is published by Bluemoose Books this very month of August. Be sure to check it out.

And finally, be inspired with Arji Manuelpillai (http://www.arji.org ) , a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. For over 15 years Arji has worked with community arts projects nationally and internationally. He was named the Jerwood/Arvon mentee for 2019/20. Recently, his poetry has been published by magazines including Ink Sweat and Tears, Strix, The Rialto and The Lighthouse Journal. He has also been shortlisted for the BAME Burning Eye pamphlet prize, The Robert Graves Prize, The Oxford Prize and The Live Canon Prize. Arji is a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen and London Stanza. Arji’s debut pamphlet Mutton Rolls (http://www.outspokenldn.com/shop/muttonrolls) is published with Out-Spoken Press.

So dear writers, as the summer of 2020 reaches is wide and wild sky, we hope you’ll write and read with us, tweet with us, and stretch your writing arms with us. Remember, the image is the starting point the rest is up to you…

Preti, Kristen, Lucie and Luke

Tweet Us!
@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse?lang=en)
@otismensah (https://mobile.twitter.com/otismensah)
@fuscowriting (https://twitter.com/fuscowriting)
@heidipearljames (https://twitter.com/heidipearljames)
@theleano (https://twitter.com/theleano)
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
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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/)

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Volume 06, Chapter 01 | November 2018

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Image by Hannah Coulson

Today, we turn 5.

Visual Verse was launched in 2013 by Kristen Harrison, Pete Lewis and Preti Taneja – three friends with modest plans. We hoped only to provide an online space where writers and artists could collaborate freely. Thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of writers around the world, Visual Verse has far exceeded all expectations.

Over the past 5 years we have published 60 issues in 5 volumes. We have received almost 8,000 submissions and published 5,500 pieces by 1716 individual writers. And, according to Google Analytics, we have been read by people in every part of the globe except the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. What are those Norwegians doing?

None of this would have been possible without you – our writers and artists – who have made this publication the beautiful, positive, diverse, boundary-pushing celebration of creative collaboration that it is.

And none of this would be possible without the support of those working behind the scenes. Thank you to our Deputy Editor Lucie Stevens whose tireless work keeps Visual Verse running month to month; thank you to our special guest curators and co-editors Eley Williams, Richard Georges, Carmen Marcus and So Mayer who have injected fresh creativity and brought amazing new writers; and finally, a huge thank you to our patrons Bernardine Evaristo, Cathy Galvin, Mark Garry, Andrew Motion, Marc Schlossman and Ali Smith for their ongoing support.

Today we have a very special surprise for you to celebrate our 5th birthday edition. Instead of publishing a new issue with one image and a selection of lead pieces, we are instead giving you – our amazing community of talented and dedicated writers – the opportunity to be one of our three lead writers this month.

All submissions received before 12pm GMT tomorrow (2nd November) will be longlisted for one of our lead spots. A shortlist of eight pieces will be chosen and from these, our judging panel will select the top three.

The Judges

Bernardine Evaristo
Award-winning writer of novels, verse and criticism and founder of the Brunel International African Poetry Prize.

Sam Jordison and Eloise Millar
From the superlative independent publisher, Galley Beggar Press.

Andrew Motion
Poet Laureate 2000-2010, Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns’ Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

Philippa Sitters
Literary agent at leading agency DGA.

The image is the starting point, the text is up to you. Go forth.

Your faithful founders: Kristen Harrison, Pete Lewis and Preti Taneja.

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