Volume 06, Chapter 04 | February 2019

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Image by Norbu Gyachung

Greetings dear readers and writers,

As you know, we at Visual Verse span many continents, come from many countries and reach out to you wherever you are. We are citizens of the world, and our site reflects that. While others build walls and diminish democracies, we will continue to use our platform as an antidote to boundaries of language, hierarchies of power and divisive and constructed categories of identity. We will celebrate all of you, however you choose to define yourselves. And most especially, we will support and promote your creativity, resilience and the courage it takes to use words and put new work into the world.

That, dear friends, is why we have chosen this month’s image and these inspiring writers. Our visual prompt for February was captured by photographer Norbu Gyachung. We won’t say more, the story is up to you, but we will tell you that Norbu started his life as a refugee in Tibet and is currently based in France.
We encourage you to explore his portfolio (https://unsplash.com/@norbuw) , much of which depicts the strength and passion of Paris and its people, embodied in many different ways.

Our lead, Daniel Trilling (https://twitter.com/trillingual?lang=en) , is a journalist who lives in London. He spent several years reporting on the experiences of people who come to Europe in search of asylum, and is the author of Lights in the Distance: Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe (Picador, 2018). He also writes occasional, more abstract pieces which you can read at tinyletter.com/trillingual.

On page two, we bring you Ariel Francisco (https://arielfrancisco.com/) , author of A Sinking Ship is Still a Ship (Burrow Press, 2020) and All My Heroes Are Broke (C&R Press, 2017). A poet and translator born in the Bronx to Dominican and Guatemalan parents and raised in Miami, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Academy of American Poets, The American Poetry Review, The New Yorker and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

Our third lead piece ‘Ortolan’ is by Tom Bolton (https://tombolton.co.uk) , a writer, researcher and photographer who lives in Streatham. He is the author of four books: London’s Lost Rivers: A Walker’s Guide (https://tombolton.co.uk/londons-lost-rivers-a-walkers-guide/) (Strange Attractor, 2011), Vanished City: London’s Lost Neighbourhoods (https://tombolton.co.uk/vanished-city-2/) (Strange Attractor, 2013), Camden Town: Dreams of Another London (https://www.bl.uk/shop/camden-town/p-1151) (British Library Publications, 2017) and Low Country: Brexit on the Essex Coast (http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2018/10/low-country-brexit-on-the-essex-coast/) (Penned in the Margins, 2018). He works in urban design and policy, and has a PhD from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, on London’s railway terminals. He leads walks and gives talks, and has written for publications including Caught By The River, The Wellcome Collection website, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. He also
writes on theatre and music for his own website and for The Quietus (https://thequietus.com/) .

And sending you off into your own words is Naomi Paxton (http://www.naomipaxton.co.uk/) . Naomi has a portfolio career as a researcher, writer, public engager, curator, performer, magician and award-winning comedian. She trained as a performer at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). Her publications include The Methuen Drama Book of Suffrage Plays (Bloomsbury, 2013), Stage Rights! The Actresses’ Franchise League, Activism and Politics 1908-1958 (Manchester University Press, 2018) and The Methuen Drama Book of Suffrage Plays: Taking the Stage (Bloomsbury, 2018).

Don’t forget the VV rules: we ask for 50–500 words written in the space of an hour. Our deadline is 15 February, and we will publish up to 100 of the best submissions over the course of the month. We only publish one piece per writer. Please don’t submit the same piece multiple times. If you’re concerned that your submission hasn’t reached us, drop us a line at visualverse@thecurvedhouse.com (mailto:visualverse@thecurvedhouse.com?subject=Submission%20query) and we’ll get back to you asap. We don’t send you a heads-up if we do/don’t feature you – but we might tweet! So do follow us (https://twitter.com/@visual_verse) – watch out for your tweet and keep supporting each other. You can read the Submission Guidelines in full here (https://visualverse.org/about-visual-verse/) .

Now – sharpen your pencils dear writers. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you…

Preti, Kristen, Lucie, Rithika and Luke

@teabolton (https://twitter.com/teabolton?lang=en)
@NaomiPaxton (https://twitter.com/NaomiPaxton?lang=en)
@trillingual (https://twitter.com/trillingual?lang=en)
@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)

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Volume 03, Chapter 12 | October 2016

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Image by Werner Stürenburg

Dear Writers,

Lately, we’ve been thinking a lot about personas and the power they have to liberate. Sometimes personas mask a terrifying reality (Donald Trump, Jimmy Saville etc) but sometimes they unmask amazing talent. For artists and writers an alter-ego, or a nom d’plume, can be the single most effective way to draw out new ideas, new thinking and new potential. This month’s image prompt is by the German painter, Werner Stürenburg, who signed his paintings with “Joe”, his nickname. Stürenburg trained as a mathematician and says he never intended to be an artist, but he couldn’t help it: “I didn’t like that. But I had to realize that there is no escape from myself.” We can’t help but wonder how many talented Joes are hiding away inside ordinary people. If you know someone who’s hiding a Joe, ask them to try their hand at writing for us this month – pen names welcome.

Speaking of talented Joes: we are beyond thrilled to lead with a piece from Wyl Menmuir (https://twitter.com/wylmenmuir) , whose bestselling debut novel, The Many (Salt Publishing) was long-listed for this year’s Man Booker Prize. We had our money on him! Wyl has also been published in A Space to Write, a book exploring authors’ creative writing practices, in nature and academic journals, and he writes regularly for a range of national magazines and blogs. He lives in Cornwall, lectures in creative writing and is also currently writer in residence at Richard Lander School in Truro.

Phoebe Tsang (http://www.TarotbyPhoebe.com) is a British-Canadian poet, librettist, short story writer and violinist. The author of Contents of a Mermaid’s Purse (Tightrope Books), Phoebe’s poetry and fiction has been published internationally in numerous journals and anthologies such as the Literary Review of Canada, Asia Literary Review and Room Magazine, and anthologies including Desde Hong Kong (Chameleon Press, Hong Kong), I Found It At The Movies (Guernica Editions), MESS: The Hospital Anthology (Tightrope Books). Her multidisciplinary performance practice integrates composed and improvised music with original poetry. A professional Tarot Consultant, Tsang employs the ancient, divinatory system of the Marseille Tarot to structure her performances, much as John Cage employed the I Ching. The resulting work is a product of chance – each performance differs in form and content, depending on the cards drawn. A former member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, she lives in
Toronto, Canada.

Another writer we are delighted to bring you is Cat Woodward (https://twitter.com/CatherineWoodw2) , a feminist lyric poet studying for a PhD at UEA. Her poetry has been published in Lighthouse, Brittle Star, The Interpreter’s House and Ink, Sweat & Tears, and her PhD thesis explores robot voices and the robot as lyric poetics. We think her work is out of this world.

Finally, check out this wonderful piece from R.A Villaneuva (https://twitter.com/caesura) whose debut collection, Reliquaria (U. Nebraska Press, 2014), won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. New writing appears in Poetry, Guernica, Prac Crit and The Forward Book of Poetry 2017, The American Poetry Review, and widely elsewhere. A founding editor of Tongue: A Journal of Writing & Art (http://tonguejournal.org) , he lives in Brooklyn and London.

So writers, it’s over to you and/or your alter-egos. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Enjoy!

Preti and Kristen

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