A New Volume from Romania

 

 

Those who have popped across to this blog over the years will know that I have had links for many years with Orizont Literar Contemporan, the international literary journal from Romania produced by Daniel Dragomirescu. This new volume, Retrospectiva Revistei, highlights the writing of fifteen writers of 'prose, poetry and essays' who come from very different parts of the world, including Chile, Romania, USA and Portugal. 

 

A few pages have been allocated to each of the selected contributors to the journal. Each set of pages contains an author bio with photograph, a CV and a sample piece of work. 

 

 

I am very grateful to Daniel for including me in such an international list and for profiling my work and my poetry collection in this way. Driftwood by Starlight can be purchased from The Seventh Quarry shop (link here). 

 

POSTSCRIPT

Speaking of international volumes, I am excited to learn that the new World Poetry Anthology (Darklight Publishing), edited by Hassanal Abdullah, has just been published. It contains poems by Pablo Neruda, Peter Thabit Jones, Aeronwy Thomas, Stanley Kunitz, Lidia Chiarelli and John Kinsella. My Stonehenge poem, 'Preseli Blue', and my husband, David Gill's poem, 'Gloucestershire in The Negev' have also been included. 

Poetry News ...

After a relatively quiet spell on the poetry front, a couple of things came at once.


Orizont Literar Contemporan
 
I was delighted to have three poems published in English and Romanian in issue 52 of Orizont Literar Contemporan. The poems in question were a Tritina called 'Isle of Skye: Aquiline Encounter' (1/2010), an On-ce poem called 'Pompeii; a Tale of Two Dogs' (14/2010), and finally, 'Migration Mirage' (6/2005), which was first published in The Seventh Quarry. My thanks to editor-in-chief, Daniel Dragomirescu, and translator, Florian D. Mirea.

 

The 3rd Festival of Suffolk Poetry

David and I were invited to read for Arlington's Poetry Cafe in Ipswich (photos here and Festival Report by Deborah Wargate here). I decided to focus on poems inspired by other writers, so my set comprised the following pieces: 'Monte Testaccio: Mound of Potsherds' (53/2003), with its references to Keats, 'On Emily's Moor' (13/2004), about the landscape portrayed in Wuthering Heights - and finally 'Pepys Island' (12/2014), concerning a phantom area of land, supposedly at latitude of 47º south.  My first poem, 'Monte Testaccio ...' comes from my chapbook, The Holy Place, co-authored with John Dotson and published by The Seventh Quarry (Swansea) in conjunction with Cross-Cultural Communications (New York).

Reading for Arlington's Poetry Cafe at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket

Update from Romania ~ Orizont Literar Contemporan

Daniel Dragomirescu in the centre

Orizont Literar Contemporan continues to go from strength to strength. Daniel Dragomirescu, Romanian-based editor-in-chief of this international literary journal with the strapline, 'all the world in a magazine', has written an updated account of the story so far. You will find his account here.

The photo above shows me interviewing Donald Riggs, Teaching Professor of Creative Writing at Drexel University, when I was in Philadelphia in January 2012. The interview appeared shortly afterwards in Orizont Literar Contemporan.  

There was an excellent feature recently on a dozen Scottish poets, and more recently still, I have been delighted to find work by my publisher, Peter Thabit Jones (The Seventh Quarry Press, Swansea) in addition to poetry from Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, and Owen Sheers, Welsh poet, author and scriptwriter.

If you would like further information about the journal, please leave a comment here or contact Daniel via the website.

Anthology Alert ~ Orizont Literar Contemporan Antologia from Romania

Editor-in-chief Daniel Dragomirecu

My copy of the Antologia for Orizont Literar Contemporan | Contemporary Literary Horizon arrived today from Romania. This publication opens with a sequence of poems by Peter Thabit Jones, editor of The Seventh Quarry, from Wales. It also features my interview with Martin Locock, editor of the new anthology, Poetry from Strata Florida, produced by Carreg Ffylfan Press (2014). 

I am grateful to Iulia Andreea Anghel at the University of Bucharest for her translation, '1 Mai: Zmeu Roşu în Strata Florida', of my poem, '1st May: Red Kite at Strata Florida'. 

Magazine Moments ~ From Romania to East Anglia

I have been at the 25th Aldeburgh International Poetry Festival at Snape today.

When I got home, I was able to open the double issue of Orizont Literar Contemporan that had arrived. My thanks to Daniel Dragomirescu! 

This issue includes a feature I edited on Two Aspects of the Literary Scene in Norfolk and Suffolk

• Chris Gribble, Norfolk: Norwich, UNESCO City of Literature

• Naomi Jaffa, Suffolk: Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

A Norfolk-Suffolk Dozen (of poets) in Orizont Literar Contemporan, Romania

CONTEMPORARY LITERARY HORIZON NO 2 (34)/MARCH-APRIL 2013 / 

HORIZONTE LITERARIO CONTEMPORANEO NO 2 (34)/MARZO-ABRIL DE 2013 

Coming soon ... the issue which includes the Norfolk and Suffolk Dozen of Poets. There is a preview here, with a poem, 'Day Out', from Sue Wallace-Shaddad.

The journal costs 15 Euros (plus 2 Euros tax). Please get in touch if you would like to buy a copy. 

Orizont Literar Contemporan ~ All the World in a Journal

CONTENTS 

CRITICĂ 
Daniel Dragomirescu, Una fiesta intercultural
Neil Leadbeater, Albert Camus, Religion and “The Fall”
Donald Riggs, From Horatio  Hornblower
Mira Faraday, The Misty Isle
Juana Castillo, Bernardino
Eduardo Sanguinetti, Los Peligros de la igualdad
Niza Todaro Glassiani, Juana de Ibarbourou
Manuel Ameneiros, Tema espinoso
Alan Gomes, Criminal Majority at Brazil 
Mario Antonio da Silva (Brazil), Arte e verdade
A NORFOLK-SUFFOLK DOZEN
Caroline Gill, Introduction
Mike Bannister
Anne Boileau
Helen Ivory
Rosalynde Price
David Gill
Wendy Webb
Cameron Self

Lynn Woollacott
James Knox Whittet
Sue Wallace-Shaddad
Ivor Murrell
Heidi Williamson
Chris Gribble
Naomi Jaffa
POEZIE
Jenifer Ransom
Douglas Lipton
Martin Bates
Khadija Ejaz
Paul Satherland
Paul Mein
Mike Foldes
Lidia Borghi
Ettore Fobo
Astrid Fugellie
Luis Benitez
Oziella Inocêncio
Rodolfo Chavez
César Curiel
Monica Manolachi
Andréia Franco
PROZĂ
Patrizia Boi, La Chiave magica
Edmundo Gaudêncio, Sombras
Radu Mihai Dimăncescu, Memorii
Bogdan Guţu, Scrisoare anonimă/Anonymous Letter
PROFIL CULTURAL  
Theodore Elssaca (Santiago de Chile)

OLC/CLH-ALL THE WORLD IN A JOURNAL

Anthology Alert: Orizont Literar Contemporan Antologia 2012

And the back cover ... 

I was delighted to receive my copies of the latest Orizont Literar Contemporan Antologia from Romania. The cover photo shows Vogaluz Miranda from Brazil. You might recognise a certain someone with Professor Don Riggs (we met in Philadelphia, USA) in the orange cover on the back. This international literary Antologia is over 80 pages long and edited in Romania by Daniel Dragomirescu. The magazine's strapline, 'All the world in a journal', is well illustrated by a patchwork photo inside the back cover of some 56 international contributors.

The anthology includes contributions in Romanian ('Un fel de-a fi Numai al Lor' by Mihai Cantuniari, Honorary Director of the journal, on p.40), in Italian ('Lucciole' by Ettore Fobo inside the front cover), in English ('Jumping In' by Katherine Gallagher on p.3), in Spanish ('El Tiempo' by Juana Castillo Escobar on p.20) - and also in German ('Basisdemokratie Besitzt Keine Basis' by Raymond Walden on p.70).

If that doesn't sound sufficiently international for you, there are also contributions from Neil Leadbeater in Scotland (whose feature on the Scottish Dizzen was so well received back in the September-October 2012 issue of the magazine), from Burt Rashbaum in the USA, from Lena Vanelslander in Belgium, from Katerina Kostaki from Greece - and from Ingrid Odgers Toloza from Chile ... to mention a few more.

The Antologia contains a good number of poems, such as 'Take My Hand' by Anne Stewart, which begins,

I'll take you to an island, any
Greek island town with winding
uphill paths ...

and has been translated into Romanian,

O să te duc pe o insulă, în vreun
orășel grecesc cu urcușuri intortocheate ...


Prose pieces include 'My Childhood and My Father', a touching family memoir from Mira Faraday in the USA; and, in a very different vein, an essay entitled 'Labor, Slavery, Exploitation and the Limits of Aid', a contribution based around the influence of Simone Veil, a Christian mystic who lived outside the (Roman Catholic) church.

If you would like to know more about Orizont Literar Contemporan and the ever-growing international family of literature aficionados it represents, do take a look at the website here. The Antologia also includes two of my poems, '1st May: Red Kite at Strata Florida' from my new poetry chapbook, The Holy Place, co-authored with John Dotson (details here) - and a short anti-slavery poem, 'Trade Winds'.

Thank you to Daniel and the team for yet another truly cosmopolitan publication! 

Publication Pointer (4): Orizont Literar Contemporan - Antologia (2)

The new Antologia

ALL THE WORLD IN AN ANTHOLOGY

TODO O MUNDO EM UMA ANTOLOGIA

TOUT LE MONDE DANS UNE ANTHOLOGIE

TODO EL MUNDO EN UNA ANTOLOGIA

TOT MAPAMONDUL ÎNTR-O ANTOLOGIE

Daniel Dragomirescu and his editorial assistants in Bucharest have produced the second Antologia Revistei Orizont Literar Contemporan / Contemporary Literary Horizon Anthology. It is 82 pages long and packed with lively literary material from most corners of the globe. The four sections are as follows:

1. Orizonturi Contemporane - including, for example, Peggy Landsman's stroke of sheer brilliance in the form of 'Daniel's Cosmic Suitcase' and Professor Donald Riggs' commentary of the poetry of Marius Ştefan Aldea.
2. Dialoguri Mulitculturale - including Alina-Olimpia Miron in conversation with the editor-in-chief, Daniel Dragomirescu, on the subject of whether 'A Good Book is One in Which Most Readers Recognize Themselves'.
3. Orizonturi Poetice - this section features the work of 21 contemporary poets - often in more than one language, largely thanks to the stalwart translation work of the Romanian students linked to Professor Lidia Vianu's MTTLC in Bucharest.
4. Orizontul Prozei - Alex Kudera from the USA heads up the final section with a touching extract from 'The Book of Jay', a memoir about the author's father, the poet Jay Roberts. Magazine Director, Mihai Canuniari's contribution, 'Ocarina De Lut' / 'The Clay Ocarina', is an excerpt about his 'musical evolution' from the second volume of the cycle, 'Man as Grass'.  

Those who know me will know that international poetry is something that I particularly enjoy. I am grateful to the translators for enabling us to appreciate poems in Spanish ('Caracol de Sueno Sobre una Cosa Que Mata' by Luis Benitez from Argentina), in Romanian ('Rigoletto' by Tatiana Rădulescu), and in other languages besides, like French and Italian - and not forgetting English! Three of my poems, 'A Flicker, A Flash', 'On Emily's Moor', and 'Afternoon with Alfred Wallis in St Ives' have been included. My thanks to Iulian Daniel Trandafir and Teodora Gheorghe of MTTLC, Universitatea din Bucureti for their translations into Romanian. My poems appear in Romanian as 'O Licarire, O Fulgerare', 'In Ţinutul lui Emily', and 'O După Amiază Cu Alfred Wallis in St Ives'.   

If you are interested in taking out a subscription to the magazine or would like to buy a copy of the Antologia, you might like to contact Daniel Dragomirescu or leave a comment here on my blog or on the Contemporary Literary Horizon site here. We would love to hear from you!   

Publication Pointer (3): Orizont Literar Contemporan - Anthology on the Way!

The cover of the 'Antologia'

I am much looking forward to the publication of the second Antologia produced by Daniel Dragomirescu, editior-in-chief of Orizont Literar Contemporan (Contemporary Literary Horizon) magazine from Bucharest, Romania. The international list of contributors is up on the OLC/CLH site here, and you will see that they represent places as far apart geographically as Argentina and Nigeria, Japan and Canada - not forgetting India and Italy. Two of my poems have been included.

Magazine Moment (9): Cultural Horizon Magazine (Romania)

Cause for Celebration!

Contemporan Orizont Literar | Contemporary Horizon Magazine
from Bucharest, Romania

I have just received the latest copy of Contemporan Orizont Literar | Contemporary Horizon Magazine from Bucharest, Romania. This special issue, 'Anul III, Number 2 (16)', is packed with cultural delights from Nigeria ('Nigerian Perspectives' by Biola Olatunde on p.36) to Sri Lanka (poems by Sayumi Yokou on p.58) and Uruguay ('Belonging', on life as a student at Montevideo on p.59) by Marcela Meirelles.

This is a special edition because...

1) it marks the second anniversary of the magazine in its current format. It was founded a year ago in May 2008 by Mihai Cantuniari, with Daniel Dragomirescu as Editor-in-Chief. I first came across the magazine on the American site for writers, 'The Red Room', having read about the magazine in a blog-post by contributor, Peggy Landsman. Since then I have submitted a batch of my poems, which were published bilingually in English and Romanian, thanks to the translating skills of Professor Lidia Vianu's students at the University of Bucharest. I have also set up a series of interviews from Wales, my 'Dialoguri Galezi', in which I interview poets and other writers about their work.

2) it coincides with the official launch in Bucharest of the magazine's new 'Contemporary Horizon Multicultural Foundation'. This is an exciting time as the magazine takes off and becomes more widely read all over the world. I have been very stimulated by the international exchange of culture, literature, art, ideas and news. You can imagine how thrilled I was to receive the certificate, posted above!

The special issue opens with a 'flashback' or résumé of what has happened in the last year. Daniel Dragomirescu ('From Creative Localism to Multiculturalism' p.4) charts the developments of the new magazine, and explains how it was initially conceived as a sequel to the Vaslui Literary Truth magazine | Adevărul literar din Vaslui.

Contemporan Orizont Literar | Contemporary Horizon Magazine has come along way in the last two years. Since April 2009 the magazine has become an independent, bilingual and multicultural magazine. I interviewed Swansea poet, Byron Beynon, in one of my 'Dialoguri Galezi' slots; and the poem he supplied to accompany his answers was printed not only in Romanian (thanks to the input of Professor Lidia Vianu and her students enrolled on her Masters course on the Translation of the Literary Text) and English, but also in the Welsh language. The magazine had been partially bilingual up to and including issue no.3 in July 2009, but now all features appear in Romanian and English. Alina-Olimpia Miron, one of the main translators, has now taken on the role of General Editorial Secretary. I am personally indebted to Alina for her translation work.

You need only to click on the Contemporary Horizon link to see from the representative flags just how many corners of the world have already been touched by the electronic versions of magazine features. Many contacts have been made via the internet in this way.

The current issue is packed with the following ('in no particular order'):

• poetry (e.g. from [1] Charles Johnson, UK editor of Obsessed with Pipework magazine; [2] Tanka (by Alan Segal, USA)
• interviews (e.g. [1] Ioana Ireonim asks Professor Lidia Vianu about her translation work in Romania; [2] I interview my husband, David Gill, about literature and Mediterranean archaeology),
  
• a Welsh profile (Byron Beynon looks at the letters sent by R.S. Thomas to Raymond Garlick)
• short stories (e.g. 'Jasmine Fragrance' byMaria Dolores garcia pastor from Spain)
• features (e.g. on 'Writers and Writing' by Professor Do Riggs, USA)...

... and a great deal more besides. The magazine has a coloured cover. There are black and white photographs and illustrations throughout.

Do consider taking out a subscription by PayPal (details here). You can read more about the magazine here and here - and you can always leave a comment on the Contemporary Horizon site, if you feel you would like to make a response.

On a personal note...

... I would like to end this round-up with words of very sincere thanks to my friends in Romania. I would like to express my personal gratitude to you all. Thank you, Daniel and Alina, in particular, for your friendship and opportunities for collaboration over the last year or so. It has meant a great deal to me. Thank you, too, for the splendid certificate. I wish you well and look forward to further cultural collaborations in the days ahead.

• Contemporary Horizon
  
• Revista Muticulturala