Volume 06, Chapter 12 | October 2019

Image by Valérie Mannaerts/M Museum Leuven/Alexandra Colmenares.

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Dear writers, readers and friends,

Never have our bodies, minds and countries felt so under pressure and fragmented. Yet strangely, art that serves to reflect on that can be strangely healing, and indeed, community building. At Visual Verse we are all about community. So this month we bring you our very special edition of ‘recommend a writer’, where we have asked some of our dear lead contributors to call on a fellow writer they think we should publish. Our co-founders, Preti and Kristen, have put two forward as well.

Our community of wordsmiths is enriched by the creators of our visual prompts. This issue of Visual Verse is published in collaboration with M-Museum Leuven (https://www.mleuven.be/nl/content/home) in Belgium, who are hosting the 51st conference of the International Visual Literacy Association later this month. They have provided the arresting image for October – a work by Valérie Mannaerts (https://www.maniera.be/creators/12/valerie-mannaerts) , photographed by Alexandra Colmenares.

Our writer responses kick off with Sabeena Akhtar (https://twitter.com/pocobookreader?lang=en) , who Preti believes is ‘a writer and activist of rare talent and commitment.’ Sabeena is the editor of the anthology, Cut From The Same Cloth (https://unbound.com/books/cut-from-the-same-cloth/) , forthcoming from Unbound, a contributor to the 404 Ink title, We Shall Fight Until We Win (https://www.404ink.com/store/we-shall-fight-until-we-win) and the Saqi Books title, Smashing It (https://saqibooks.com/books/the-westbourne-press/smashing-it/) . She is the Festival Coordinator of Bare Lit (http://barelitfestival.com/) , and a co-founder of the Primadonna (https://www.primadonnafestival.com/) festival and Bare Lit Kids. She is co-writing a forthcoming children’s book on Islamophobia published by Hachette, and working on her debut novel.

Our page 2 writer – poet Holly Singlehurst (https://twitter.com/HJSinglehurst?lang=en) – was recommended by critically acclaimed poet Rishi Dastidar, one of our longest and most regular contributors. Rishi says: ‘Holly is a poet you might not have heard of yet – but you will. She tells us what it is like to be alive in the world right now, in ways that startle and reveal’. Holly graduated from Birmingham University with a Master’s in Creative Writing in 2016. She was shortlisted for the 2017 Bridport Prize, and was commended in the 2016 National Poetry Competition for her poem ‘Hiroshima, 1961’. Her poetry has appeared on And Other Poems (https://andotherpoems.com/) and her short fiction has been published in Banshee Magazine.

Niven Govinden, author of the 2019 Gordon Burn Prize shortlisted This Brutal House, recommended ‘the genius Stuart Evers (https://twitter.com/StuartEvers?lang=en) ,’ whose debut, Ten Stories About Smoking, won the London Book Award in 2011, and his highly acclaimed novel, If This is Home (https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/stuart-evers/if-this-is-home/9781447207634) , followed in 2012. Your Father Sends His Love (https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/stuart-evers/your-father-sends-his-love/9781447280583) was shortlisted for the 2016 Edge Hill Short Story Prize and a new novel will be published in 2020. In 2017, Evers won the Eccles British Library Writer’s Award – one of Europe’s richest prizes for a work in progress.

Finally, Kristen spotted the ‘fiercely imaginative and quirky’ work of Eileen McNulty-Holmes (https://twitter.com/eileenamholmes?lang=en) at a recent visual writing workshop, and immediately wanted to published them at Visual Verse. Eileen is an award-winning writer, award-nominated editor, an aspiring witch and a (semi-) professional plant person. They have been writing for money, attention, and “exposure” for the past 10 years. Their work has appeared in the likes of Femsplain (https://femsplain.com/) , DADDY Magazine (http://daddy.land/) , For Every Year and IRIS, as well as in multidisciplinary shows at galleries including Lage Egal and Mindscape Universe. Their stories often take place at the fringes of reality, in enclosed spaces or in the midst of terrible life decisions.

So as you sharpen your pencils, why not follow our lead and recommend us to a writer/friend? The image is the starting point, the text is up to you…

Kristen, Preti, Lucie and Luke

Connect with us
@visual_verse (https://thecurvedhouse.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=34f4a503c2c926849e17dcf6f&id=02acdc9fd3&e=c32c18dbf0)
@pocobookreader (https://twitter.com/pocobookreader)
@HJSinglehurst (https://twitter.com/HJSinglehurst)
@StuartEvers (https://twitter.com/stuartevers?lang=en)
@eileenamholmes (https://twitter.com/eileenamholmes?lang=en)
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.+)
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Volume 06, Chapter 11 | September 2019

Image by Joelle Chmiel

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Welcome to September, and as the seasons turn we offer you a fitting visual by Joelle Chmiel, who captures both a sense of stillness and of bustle at a transitional time of year.

This month’s issue is guest-curated by our own Luke Larkin, who also edits Unstamatic (https://www.unstamatic.info/) , an online magazine of small prose and poetry. The artist and lead writers for this month are all tapped from Unstamatic’s family of contributors.

Joelle Chmiel (https://www.artlimited.net/m79d5144a%20or%20https:/lensculture.com/joelle-chmiel) was born in 1982 in Zürich, Switzerland, where she graduated medical and dental school, before working as a physician in maxillofacial surgery and dentistry. Since 2018, she dedicates herself full-time to photography and was winner of the StreetProjections 2018 contest from PhotoWerkBerlin, and second-place winner of Monochrome Awards 2018.

Carol McMahon’s bittersweet poem kicks off this month’s writing. Carol is a teacher whose work has been published in various journals (The Wild Word (https://thewildword.com/poetry-carol-mcmahon/) , Painted Bride Quarterly (http://pbqmag.org/carol-mcmahon-profit-margin/) , Mom Egg Review, Stone Canoe, Poet Lore) and has a chapbook, On Any Given Day, published by FootHills Press (2006). McMahon received an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop and when she is not with 11-year-olds spends her time either running or rowing.

Page two hosts Jen Schneider, who is an educator, attorney, and writer. Her work appears in The Coil, The Write Launch, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Popular Culture Studies Journal, Unstamatic, otoliths, Zingara Poetry Review, 42 Stories Anthology (forthcoming), Voices on the Move (forthcoming), One Sentence Stories, and other literary and scholarly journals.

Michelle Brooks’ poetry appears on page three. Michelle has published a collection of poetry, Make Yourself Small, (Backwaters Press), and a novella, Dead Girl, Live Boy, (Storylandia Press). Her poetry collection, Pretty in A Hard Way, will be published by Finishing Line Press in September 2019. Her work has appeared in the Iowa Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Threepenny Review, and elsewhere. A native Texan, she has spent much of her adult life in Detroit, her favorite city.

And rounding us out, Scott Russell Duncan, a.k.a. Scott Duncan-Fernandez. Scott recently completed The Ramona Diary of SRD, a memoir of growing up Native/Chicano-Anglo and a fantastical tour reclaiming the myths of Spanish California. Scott’s fiction involves the mythic, the surreal, the abstract, in other words, the weird. Scott received his MFA from Mills College in Oakland, California where he now lives and writes. He is an assistant editor at Somos en escrito. In 2016 he won San Francisco Litquake’s Short Story Contest. His piece “Mexican American Psycho is in Your Dreams” won first place in the 2019 Solstice Literary Magazine Annual Literary Contest. See more about his work and publications on Scott’s website (http://scottrussellduncan.com) .

So, take a peek through these windows and tell us what you find. You know the rules: 50-500 words, one hour. Subs close on 15 September. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Luke, Kristen, Lucie and Preti

Connect with us
@visual_verse (https://thecurvedhouse.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=34f4a503c2c926849e17dcf6f&id=02acdc9fd3&e=c32c18dbf0)
@unstamaticmag (https://twitter.com/unstamaticmag)

PS. When you’ve finished your Visual Verse submission for this month, head over to Unstamatic to read more great writing, enjoy more great art and submit your work. https://www.unstamatic.info/

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Volume 06, Chapter 10 | August 2019

Image by Jakob Owens

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Welcome to August. In a time of great weirdness – in the climate, in politics and all of the rest – this is the month to stretch beyond the borders of language and reality towards some other future. And here it is – we bestow upon you this little piggy, along with a bumper summer selection of writing from the finest poets, fictionists and translators we could gather.

Our wonderful, surreal image prompt is brought to you by photographer and filmmaker Jakob Owens, who you can follow on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jakobowens/?hl=en) .

This month’s writing lifts off with a wonderful piece by Michael Donkor (https://twitter.com/MichaelDonkor) , who studied English at Wadham College, Oxford, undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and now teaches English Literature to secondary school students. The Observer named him as one of 2018’s best debut authors for his first novel Hold (4th Estate) and this year he was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.

On page 2 we feature Lucie McKnight Hardy (https://twitter.com/LMcKnightHardy) who grew up in West Wales and is a Welsh speaker. Her work has featured, or is forthcoming, in various places online and in print, including The Lonely Crowd, The Shadow Booth, Best British Short Stories 2019, and as a limited edition chapbook from Nightjar Press. Her debut novel, Water Shall Refuse Them, was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition 2017 and longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award 2018 and is published this July by Dead Ink Books (https://deadinkbooks.com/) .

Next up, we are delighted to bring you Jess Thayil (https://twitter.com/JessThayil) , whose poems have featured in Magma Poetry, The Stinging Fly, Ink Sweat And Tears, Black Bough Poetry, AbstractMagazineTV, Potomac Review and Whale Road Review. She’s also engaged in self-taught abstract and mixed media art practice.

On page 4, we’re thrilled to welcome writer and translator Lucy Jones, who is British born and has lived in Berlin since 1998. Lucy studied German, film and applied linguistics and did several jobs before becoming a translator, including freelance fashion photography. Returning to her roots in literature, in 2008 she founded Transfiction (http://www.transfiction.eu/about-us/) , a collective of translators in Berlin. She also hosts a reading event called The Fiction Canteen (https://fictioncanteen.blog/) for writers and translators in Berlin.

And finally we have Durre Shawar (http://durreshahwar.com) , a writer, editor, and co-founder of ‘Where I’m Coming From’, an open mic event that platforms underrepresented writers in Wales (next event is on August 13 (https://www.facebook.com/whereimcomingfrom/) ). Durre has been published in various magazines and anthologies including Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class (Dead Ink Books), We Shall Fight Until We Win (404 Ink), Cheval 10 – Terry Hetherington Young Writers Award (Parthian Books). Her work explores themes of identity, intersectionality and mental health. Durre has worked and written for National Theatre Wales, British Council, Metro, National Museum Cardiff and Wales Arts Review. She is a regular speaker and performer at events and festivals and was part of the Hay Festival Writers at Work scheme, as well as BBC Writersroom Wales.

So, dear readers if you’re feeling political, personal, hungry or like swimming in a sandy-bottomed sea, we hope you enjoy our amazing lead selection. May it inspire you to get writing now. You know the rules: 50-500 words, one hour. Subs close on 15 August.

The image is the starting point, the text is up to you…

Preti, Kristen, Lucie and Luke

@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@MichaelDonkor (https://twitter.com/MichaelDonkor)
@LMcKnightHardy (https://twitter.com/LMcKnightHardy)
@BacktoJones (https://twitter.com/BacktoJones)
@JessThayil (https://twitter.com/JessThayil)
@Durre_Shahwar (https://twitter.com/Durre_Shahwar)

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Volume 06, Chapter 09 | July 2019

Image by Franck V.

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Our offering for the month of July is a games writing special. We were asked to participate in FXP Festival (https://fxpfestival.com/) , a coding event for young people taking place in Cambridge this month, and this got us thinking about digital narratives and the relationship between storytelling and technology. Narrative games are about the creation of an entire world, and often a non-linear one, so where does the storyteller’s job begin and end? With so much being dependent on the user and the interactions between users, can a narrative designer ever control the story they want to tell? Do they even want to tell a specific story, or are they motivated by facilitating others to create their own stories?

So as we ponder these questions, we could not resist this image. It intrigues us and creeps us out in equal measure. It comes to us from Frank V., a photographer currently living in Japan who, amazingly, uses only a smartphone to capture his images. In response, we invited a group of writers and artists who work in and around games.

Phil Harris, our lead this month, is currently working as a Narrative Designer, for Deep Silver Fishlabs in Hamburg, a games company working on numerous console titles. Previously, he’s worked on many games, and a couple of TV Projects, from different genres. As well as teaching about Narrative and Design at various locations across the UK, Phil is also one of the key members of the VR Writers Room, discussing the use of Virtual Reality across a number of different types of multi-media products. We have had the pleasure of sharing a stage with Phil and his discussion around narrative design kept us all enthralled.

Zoë Jellicoe (http://www.zoejellicoe.com/) is an editor, writer and occasional translator living between London and Berlin. She is the editor of Critical Hits, a Kickstarted (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/518947824/critical-hits-an-indie-gaming-anthology) collection of original essays from the finest independent video game journalists and developers. You can read more of her writing at zoejellicoe.com and via geneva__diva (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en) .

Courtney Byrne (https://twitter.com/aCourtneyByrne) is a 22 year old Irish writer, currently working as a writing intern at games company Wooga (https://www.wooga.com/) , in Berlin. She is a contributor to Totally Dublin and Franc Magazine, writes short stories and poetry, and is currently editing her first novel, all while juggling her studies.

Frank Lassak lives and works in Berlin, where he runs his atelier Efacts Photography (http://www.efactsphoto.com/news.html) since 2009. His works focus on staged cinematic scenes, narrative photography and portraits of actors and actresses. Frank became internationally known with his body of works circling around the movies of David Lynch (Welcome to Twin Peaks, 2017, True Velvet, 2011), and his conceptual series Youborn (2014) and Mixotarians (2015). Frank came to our attention through his project Dream Control – Where Freedom Ends (http://www.efactsphoto.com/dreamcontrol.html#.XRpOTpMzbUI) that we recommend you check out.

Now, if that isn’t enough to keep you busy, we created a set of visual writing activities for the FXP Festival and while they are intended for students, they are also generally fun and provocative enough to bring new words out of you, too. Feel free to download from Curved House Kids (https://curvedhousekids.com/free-creative-writing-resources-for-teens/) (the education arm of our mothership).

So dear writers, get your game on. You’ve got until 15th July.

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

Kristen, Preti, Lucie and Luke

Connect:

@visual_verse (https://www.facebook.com/efactsphoto)
@ (https://twitter.com/craig_carry) geneva_diva (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en)
@aCourtneyByrne (https://twitter.com/aCourtneyByrne)
@ (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en) efactsphoto (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en)
@FXPFestival (https://twitter.com/FXPfestival)

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Volume 06, Chapter 08 | June 2019

Image by Craig Carry

Dear writers, readers and friends,

It is June and, with light minds and grieving hearts, this issue is dedicated to Judith Kerr, author of the classic children’s books Mog, The Tiger Who Came to Tea and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Our first lead writer, Sita Brahmachari, calls her piece “Spirit Guide to Childhood”. Kerr was a spirit guide for so many of us, sparking an early love of reading and helping us become the writers we are, and her life was an example of everything we want to protect today: freedom of speech, refugee rights, migrant rights, children’s literacy. Kerr was German-Jewish; in 1933, she left Germany with her family because her father was critical of the Nazis. They later burned his books. The family travelled through Europe and arrived in Britain in 1936, where Kerr lived as a naturalised citizen for the rest of her life. She died on the 22nd of May, aged 95.

To celebrate the life and work of Judith Kerr, we have enlisted a group of wonderful children’s writers for the month of June. Their pieces are in response to an image by Irish artist Craig Carry (http://craigcarry.net/) , who not only creates beautiful screenprints from his hometown, Cork, but also runs a superb music website, Fractured Air (https://fracturedair.com/) .

We kick off with Sita Brahmachari (https://twitter.com/SitaBrahmachari) whose creative projects with diverse communities are at the heart of her writing. She has been Writer in Residence for The Book Trust and Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants; her debut novel for young people Artichoke Hearts, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and her subsequent novels (Macmillan Children’s Books) have been nominated for the Carnegie and many other major awards. Novels include Jasmine Skies, Tender Earth, Red Leaves and Kite Spirit. For Barrington Stoke she has written Worry Angels, Brace Mouth False Teeth, Car Wash Wish and Zebra Crossing Soul Song. She has contributed stories and poetry to a number of anthologies with a human rights focus and is currently under commission to Orion books for two novels the first of which, Where The River Runs Gold, is to be published in July 2019.

Next up we are thrilled to have an original, heartwrenching contribution from Jasmine Richards (http://www.jasminerichards.com) , an author of fifteen books for children from Harper Collins. She often finds herself writing about missing fathers or fathers missing out. When Jasmine is not writing she is collaborating with writers and illustrators to create inclusive fiction for publishers through her production company Storymix (http://www.storymix.co.uk) . So, if you are a creative from an underrepresented background, who is interested in making great books for all children, get in touch with Jasmine.

Louie Stowell (https://twitter.com/Louiestowell) , featured on page 3, started her career writing carefully-researched children’s books about space, Ancient Egypt, politics and science but eventually lapsed into just making stuff up. She likes writing about dragons, wizards, vampires, fairies, monsters and parallel worlds. Louie lives in London with her wife Karen, her dog Buffy and a creepy puppet that is probably cursed. Her first novel, The Dragon in the Library (https://nosycrow.com/product/the-dragon-in-the-library/) , is out on June 6th with Nosy Crow. Get hold of it here (https://nosycrow.com/product/the-dragon-in-the-library/) .

And to complete the June launch, we present the wonderful, inspiring Juliette Saumande (http://juliettesaumande.blogspot.com/) , a French writer and translator living in Ireland. Juliet spends most of her time writing, reading, reviewing and recommending children’s books to one and all. Her most recent title is My Little Album of Dublin, illustrated by Tarsila Krüse and published by The O’Brien Press. When she gets a minute, she blogs (http://juliettesaumande.blogspot.ie) about all the fun things children’s books inspire her to try on her and other people’s kids (in an arty way!).

So dear writers, do not mourn – there is life after life, in words we remember and words we have yet to imagine. Send us yours before the 15th May.

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

Love,

Preti, Kristen, Lucie, Ritika and Luke.

Connect:

@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@craig_carry (https://twitter.com/craig_carry)
@SitaBrahmachari (https://twitter.com/SitaBrahmachari)
@ (https://twitter.com/JRichardsAuthor) JRichardsAuthor (https://twitter.com/JRichardsAuthor)
@Louiestowell (https://twitter.com/Louiestowell)

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Volume 06, Chapter 07 | May 2019

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

Connect:
@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@RebTamas (https://twitter.com/@RebTamas)
@seventydys (https://twitter.com/@seventydys)
@c_makris (https://twitter.com/@c_makris)

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Volume 06, Chapter 06 | April 2019

Volume 06, Chapter 06 of Visual Verse is now open for submissions.

Image by Martin Reisch

Submit your writing > (https://visualverse.org/submit/)

Dear readers, writers and friends,

April is the cruelest month – they say – although we don’t think so here at Visual Verse. We have some fine lead writing and an enigmatic image to get your creativity springing. Maybe even, we think, this ‘person in field’ is in a kind of conversation with March’s astronaut. It’s all getting very meta these days and that’s one of the best things about receiving your submissions – they create a conversation about art, writing and just letting yourself try that makes for an enthralling read every single month. Thank you, writers!

This month, our image is by Martin Reisch, a photographer based in Montreal who has a penchant for wonderfully quirky aerial shots.

Our lead Amy Sackville (http://amysackville.co.uk/) is a writer of fiction and a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Kent. Her most recent novel, Painter to the King (http://grantabooks.com/painter-to-the-king-3) , about the painter Diego Velázquez and the court of Philip IV of Spain, was published by Granta Books in 2018. She lives in London and occasionally Canterbury.

Haroun Khan is a South London writer and has recently released his debut novel The Study Circle. Drawing upon his own experiences growing up on a council estate, this is a study of urban Muslim youth living life at the intersection of race, religious and social tumult; we’ve read it and we think it’s relevant, sharp and often very funny – check out Haroun’s piece about it here https://deadinkbooks.com/my-political-novel-by-haroun-khan/.

Finally, we’re very pleased to showcase the words of Ashley Hickson-Lovence who was born in 1991 and grew up in Hackney, London. He is a former football referee and secondary school English teacher and is currently completing his PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. His debut novel The 392 will be released with OWN IT! (https://ownit.london/shop/the-392-by-ashley-hickson-lovence/) on the 25th of April 2019 – you read him here first!

So dear writers, as we head ever onwards into 2019, sharpen your pencils… the image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Preti, Kristen, Lucie, Rithika and Luke

Connect
@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@AmySackville (https://twitter.com/amysackville?lang=en)
@hakattak (https://twitter.com/hakattak)
@AHicksonLovence (https://twitter.com/@AHicksonLovence)

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Volume 06, Chapter 05 | March 2019

Image by NASA

Dear readers, writers and friends,

March arrives and with it new horizons. We are propelling you into space with this incredible image from NASA and a line-up of truly special writers.

This month’s leads transport us from space to the places many never go, inside one of the most difficult environments the UK can imagine. These never-before-published writers have devised these pieces in workshops conducted inside one of the UK’s high security prisons.

Half of the writers are students at Cambridge University, and half are men who have been incarcerated, some for many years. They are all participants in Writing Together, part of a programme called Learning Together (https://www.cctl.cam.ac.uk/tlif/learning-together/details) , which is run by the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge.

The group has been working together for a while, learning the basics of fiction, poetry and script writing; but this was the first time they had written to an image, within a set amount of time and word limit, and asked to hand that work in. It was typed up on the outside and now, here it is.

These writers are published anonymously but each is celebrated for their individual creativity and unique response to this image.

So writers – with stars in your eyes; with the memory of your childhood wish to walk on the moon; with a sense of connection or of isolation; with a yearning for freedom or missing a loved one – go forth. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Preti, Kristen, Lucie, Rithika and Luke
@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)

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Volume 06, Chapter 04 | February 2019

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 06, Chapter 03 | January 2019

Image by Matt Boyce

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Welcome to 2019! Yesterday, we launched our January issue in the quiet aftermath of new year celebrations. Your visual inspiration is an image by comic artist and illustrator Matt Boyce (http://mattboyce.com/mattboyce/) that fits the general ambience of the moment, at least for us. This is the first time we have featured an image with any kind of words incorporated and we are excited to see what you come up with.

We are delighted to welcome The Whole Kahani (http://www.thewholekahani.com/) , a group of female voices from South Asia (who are all now based in the UK) to our lead slots. Their new collection, May We Borrow Your Country, with an introduction by our editor, Preti Taneja, will be published by Linen Press and launched at Waterstones Gower Street on January 26th, 2019. Before you come along to that, we bring you a taster of their work…

Leading us into the new year is Kavita A. Jindal, co-founder of The Whole Kahani and author of the poetry collection Raincheck Renewed (Chameleon Press). The manuscript for her debut novel won the Brighthorse Novel Prize 2018. Kavita’s short stories, poems and essays have appeared in anthologies and literary journals in the UK and around the world and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Zee TV and European radio stations. She serves as Senior Editor at Asia Literary Review.

Our second lead is Reshma Ruia, a co-founder of The Whole Kahani, and fiction editor at Jaggery Lit Magazine. Her first novel, Something Black in the Lentil Soup, was described in The Sunday Times as “a gem of straight faced comedy”. Her second novel, A Mouthful of Silence was shortlisted for the 2014 SI Leeds literary prize. Reshma’s poetry and short stories have appeared in various British and international journals and anthologies as well as broadcast on Radio 4. Born in India but brought up in Italy and now living in Manchester, her writing reflects the preoccupations of those who possess a multiple sense of belonging.

Mona Dash is the author of Untamed Heart (Tara India Research Press 2016), and two collections of poetry, Dawn-Drops (Writer’s Workshop 2001) and A certain way (Skylark Publications 2017). She has a Masters in Creative Writing (with distinction) from the London Metropolitan University. Her short story collection ‘Let us look elsewhere’ was shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2018. Her memoir, A Roll of The Dice: a story of love, loss and genetics will be published by Linen Press in 2019. Originally from India, she lives in London.

Radhika Kapur’s work as a writer/Creative Director in advertising has won awards at Cannes, One Show, Asia Pacific Adfest and Clio; she also writes short fiction and scripts. Her writing has appeared in the Feminist Review, Poem International and The Pioneer. She won third place in the Euroscript Screenwriting Competition (2015) and was longlisted for BBC Script Room (2017) and the London Short Story Prize (2016). She has recently completed an MA in Screenwriting from Birkbeck, University of London.

Born in Bombay, Shibani Lal moved to the UK in 2000. She was runner-up in the Asian Writer prize and was recently longlisted for the Bristol Prize and Cambridge Short-Story Prize. Shibani has worked in the City for over a decade; she’s also an open-water swimmer and recently swam across the Bosphorous from Asia to Europe.

Deblina Chakrabarty is a freelance writer from Bombay who relocated to London seven years ago. She’s written for various publications including the Times of India and DNA and is primarily interested in the chasm between genders, cultures, cities and lovers that form open terrain for curious examination. By day she flirts on the fringes of storytelling by working for international distribution at a major Hollywood studio.

Nadia Kabir Barb is the author of the short story collection, Truth or Dare. Her work has been published in Wasafiri, The Missing Slate, Open Road Review and Six Seasons Review, and she was the winner of the Audio Arcadia short story competition. She has worked in the health and development sector in both Bangladesh and the UK.

So with a new year and all the uncertainty it brings, you can be sure of one thing – Visual Verse will keep supporting new voices, celebrating successes, and inspiring you with avant-garde art. And, thanks to our Twitter habit, we will continue to bring your submissions into conversation with each others’ across the world.

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

Happy New Year.

Kristen, Preti and Lucie
with Editorial Assistants Luke and Rithika

Volume 06, Chapter 02 | December 2018

Image by Dong Chensheng

Dear writers, readers and friends,

The end is nigh … for 2018 at least.

To wrap the year, we bring you this curious character in red by Chinese artist Dong Chensheng and lead pieces by the founders and contributors of BLYNKT Magazine (http://www.blynkt.com/) . BLYNKT is an online publication which explores one theme deeply each issue through a range of creative non-fiction, essays, art, interviews, prose and poetry. Issue 4 “New Beginnings” will be available in early 2019 and BLYNKT is accepting submissions (http://www.blynkt.com/submissions.html) until December 15th, 2018. Stay in the loop with BLYNKT via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BLYNKT/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/blynkt) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/blynkt/) .

Our first lead piece, which explores the value of family legacy, is by Carly Dee, a writer from London who is the co-founder and co-editor of BLYNKT Magazine. Carly writes prose, poetry and creative non-fiction which has been featured in Corner Club Press, Firewords Quarterly and The Avalon Literary Review, among others. She is currently working on a film-script in Berlin with her BLYNKT partner and co-founder Q. Lei, as well as a non-fiction and spoken word project which will be available in 2019.

Q. Lei has penned for us a short story that will make you nosocomephobic if you aren’t already. Lei received her PhD in East Asian Studies in the discipline of Philosophy of Science from Princeton University. She is currently working as an independent filmmaker and writer between Shenzhen and Berlin. She has conducted various research projects on the topic of science and society at the University of Tokyo, Freie Universität and Princeton University. Her creative writing has been published in Litro Magazine, the Centum Press Anthologies and The Speaker, among others. She is currently working on her second documentary on the history and development of Shenzhen – the “Silicon Valley of China”. You can find her latest updates and adventures on her blog (https://www.inbetweenalbum.com/) and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/qleifilm/) .

Next up, we have a piece about elements, eyes and ‘i’s by Malik Ameer Crumpler (http://malikameer.com/) . Malik Ameer is a poet, rapper, music producer and editor who’s released several albums, glitch art films, five poetry books and one book of raps. He was guest-editor of Paris Lit Up (http://parislitup.com/paris-lit-up-4-magazine/) issues 4 and 5. He’s editor-at-large of The Opiate (https://theopiatemagazine.com/) , co-founder of Those That This (https://thosethatthis.com/) and Visceral Brooklyn. Malik has an MFA in Creative Writing from LIU, Brooklyn. He co-hosted Transatlantic Poetry 2017-2018 (https://www.transatlanticpoetry.com/) , curates/hosts Poets Live (https://poetslive.org/) and The Wordists. He is the M.C. for Hip Hop group Madison Washington (http://defpresse.com/artists/madison-washington/) on Def Pressé and a non-fiction staff writer for Itchysilk (http://www.itchysilk.com/) . Beneath The Underground: Collected Raps 2000- 2018
(http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/malik-crumpler/beneath-the-underground-collected-raps-2000-2018/paperback/product-23879473.html) is Malik’s new book and ((((FACTS))))) (https://defpresse.bandcamp.com/album/facts) is Madison Washington’s new album.

Our fourth piece is a tender love letter written in paint by Lavinia Abbott (https://twitter.com/laviniasabbott) . Lavinia is a London-based independent filmmaker with over fifteen years’ experience in theatre and film. After graduating from Nottingham University with a degree in German and Politics, she attended drama school in Paris and New York and appeared in several plays before she turned to writing and directing for film and theatre. Her first short film What Happened to Manfred (shot in Berlin) recently won the Award for Best Student Film at the Around Films International Film Festival in Berlin. She has since written and directed three more short films in West Africa and in the UK. Lavinia is passionate about social and political issues and will typically make these the focal point of her work.

Wrapping up our lead pieces for the year is a poignant and reflective poem by Benjamin Lawrance Miller. Benjamin teaches composition and creative writing at Queensborough Community College (CUNY). He grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, and he has an MFA in Writing from the School of Critical Studies at CalArts.

Finally, thank you to all of you who submitted to our birthday issue last month. We had an overwhelming response
– over 100 submissions arrived in just two days and they kept on coming! Luckily, our editorial assistants – Luke and Rithika – were on hand to help us publish these wonderful birthday presents.

And so, beloved members of the VV community, we wish you all the best for the final chapter of the year and look forward to seeing what 2019 brings. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Kristen, Preti, Lucie, Luke and Rithika
(Welcome to the team, Rithika!)

Volume 06, Chapter 01 | Writing Competition Results

Image by Hannah Coulson

Dear writers, readers and friends,

This month, we switched things up and asked you to submit a piece of writing in just 24 hours for a chance to be selected as one of our lead writers. We received over 100 submissions and from these we could pick just three. It was intense, to say the least! With the help of our stellar judges – Bernardine Evaristo, Sam Jordison, Andrew Motion, Eloise Millar and Philippa Sitters – we managed to get 100 down to a longlist of eight, then pick the final three. We would like to thank all of those who submitted such a spectacular array of work and congratulate both the winners and the long- and shortlisted writers:

Winners
Christopher John Eggett – It was decided to fold up my town
Renee Fisher – Twisted Bridges
Suzanne Ushie – Envy

Shortlist
Rishi Dastidar – Spectacle
Emmanuella Dekonor – In the Pink Wash of British Accra
Sharon Jones – Rememberings
Frank McHugh – Elculo
Andrew Strickland – F-Words

Longlist
Valerie Bence – Shades of Pink and a Lighthouse
Alexandra Davis – Is This a Diaorama?
Pat Edwards – Cut Out
Elizabeth Gibson – Leaving Manchester
Motl Lazarus – Misdirections
Hiromi Suzuki – The Quintet of the Holiday Inn Cafe
Jordan Trethewey – Collage Town
Carole Webster – I Opened You Gently Like Paper and Your Skin Made Sense to Me

About the Winners
Our headliner, Renee Fisher, grew up in New Zealand and the UK, studied English Literature and Visual Arts (ideal combo for Visual Verse) and has spent the last few years living in Moscow and Riga, teaching English to children and adults. She now lives in Prague with her partner and baby daughter. Of her writing, Renee said, ‘It has mostly been confined to diaries – a furtive and relentlessly private pursuit – and it’s only recently that I’ve begun to shape it into stories and poems, though they still borrow heavily from my diary habit. I’ll forever be in thrall to first person narratives; journals, travelogues, letters, notes scribbled on scraps of paper, confessions and dreams.’ We are thrilled that the judges have chosen writing from someone who is only just starting to put her work into the world.

Our page two lead is Christopher John Eggett, a writer and poet from Cambridgeshire. He will send you poetry every Friday in his literary newsletter Etch To Their Own (https://medium.com/etch-to-their-own) , where he scratches away at literature’s subtext. Chris is working on a full length collection of poetic essays including Essay on Falling {insert poem here} (https://softcartel.com/2018/08/06/essay-on-falling-insert-poem-here-what-we-can-see-from-here-by-christopher-john-eggett/) , and occasionally writes short stories about accidentally having a lobster for a boyfriend (https://burninghousepress.com/2018/03/30/the-boyfriend-pinch-by-christopher-john-eggett/) . His work has appeared in Euonia Review (https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2018/07/07/you-are-good-for-poetry/) , The City Quill (https://medium.com/cjeggett/poetry-featured-in-the-city-quill-455ab0a7c688) and Furtive Dalliance and can be found upcoming in Bone & Ink and Human Repair Kit. He tweets as @CJEggett
(https://twitter.com/CjEggett) and you can read more about him on his website https://cjeggett.co.uk/

And on page three we are delighted to publish Suzanne Ushie, who was born and raised in Calabar, Nigeria. In 2012, she was awarded an international scholarship to undertake the MA in Prose Fiction at the University of East Anglia, where she made Distinction. Her work has appeared in OZY, Saraba, Fiction Fix, Conte Online, Lunch Ticket, Brittle Paper, Gambit: Newer African Writing and elsewhere. She has received support from Hedgebrook, Writers Omi at Ledig House, Ox-Bow School of Arts and The Whiting Foundation. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

About the Judging
The long-longlist was made from a day of reading through over 100 submissions, getting that down to a longlist, and then a shortlist of eight. The shortlist went to our judges over the weekend, and we made sure they were judged blind, without bylines. When we got the results in, most of the judges had overlaps in what they chose, with slight variation. With a very scientific points system, we tallied up the winners. And if we had published four pieces, or five, our two very close runners up would have been in there – In the Pink Wash of British Accra by Emmanuella Dekonor and F-Words by Andrew Strickland – you can read them on the site now.

Our judges were extremely impressed by the quality of the writing. Philippa Sitters from DGA literary agency said:

“These submissions were so accomplished, I find it hard to believe they were turned around within an hour. They’re a display of genuine talent and it was incredibly fun to read such an array of pieces inspired by the single visual. Congratulations to all those who entered.”

Sam Jordison from Galley Beggar Press said:

“I was impressed by these submissions. More than that, I enjoyed them. There are serious ideas and intentions behind them all, but the thing that most struck me was how good it is to see writers having fun with the language and ideas. There are creative sparks flying around their words… The three Galley Beggar choices exemplified that spirit of adventure. They felt fresh and exploratory. They were also written with wit and humour and grace – and because of that the emotional punches they packed were all the stronger.”

All of your writing this month is in response to a wonderful, quirky collage by London-based Scottish artist Hannah Coulson (https://www.hannahcoulson.co.uk/) , an illustrator who loves experimenting with shapes and colours. When she’s not busily illustrating, Hannah teaches at the Royal College of Art in London. She made this work without any intention and we love that it has come full circle on Visual Verse, where we ask you to respond without any intention.

So, dear writers, with so much excellence still to publish, we’re so glad to be five and thank you very much for being part of the amazing community that is Visual Verse.

Happy Birthday! The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Kristen, Preti, Lucie
(And welcome to our newest team member, volunteer Editorial Assistant, Luke!)

Volume 06, Chapter 01 | November 2018

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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