In 2004 poet Maggie Sawkins (The Zig Zag Woman, Two Ravens Press, 2007) co-founded the popular Tongues & Grooves Poetry and Music Club in Southsea. In these two interviews she talks to award-winning poets Allison McVety and Susan Utting about their own work and their views of the poetry scene today.
The Act of Writing
Alice Thompson
Alice Thompson on the act of creative writing.
"It helps to explain the creative process, if only to illustrate the duality of mind required to be able to write: the Jekyll and Hyde of intuition and sharp analysis. I will concentrate on the intuitive side first. ‘All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath,’ wrote Fitzgerald. The grave robbing of your work (i.e. the editing) can come later..."
The problems of isolation and voice – why we
should brand literature by publisher
and not by author
Alex Pheby
"The traditional image of the writer alone in their garret room, working under the influence of their muse and producing work to the dictates of their inner voice is not simply a cliché: it is a myth perpetuated during the selling of books. The publishing industry - particularly when it produces fiction – relies on the marketing of discrete, distinguishable and consistent brands..."
Jim Bloom on imaginary sea voyages and Margaret Elphinstone's Hy Brasil.
"There is a self-contradictory passion in humankind to appreciate, and embrace, the proposition that there are things that are inexplicable. Some of these mysterious phenomena are real, some imagined and others straddle the two worlds. We take delight in hearing of a far-distant and mysterious domain of giants, or tiny people, dragons, demons or otherworldly monsters; of kingdoms far beyond any conceivable maritime journey..."
ARCHIVED ARTICLES
Comment: The thorny issue of Arts Council funding for publishers Sharon Blackie & David Knowles
The F-Virus Doug Rice on Raymond Federman
