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The Old Hill is alive with poetry: A new Lewes anthology out now

The Frogmore Press has today published a new anthology of work by poets resident in Lewes: Echoes from the Old Hill, edited by Jeremy Page.

A companion volume to Poems from the Old Hill (Frogmore Press, 2012), it features work from eighteen widely published poets including John Agard, Grace Nichols, Catherine Smith and Janet Sutherland, and will be launched at the Elephant and Castle, White Hill, Lewes, on Wednesday 1 June 2022, 7pm (free, no booking necessary, all welcome).

The arresting cover image of the chalk cliff overlooking the river and railwayland is by local artist Neil Gower.

Copies of the book (£10.00 post free) are available from: The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes BN7 1PJ; or can be purchased locally from Skylark in the Needlemakers.

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Frogmore’s sad farewell to Viva Lewes magazine

This lovely set of photos was taken just pre-lockdown by local photographer and student Ruby Craig, who’d come into the Viva office on a work placement. She was fabulous, and photographed a number of features for the April issue of the long-running local listings and features magazine – an issue which, sadly, was never to see the light of day. History, and Covid, took over – and now Viva Lewes and Viva Brighton have both, permanently, had to close their doors. 

So Frogmore has kindly offered to host these photos. The subject is Needlewriters poets (though this is not the whole collective) and we four are all also Frogmore poets and  reviewers. (I – Charlotte Gann – also happened to be the outgoing editor of Viva Lewes!). Needlewriters – a cooperative of local writers – continues to host quarterly reading events in Lewes, or at least we hope to again, from January 2021.

For the planned feature we also asked each poet: ‘What is a word you love, and why?’ Here were their – our – responses.

Robin Houghton: “Box’: short, punchy, practical and a bit funny.’

Robin Houghton, photographed by Ruby Craig, 2020

Janet Sutherland: ‘My word is ‘penultimate’, because there’s something magical in being able to pin down the last-but-one.’

Janet Sutherland, photographed by Ruby Craig, 2020

Jeremy Page: “Crepuscular’, because it so perfectly evokes my favourite times of day.’

Jeremy Page, photographed by Ruby Craig, 2020

Charlotte Gann: “Elbow’. It looks great (in many typefaces), sounds good – and combines five of my favourite letters.’

Charlotte Gann, photographed by Ruby Craig, 2020

Ruby Craig can be found on Instagram @rubystyling

CG

 

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‘Pale Fire – the Moon in Poetry and Art’ at the New Venture Theatre in Brighton on 29 November 2019

If you missed the launch of Pale Fire – New Writing on the Moon earlier this year, here is your second chance to hear from some of the contributors, at a very special venue.
The Moon has inspired lovers, poets and artists since time began and was in fact our first timekeeper. This year it has been 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon. Join us for an evening of lunar poetry hosted in collaboration with the The New Venture Theatre in Brighton.

Writer and editor Alexandra Loske will introduce new and classic writing on the Moon, composed, chosen and read by contemporary poets and NVT members.

Poets performing will be: Jeremy Page, Maria Jastrzębska, John O’Donoghue, Chris Sykes, Stephen Plaice, Chris McDermott, Seema Kapila, Claire Booker, Zel Norwood, Neil Gower and Janet Sutherland.

Friday 29th November 7.45pm (doors open at 7pm)
New Venture Theatre
Bedford Place
Brighton
BN1 2PT
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Emily Wills wins Frogmore Prize – again!

Emily Wills, author of Diverting The Sea (The Rialto, 2000), Developing The Negative (The Rialto, 2008) and Unmapped (The Rialto, 2014), has won the Frogmore Poetry Prize for an extraordinary fourth time. She previously carried off the 250 guinea booty in 2012, 2013 and 2017.

Emily Wills, winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize 2018

Of her Prize-winning  poem  adjudicator Janet Sutherland says:  ‘This poem describes the death of a friend and how the son of the friend is affected by that grief in adulthood.  This is a confident and moving account. The poem moved me every time I read it. There’s a deep sense of the caring relationship between the speaker and the child’s parent. The comparison between fracking and grief is applied very delicately.’

 

 

Runners-up for this year’s Prize (the 32nd) were Rosie Jackson and Carole Coates and other shortlisted poets were Jonathan Edwards, Wendy Klein, Jeni Mills, Miriam Patrick, Susannah Violette and Margaret Wilmot. The winner, runners-up and shortlisted poems will all be published in number 92 of The Frogmore Papers in September. Prize entrants can order a copy at the reduced price of £3.50 (cheques payable to: The Frogmore Press).

Emily Wills has now won the Frogmore Prize on more occasions than any other poet. Caroline Price has won on three occasions, while John Latham and Howard Wright have both won twice.

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Frogmore Poetry Prize celebrates 32 years – call for submissions

The Frogmore Poetry Prize will be awarded for the 32nd time this summer. Founded in 1987, the Prize originally comprised the princely sum of twenty-five guineas and a life subscription to The Frogmore Papers. The Prize is now a more substantial two hundred and fifty guineas (£262.50), but the accompanying subscription to the Papers is now for two years, not for life.

The winner of the first Prize was David Satherley and subsequent winners have included Tobias Hill, Mario Petrucci, Sharon Black, Lesley Saunders, and Ann Alexander. Caroline Price and Emily Wills have both performed the extraordinary feat of winning three times while John Latham and Howard Wright have won twice.

Janet Sutherland

The deadline for submissions for this year’s Prize is less than three weeks away (31 May 2018). Adjudicator Janet Sutherland will read all entries.

Full details at:   http://www.frogmorepress.co.uk/uncategorized/the-frogmore-poetry-prize-2018/

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Frogmore Papers No 91 and calls for submissions Frogmore Poetry Prize

Frogmore Papers 91 cover, by Christopher Lewis

Thirty-five years on from publication of the first Frogmore Papers the 91st edition has been published. Featuring poetry by Denise Bennett, Michael Bartholomew-Biggs, Ian Caws, Robin Houghton, Fiona Moore, Myra Schneider and others, prose by Bahar Brunton, Antony Johae and Jane McLaughlin, and artwork by Dee Sunshine, the issue sports a striking cover by Christopher Lewis.

Available post-free for £5 from The Frogmore Press, cash or cheques (payable to The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes, BN7 1PJ).

The deadline for submissions to the thirty-second Frogmore Poetry Prize is 31 May 2018.  Details HERE. Adjudicator Janet Sutherland will read all entries.

Submissions are invited for the July edition of morphrog (‘poetry in the extreme’). Send up to six poems in a single Word document to: morphrog@gmail.com