Groundbreaking Spanish poetry translations from Salt

Discover a new world of Latin American poetry with Salt

Salt is publishing major selections from leading Latin American poets, why not discover them today? This ground-breaking series of books offers work often not previously seen in English from major figures of the late 20th Century. Featuring poetry from Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

 
 

Two reviews of Chris Emery’s The Departure

Read Catherine Edmunds on Goodreads:

I first read this book a week ago on the East Coast Mainline from Darlington to London Kings Cross (‘Look left, a cobbled lane and a crypt of hats’). I read it again from St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord (‘above the summer marriage of grasses’), and again from Paris Montparnasse to Niort (‘All the forks, the platters, the cruet set: everything is dancing.’). I waited several days, and read it again, three times on the return journey; the last time, back to front so that I ended with ‘Snails’. Those snails! (‘Why are they all called Tony or Erasmus or King Nacre?’) I love this poem. It opens the book and encapsulates all that for me is so wonderful about Chris Emery’s poetry: the wit, the connections, the sheer joy in words and what they can do, the shock of unexpected juxtapositions, the extraordinary insight into the ordinary, the leap beyond the mundane into the terrifying, the ineffable logic – and Droylsden. Okay, Droylsden’s not actually mentioned in the snail poem, but does appear elsewhere, more than once. Read more …

Read Michelle Teasdale on Winning Words:

‘The Departure’ features many narrative poems, playful and vivid. Departures of one kind or another form the main theme. The poet departs for various places, from Manchester, to Kettle’s Yard House in Cambridge to a seedy motel room. Emery departs his own persona to inhabit those of various narrative voices, from Bukowski, a street brawler, and a porn-star stand-in (“mostly, I stare at tan fabrics and zebra hide”). We even visit the ultimate departure – death itself, examining the poet’s own death, and that of his brother (“I see your sightless tiny hands, that peculiar half-kiss / as my life draws in to your permanent night”). Read more …

New covers at The Cover Factory

The winners of The Scott Prize for Short Stories 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, 30th April 2012

CROMER, UK (Salt Publishing) — We are delighted to announce that Carys Bray and Rob Roensch have won this year’s International Scott Prize for Short Stories. Both writers will be published in November 2012.

The international short story prize, now in its third year, recognises the best debut full-length collections in English and receives entries from the UK and Ireland, the USA and Australasia. This year’s winners are Carys Bray (UK) for her book, Sweet Home, and Rob Roensch’s (US) The Wildflowers of Baltimore.

Carys Bray lives in the North West seaside town of Southport with her husband and four children. She is a PhD student and associate tutor in creative writing at Edge Hill University. Her work has been published in a wide variety or magazines and anthologies, including New Fairy Tales where her story ‘The Ice Baby’ was published, and Mslexia which published her story ‘Just in Case,’ winner of the MA category of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize.

Rob Roensch has published short fiction in Slice, HOBART and PANK and elsewhere. He lives with his wife and daughters in Baltimore, Maryland and teaches at Towson University.

Jen Hamilton-Emery [Director of Salt Publishing] said: ‘Since developing the Scott Prize to promote and support debut short story writers, I have read and selected winners from hundreds of manuscripts. This year my task was made particularly difficult by the astonishing level of skill within our shortlist and I would recommend everyone to spend time discovering those writers. Making selections from the shortlist has been difficult but I have focused on the books which I believe have a depth and maturity of talent that all readers will immediately recognise. Carys Bray and Rob Roensch combine impeccable craft with unforgettable imagery to create stories that are surprising, psychologically resonant, emotionally complex and, above all else, a sheer joy to read. Carys and Rob, on either side of the Atlantic, both demonstrate that the short story is thriving and developing in the 21st century and I look forward to working with the writers and publishing their books later this year.’

The other shortlisted authors were:
Alison Moore
Otis Haschemeyer
Julia Bohanna
Chris Smith
Sarah Faulkner
Rusty Dolleman
Julie Mayhew
Maurice Gartshore
Madeleine D’Arcy

Further information on the two winning entries can be found here:
Cary Bray
Rob Roensch

Many congratulations to Carys and Rob, and to all who were shortlisted.

The Scott Prize is an international annual prize for a first collection of short fiction. Entrants must not have been published before, and must permanently reside in the UK & Ireland, the USA, or Australia & New Zealand.

Previous Winners of the Scott Prize are:

2011:
A.J. Ashworth (UK) – Somewhere Else of Even Here
Cassandra Parkin (UK) – New World Fairy Tales
Jonathan Pinnock (UK) – Dot Dash (to be published 2012)

2010:
Patrick Holland (Australia) – The Source of the Sound
David Mullins (US) – Greetings from Below (to be published 2012)
Susannah Rickards (UK) – Hot Kitchen Snow
Tom Vowler (UK) – The Method

For further information please contact:

Jen Hamilton-Emery at jen@saltpublishing.com

Ryan Van Winkle in Australia

If you missed him when he visited Melbourne and Sydney last September, the award-winning, American-accented and Edinburgh-based poet is returning with visits to Clunes, Canberra and the National Poetry Festival in Darwin. Van Winkle’s first collection was published by Salt in 2010 after winning the Crashaw prize. Since then it has received  much acclaim throughout the world. Van Winkle’s readings are poignant, funny, and spontaneous. See him live to discover why The Glasgow Review said ‘this collection seems to be at the forefront of a shift to something new, it is on the way to a perfection of some new movement…’

* More Reviews — Part I & Part II

* Ryan’s website with samples, videos, biographic details and free audio

* Buy the Book

Below is Ryan’s schedule with thanks to Australian Poetry for the invitation and Creative Scotland for the funding assistance.

Australia

10 – 13 May – Wordstorm & National Poetry Festival 2012: A Festival of Australasian Poetry

THURSDAY 10 MAY
11.00am: NT open education centre – poetry workshop via video link to remote indigenous schools
SATURDAY 12 MAY
12.15pm: panel discussion – ‘ut pictura poesis – the aesthetics of poetry’
SUNDAY 13 MAY
1.00pm: reading – poems and maybe some ‘covers’
5.30pm: comedy debate – ‘sonnets are better than sex’

Monday, 7 May – The Manning Clark House, Canberra — 19.30

a lovely informal space with room for questions, jokes, heckling, and wine sipping. Expect an enthusiastic evening.

Saturday 5 May – Clunes Booktown Festival — Writer’s Workshop — 11am:

in which Ryan will be hosting an informal writer’s group. We’ll be looking at Scottish poetry and creating our own poems.

These appearances have been partly funded by the generous support of Creative Scotland. Salt and the Wordstorm / National Poetry Festival gratefully acknowledge this integral support.

 

Find out why Gutter Magazine called this collection ‘ nothing short of excellent’.

 

 

The winners of The Crashaw Prize for Poetry 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, 17th April 2012

The winners of The Crashaw Prize for Poetry 2011

CROMER, UK (Salt Publishing) — Kaddy Benyon and Luke Heeley have won this year’s Crashaw Prize for Poetry 2011. Both poets will be published in November 2012.

The international poetry prize, now entering its fourth year, recognises the best debut full-length collections in English and receives entries from the UK and Ireland, the USA and Australasia.

Kaddy Benyon was born in Cambridge in 1973 and studied Literature, Life & Thought at Liverpool John Moores University and has an MA in Creative Writing from Anglia Ruskin University. She worked as a freelance television scriptwriter and novelist prior to having children. Her poems have appeared in Mslexia, Ambit, London Magazine, Popshot and the Frogmore Papers and Stand.  She was shortlisted for both the 2010 Fish Poetry Prize and the inaugural Picador Poetry Prize.

Luke Heeley was born in 1977 and grew up in Lincolnshire. He now lives in south London. Selections of his poems have previously appeared in the anthologies The Art of Wiring (Ondt & Gracehoper) and Ask for It by Name (Unfold Press). He is also the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award.

Chris Hamilton-Emery [Director of Salt Publishing] said:

“Kaddy Benyon’s memorable and rewarding book, Milk Fever, offers lyrics of intense physicality and sensuality, where the world we inhabit and the world of our bodies collides and often merges in metaphors of powerful resonance and charm. The imagery and music of Benyon’s language is matched with an extraordinary range in this debut collection and we are delighted to make it a winner in this year’s prize.

“Luke Heeley’s winning collection, which arrived without a title, but has acquired one, Voyage to the Corner Shop, is exquisitely written, and displays a fantastic ear for cadence as well as displaying a significant lyric gift. Like his co-winner, Kaddy Benyon, Heeley has remarkable range and this collection won our admiration for this, for its impressive craft and technique, and its sheer delight as a truly rewarding read.”

Other shortlisted poets were:

Micah Bateman
Caleb Klaces
Julie Maclean
Alice Miller
Benjamin Morris
Charlotte Pence
Fritz Ward
J.T Welsch

About The Crashaw Prize:

The Crashaw Prize is an international annual prize for a first collection of poetry. Entrants must not have been published before, and must permanently reside in the UK & Ireland, the USA, or Australia & New Zealand. For more information please visit: http://thecrashawprize.co.uk/

Previous winners of the prize:

2010 WINNERS

Vesna Goldsworthy (Serbia/UK)
Rebecca Lehmann (USA)
Catherine Theis (USA)

2009 WINNERS

Nathan Hoks (USA)
Andrew Pidoux  (UK)
Nick Potamitis  (UK)
Jonty Tiplady  (UK)
Ryan van Winkle  (UK)
Anna Woodford  (UK)

2008 WINNERS

Tom Chivers  (UK)
Abi Curtis  (UK)
Jamey Dunham (USA)
Jared Stanley (USA)

For further information please contact:

Chris Hamilton-Emery at chris@saltpublishing.com

Poetry-next-the-Sea 2012 Line up

John Siddique is among the headline poets at this year’s Poetry-next-the-Sea which also features a strong line-up of younger poets published or anthologised by Salt

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE
Friday 11th – Sunday 13th May

Vicki Feaver
Matthew Hollis
Jehane Markham
Brian Patten
John Siddique
Jean Sprackland
Dame Gillian Beer, DBE

on a new edition of the poems of Lewis Carroll
Matthew Hollis
reads from his award-winning Edward Thomas biography “Now All Roads Lead to France”

Young poets from
Salt Publishing:
Penny Boxall
Tim Cockburn
Charlotte Geater
Meryl Pugh

Festival artist: Cecilia Evans, LGSM, MA, RADA plus many of our usual events and features, including Schools’ Programme, Competition winners, and Open Floor

All events take place at
The Maltings
Staithe Street
Wells-next-the-Sea
Norfolk
NR23 1AU

Tickets available from Spring 2012
Check the Poetry-next-the-Sea website for details

Winners of the Chris Emery Giveaway Competition

The answers to the Giveaway competition were:

  1. Michael Benton and Peter Benton
  2. The Lighthouse in Cromer, Norfolk
  3. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
  4. Southwold, Suffolk
  5. MIssion: Impossible

The winners are

Denise Cruikshank
Tommy B. Thurlow
Elaine Crane
Paul Bentham
Marjorie Turner

Glen Duncan event at St John’s College, Cambridge with Tracy Ryan

Join Glen Duncan, acclaimed author of The Last Werewolf and Talulla Rising, introduced by poet and novelist Tracy Ryan, for an evening of reading and discussion.
 
St John’s College
Boys Smith Room, Fisher Building
8pm, Thursday 26 April
Refreshments provided

The Debris Field – Salvaging the Titanic in Word, Sound and Image

Three Salt poets: Simon Barraclough, Isobel Dixon and Chris McCabe première their new multi-media show about the loss of the Titanic at the British Film Institute. The première will take place on Saturday April 14th, 100 years to the night of the fateful collision of ship and iceberg.

The ambitious production features original work performed by the poets along with specially commissioned music from Oli Barrett of Bleeding Heart Narrative and new film from acclaimed film-maker Jack Wake-Walker. The Debris Field will take you on a resonant tour of the cultural debris of this iconic event, exploring ideas of luxury and labour; courage and folly; life and loss; and human ambition in the face of nature’s power.

 

The British Film Institute South Bank

The Blue Rooms

Belvedere Road

London SE1 8XT

Saturday 14th April 19:30

£7.50 book tickets.

Watch the trailer on Youtube.