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. 

Going Global on World Poetry Day, 2018

Happy World Poetry Day, 2018

The image above shows a previous package from India, but a similar one (practically identical but with different stamps) arrived yesterday, containing a contributor's copy of the Golden Jubilee issue of Metverse Muse, an international poetry journal edited by Dr. H. Tulsi. It is always a joy to read poems from different parts of the world and to feel connected in this way. Most issues have offered a Fixed Form challenge: the last one was for a Burns Stanza, a form of Scottish origin, and the new challenge is for a Terza Rima, a form that developed in Italy. 

And this, for me, is one of the joys of poetry, that there are countless influences, methods, techniques and forms (see here for example: I contributed three poems to this Handbook from Lewis Putnam Turco in the USA), spanning not only the centuries but also the globe. 

There is much talk in the present climate about letting down the proverbial portcullis, but poetry enables us to see new vistas through the eyes of another. It encourages us to lower the drawbridge instead, allowing literary influences to flow and circulate. I feel this is particularly important at the present time.

Back in the days when the internet was considered a fledgling phenomenon, I remember starting out one year with a fresh goal. I wanted to have a poem published in an international journal. Since then I have had the privilege of collaborating, albeit mostly in small ways, with poets and editors in Romania, Australia, the Netherlands, USA, Italy and Slovenia, to name but a selection of countries. Most collaborations or communications have been via the internet, but occasionally I have had the privilege of enjoying a face-to-face meeting. 

One such occasion was the launch of the chapbook I co-authored with North American poet, John Dotson. It was arranged by our publisher, Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry, at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace, 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, in Swansea. John was over from the USA, and we were able to read our poems together. 

Publisher: The Seventh Quarry (Wales) with Cross-Cultural Communications (New York) 

Another of my multicultural forays in the name of poetry occurred when I was invited to conduct an interview in Philadelphia with Donald Riggs, Teaching Professor of English from Drexel University for Orizont Literar Contemporan, Daniel Dragomirescu's international literary journal from Romania. While I was in Philadelphia, I was also able to spend a day with fellow poet, Kay Weeks. We have collaborated on one or two poetry and art projects, including a charity one, Blossoms of Hope.

with Don Riggs in Philadelphia

A year ago Jongo Park, a visual artist from Seoul, South Korea, supplied a painting of a mermaid as a poetry prompt for me. The paired picture and poem were published in an eBook anthology produced by Italian poet, Lidia Chiarelli of Immagine&Poesia, alongside 94 other contributions from 5 continents and 35 countries. You can download this free eBook (Volume 4) from this site. 

In these uncertain times, it seems particularly important to celebrate our global community of poets and the immense joie de vivre that this ancient art can bring to the modern world.

And if you are wondering why the top photo is not of the actual parcel that arrived yesterday, well, in my haste to preserve the Indian stamps for the work of TLM (The Leprosy Mission), I made rather a mess of the packaging!

Celebrations Afoot at Orizont Literar Contemporan (Romania)

With Professor Donald Riggs in Philadelphia, 2011

I was delighted to receive this link today, taking me through to a summary of what has been a truly international rollercoaster of a decade for Daniel Dragomirescu and his colleagues who work tirelessly across languages and genres to produce Orizont Literar Contemporan, the self-styled 'world in a journal'.

This literary magazine, celebrating its 60th issue, has now been in production for ten years, and you have only to read the summary of its history to see how it has evolved, expanded and diversified during this time. There is a huge library of multicultural books and now a Dictionary of writers' biographies.

Thanks to Daniel, Katherine Gallagher and others, I have been associated with the journal for much of its existence. It has been a pleasure to introduce a number of poet friends from Wales and elsewhere through my early Dialoguri interviews, and friends from Suffolk and beyond through other ventures. It has been a wonderful way of making new literary friends, too, from a range of countries.

I am grateful to the teams of translators (see this post by Anne Stewart) who work so hard behind the scenes, ensuring that a poem, for example, can appear in up to three languages, most frequently Romanian, Spanish and English.

Many happy returns to Daniel and his A Team! Here's to the next decade and the next 60+ issues...

Poetry Round-up

Staffin ... Isle of Skye

Time for a quick poetry round-up ...

Due to time away and other commitments I have got behind with my postings, so here is a summary.

• I have been awarded Third-Equal in the Fixed Form Poet of the Year (2014) Challenge for the Metverse Muse (#38, ed. Dr. H. Tulsi, Visakhapatnam, India) competition in Category A. My poems in the international contest were 'Nightmare' and 'Feline Fancy'. My poems, 'Cattle Crossing, Staffin Bay' and 'Winter's Knife' have been published in this issue of Metverse Muse. 

• My poem, 'In the Wake of Prince Madoc', was Highly Commended in the inaugural Disability Arts Cymru Poetry Competition, judged by Menna Elfyn. The poem will appear in an eBook, alongside the artwork I selected as my inspiration. 

• I will be reading my poem, 'Dear Loris', at the Emma Press Launch of the anthology, Slow Things, in London on Tuesday 21 July. 

• My review of Mike Bannister's poetry book, The Green Man (translated into Romanian as Omul Verde) has appeared in Orizont Literar Contemporan, in the May-June 2015 issue. 

• My interview with Professor Don Riggs of Drexel University in Philadelphia has appeared in Made of Words (translated into Romanian as Făurit din cuvinte). Published in Romania under the aegis of Orizont Literar Contemporan.

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

Poetry: Invisible Architecture (ii), Antlers Press, The Roundhouse, Camden

 

We had a snowy train journey to London on Saturday to visit the Invisible Architecture Installation in The Roundhouse, Camden, curated by Antlers Press, in celebration of World Poetry Day 2013. This was our first visit to this extraordinary venue. The building itself is well worth exploring if you have the chance. You can read my previous post about it here.  

Arriving at The Roundhouse ...

... with its steam engine shed relics.

 

We were feeling pretty chilly after a train and two buses, so we warmed up with a spot of brunch at Made in Camden, the restaurant-cafe bar that adjoins the Roundhouse. We can both recommend the chipped potato wedges, and I thoroughly enjoyed the apple pancakes with passion fruit coulis.   

 

It was soon time for the opening of Invisible Architecture, a literary 'library and listening station' curated by Nichol Keene of Antlers Press. This unique cross-cultural library (of visual and audio works) has been developed for the purpose of 'forging international links and creative collaborations between writers and publishers, swapping stories from around the world as they build their cities through what they say.'

It was this global dimension that caught my eye in the first instance. I strongly believe that writers and artists from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds have much to share. The experience of taking part in a collaboration of this kind has many benefits.  

 

Part of the Invisible Architecture Installation

 

We walked through the dimly-lit engine shed, emerging into a central circular space. There was a display of English PEN literature against the wall. There were also a few musicians testing the sound in preparation for a later event. Some of you will know that I am fascinated by echoes, and it was fun to stand on a silver square and try out the acoustics for myself.

 

One of the tunnels receding from the centre

 

So here we were, in a dark space that would once have housed the turntable for steam engines. The arches all round the edge led off into short tunnels rather in the way that spokes on a wheel spin outwards in all directions. It seemed to me, and this is where I would need a pigeon's eye view, that each tunnel was soon intersected by a middle wall, before extending further back into the darkness. 

 

The Roundhouse: interior, with tunnel

 

Nichol Keene, the force behind Invisible Architecture, had set a ring of fold-up chairs around the central area. Most visitors were pleased to have the chance to sit down in these extraordinary surroundings.

 

 

Antlers Press was founded as a small nomadic press by Nichol Keene in 2011. Nichol is keen to participate in projects concerning pamphlets, book design, illustrations, paperbacks, hardback books, Japanese bindings, presentation documents, portfolios, slipcases, solander boxes, photo albums, invitations, posters and fine art prints. It was good to meet her, and to learn about the hand-crafted books that she produces and about the collaborative work that she undertakes. We chatted about poetry and linguistics, about TEFL and Gertrude Stein.  

 

Nichol Keene (supplied by Nichol)

So where does Invisible Architecture come in to the picture? The library and listening station comprised poems and prose pieces from many corners of the globe. My poetry chapbook, The Holy Place, (co-authored with John Dotson of the USA, and published by Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry, Swansea, in conjunction with Stanley H. Barkan of Cross-Cultural Communications, New York) had been selected for inclusion in the Installation. A copy of the recent Antologia, the Orizont Literar Contemporan anthology from Romania (edited by Daniel Dragomirescu) had also been chosen for the display, along with an audio mp3 file of 'Turner's Loch Coruisk', one of my poems about Skye.  

 

With The Holy Place and the Antologia

 

There were many other items and we were able to 'borrow' these as we sat on the chairs. We could also listen to the audio files, as our recorded voices echoed through the tunnels. I encountered a huge variety of publications, ranging perfect bound volumes with photographs to small pamphlets (including one that contained a map of part of Wales). One large (A4 plus) handwritten work, Long hand, had a minimal but memorable Pepsi poem on one page. 

 

Long hand and other selected items

 

Nichol showed me some of her 'products'. The term, however, seems out of place for such finely crafted publications. There was something very special about the new pamphlet, Invisible Architecture, that had been put together by hand just in time for the Installation. It was the result of Nichol's pairing of those participants in the Invisible Architecture project who wanted to write a shared poem or piece of prose. 'The Wanderer' by Amber Massie-Blomfield and Anil Godigamuwe made an arresting opening poem, with its 'shadows that flicker' and the smell of 'the candle's light'. I bought a couple of copies of the new collection. I was also tempted by Bought, a publication in a small green envelope. It is available from the Antlers Press online shop. The narrative entitled 'The Kamikaze Dingo' is written by Toby de Angeli and illustrated by Nichol. Again, this is a novel and innovative publication, and this is the beauty of Antlers Press.  

 

Antlers Press publications can be bought from the website by clicking here

 

It was good to meet some of the other visitors to the nomadic library. One man had heard about the Installation through a news article (which he thought had been in the Daily Telegraph). Another was the author of a Turkish publication. There was a work by Oona Grimes and another by Alev Adil. 

 

Photo of the Installation library ...

 

I found myself enjoying the poetry in a day without olives is like a day by Jack Piers Scott. There is some delightful artwork on the accompanying digital album. Hallucinated Horse, another anthology on display, is a Pighog Press publication of New Latin American poets. The volume has been translated and edited by Nicole Cecilia Delgado and Tom Slingsby. There were free copies of back issues of Popshot magazine for us to take home.

 

... and another

 

There were times when we browsed at the display, times when we sat down to read and times when we listened to the audio files. It was a strange and positive experience. 

 

David browsing

 

Nichol had placed large empty sheets of paper and small blank cards in the centre of the circle, along with pens and a fat black marker. We were encouraged to participate by writing creatively on these. David and I attempted short Haiku.  

 

 

What a great day. Thank you, Nichol! 

Antlers Press

Email: antlerspress[at]gmail[dot]com
Follow: on twitter
Check out the Press on facebook
Keep up to date on the blog and join the mailing list

 

Invisible Architecture was curated by Nichol Keene. 

 

Individual participants include: 

 

Alev Adil * Amber Massie-Blomfield * Amir Hedayat-Vaziri * Anil Godigamuwe * Caroline Gill * Django Wylie * Dorothy Lehane * Emily Fitzell * Fani Parali * Jack Scott * Jennifer Brough * Kymm Coveney * Mark Pawson * Mert Erkan * Mischa Pearlman * Miss Quotes * Moya Pacey * Olga Koroleva * Peter Swaffer-Reynolds * Sascha Aurora Akhtar * Selina Nwulu * Stefania Salamida * Tania Hawthorne-Marchori * Theodoros Chiotis * Toby de Angeli * Zia ahmed *   

 

Presses involved include:

LemonMelon * Onomatopee * Pighog Press * Popshot Magazine 

  

N.B. Many (but not all) words in bold are livelinks, so do press through to the linked sites.   

 

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! 

International Echoes: From Romania ~ Orizont Literar Contemporan

From Romania : Orizont Literar Contemporan journals and Daniel Dragomirescu's * new * Oriztonturi Interculturale book

Daniel Dragomirescu, author and editor-in-chief

Many of you will know that I am a supporter of - and external collaborator for - the international journal, Orizont Literar Contemporan from Romania. The Romanian team members work extremely hard to produce publications reflecting the diverse views of writers of all kinds (novelists, journalists, poets ...) from all over the world. This makes for a fascinating read and offers a multicultural perspective on life in general and on the international literary scene in particular.

There has been a flurry of new publications in recent months, beginning with the issue of the journal (top right, showing Edinburgh Castle), An V - Nr. 5 (31), which includes a feature by Scottish-based poet, Neil Leadbeater, on 'A Dizzen Scottish' poets. Eileen Carney Hulme, known to Indigo Dreams poets, is represented as one of the twelve, along with Kenneth Steven, known for his poems of the wonderful island of Iona. I enjoyed Eleanor Livingstone's report on StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival. This issue also contains poetry from the Dominican Republic (Marielys Duluc Reyna), Brazil (Andreia Franco), Italy (Claudio Sottocornola) and the USA (Daniel Montoly), to cite but a few.

This journal was swiftly followed by An V - Nr 6 (32), which includes not only the work of Mexican poets, but also a prose piece, 'A Letter about Mexico' from Mira Faraday in the USA. I would particularly like to see the phenomenon of the mountain-top butterfly migration that Mira evokes, the more so since I was spellbound by the coverage of something similar in Sir David Attenborough's recent BBC natural history programmes on Africa. This issue also includes a selection of poetry by Anne Stewart, who will be known to many of the British poets. Her poem, 'Take my Hand', particularly appealed to me.

This brings me to the new book!

Orizontale Interculturale (ISBN 978-606-13-1174-3) by Daniel Dragomirescu is a remarkable record of the early years in the life of this multicultural literary magazine. It charts the hopes and dreams alongside some of the challenges that faced the small team of dedicated enthusiasts in the early days of the project. In one sense the smiling faces of Equipo Dragomirescu say it all, in the delightful cover painting by Virginia Patrone from Spanish Uruguay for Orizont Literar Contemporan has come of age!

The Director, Mihai Cantuiari, pays tribute in his Preface to Daniel's vision, noting that Daniel's 'youthful dream' for an independent international literary magazine finally came to fruition in 2008. There is certainly cause for much celebration in 2013. The magazine has found its way into numerous corners of the globe. It continues to draw more supporters via its presence on the web and by word of mouth. The Director's Preface is followed by a Romanian translation of Daniel's Cosmic Suitcase, a witty and charming tribute by Peggy Landsman (USA), a loyal supporter from the outset.

The book is largely in Romanian. It also contains articles and chapters in English. These include the paper that constitutes the final chapter of the book, From Creative Localism to Interculturalism, and a transcript of the interview conducted by Luis Benitez with Daniel, entitled All the World in a Journal.

So ... in the words of Daniel Dragomirescu,

'We're offering our readers pieces of literature

 written in languages of international circulation, 

and our efforts appeal to them ... 

CLH  (i.e. Orizont Literar Contemporan) aims to become

 an ambassador of friendship and cultural dialogue 

between all the people in the world.'

•  Coming soon ... the Antologia

International Echoes: Orizont Literar Contemporan

This is the latest edition of Orizont Literar Contemporan from Bucharest, Romania. As usual, it has been edited by Daniel Dragomirescu, with his wealth of experience in the field of bringing people together through the sharing of literature in its many different guises. Not for nothing does this multicultural journal have the strapline 'all the world in a magazine': this issue alone contains prose and/or literary criticism from many countries including Japan (Keiko Amano), Nigeria (Biola Olatunde) and India (Trishita Banerjee), in addition to poetry from - among other corners of the globe - Scotland (Neil Leadbeater), Wales (Byron Beynon) and Uganda (Zakaria Tiberindwa).

Do visit the website and find out more!

International Echoes (16): Publications from Romania and Colombia

With Professor Donald Riggs in Philadelphia

Those who speak Spanish may care to read an interview by Luis Benitez from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Luis asks Daniel Dragomirescu, editor-in-chief of Orizont Literar Contemporan, about his Romanian literary journal with its popular tagline, 'all the world in a magazine'. The interview appears on a website from Colombia, Red y Acción - and the link is here. 

Speaking of multicultural exchanges, I interviewed Don (through the medium of English) for the Romanian magazine when I was over in Pennsylvania back in January.

Publication Pointer (6): Launch of Antologia ii in Bucharest, Romania

I am sorry to be missing this exciting launch event of the second 'Antologia', a multi-lingual publication arising out of Orizont Literar Contemporan / Contemporary Literary Horizon magazine produced in Bucharest, Romania. The editor-in-chief is Daniel Dragomirescu, and the translation work is largely undertaken by students of the MTTLC in the University of Bucharest, under the direction of Professor Lidia Vianu. The launch takes place on 7 April 2012 at the National Museum of Romanian Literature. Two of my poems feature in the Antologia.

You might also enjoy these international links ...here, here, here, here and here!