Favourites and Links to writers' websites
Message in a bottle poetry magazine
The Regenerate
Medway Eyes
Urban Writers' Retreat
Abegail Morley
Vanessa Gebbie
Poets Corner
I was astonished to discover that my brother, John McCarthy, is in this video, Poets Corner on You Tube. John is a taxi driver, and was asked to be involved in this short film, an entry to the Reed Film Competition. A new career in acting awaits…
Medway Broadside
Medway Broadside is an independent news and culture for the Medway Towns in print and online. Contributions welcome on local issues, culture and sport.
http://www.themedwaybroadside.com/
Canterbury Poets
The Canterbury Poets website showcases poets from the Canterbury area and advertises their monthly events at the Jolly Sailor pub in Canterbury: second Sunday of each month, 6.30 - 8.30 pm. The site is produced in association with Conversation Paperpress and SaveAs Writers' Group.
http://www.canterburypoets.co.uk/
Tongue Tide
'A mouth watering feast of verbal treats from the wits table', or so their leaflet says. Nationally acclaimed guest poets and poetry open mic, with a chance to win a guest slot at the the next Tongue Tide. Chives Cafe at the Horsebridge Centre, Whitstable, every 4th Wednesday, 7.30 pm. £4 or £3 for concessions. Box office 01227 281174
Bob Carling
Freelance writer, editor and musician, aka the Folk Bloke and my husband. Bob writes on science and society issues for Ekklesia, and is an experienced editor in Science, Technical and Medical publishing. He also undertakes editing and proofreading for student theses.
Acoustic Architects
Website of the Folk Bloke's band with info about the band and news of the latest gigs.
http://acousticarchitects.co.uk/
Heidi Colthup
Heidi lives in Kent and has been: a published poet, a columnist for a national magazine, a university lecturer, a short film maker, an artist who has exhibited with Tracey Emin, a goat keeper, a chicken keeper, a tractor driver, a farmer's wife, a Primary school teacher, a mother, and a dreamer. She has a grand masterplan which involves reading books in bed while eating cake but until that comes to fruition she divides her time between writing, teaching and editing the fiction for Open Wide Magazine.
http://heidicolthup.blogspot.com/
Writers' Hub
The Birkbeck Writers' Hub is an interactive web portal with fiction, poetry, reviews, audio lectures and writers' resources. I look at this on a daily basis and highly recommend it.
June English
Kent-based poet, workshop leader and tireless promoter of poetry - June runs a regular poetry workshop at Waterstones, Rose, Lane, Canterbury, on the 4th Thursday of each month at 6.45pm.
Living With Wheels
Living With Wheels is an ad hoc collection of thoughts and opinions put together by Helen Aveling begun in about 2005. It has insights into what it is like for her having grown up with Cerebral Palsy as well as Helen's commentaries on things that have had an impact on her life. It includes things that bug her, like being told how 'brave' she is when she feels that she has just got on and done things, finding ways round her physical limitations. Helen has also edited a book that examines the way physical disability has been used in fiction primarily for girls in the twentieth century. Published in 2009 by Bettany Press Unseen Childhoods is a work of love and exemplifies how independently-minded Helen is. She is currently working on a fiction book, The Last Robot, and is being mentored by Maria McCarthy.
Folk Against Fascism
This was started as a reaction to the BNP embracing folk music as their own.
To quote from the Folk against Fascism website: 'The British National Party’s manifesto encourages its members to insinuate themselves into the folk and traditional customs of Britain. This involves the appropriation of British folk music and culture as a means of spreading its peculiar brand of racism and intolerance... The BNP want to take our music, want to twist it into something it isn’t; something exclusive, not inclusive. We must not let them. Folk Against Fascism is a way to demonstrate our anger at the way the BNP wants to remodel folk music in its own narrowminded image. The BNP’s Activists and Organisers Handbook encourages its members to get involved in the folk scene; Folk Against Fascism aims to make such infiltration impossible, with support coming from all sections of the folk community.'
You can subscribe to Folk against Fascism in all the usual modern ways, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
Conversation Poetry Quarterly
This started as a print poetry journal, and is now a high-quality online international poetry journal, with a new paper-press venture. Latest edition, and previous ones, available online (or to download in basic pdf) at:
http://conversationpoetry.co.uk/
The first issue of the new decade sees poetry from Ali Abdolrezaei, Colin Campbell Robinson, Jenna Cardinale, Tiziano Fratus, Nicky Gould, Mohammed Hashas, Rona Laycock, Maria McCarthy, Michael Mirolla, Kate Robinson, Jacob Russell, Karin Slater and Ian Stephen.
East Kent Live Lit
East Kent Live Lit has great links to many other websites and writers' resources, as well as news of events in the East Kent area.
Listen to a daily bedtime story
Some useful links for publishing opportunities from Heidi Colthup
http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/magazines/
This is the Poetry Library at the Southbank (which coincidentally holds copies of Maria's poetry books we found out last night!) the link here directs you to either printed magazines or online ezines which have the same standards as the printed type.
http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/index.php?s=083e04863b0ca4bad9ca999e5bd239f5
This is an excellent forum called Eratosphere which requires a 'static' email address (not a hotmail or gmail one) and is regarded as a professional site - the poet A E Stallings posts regularly on there which is how I found it. After providing feedback on other writers' work you can post your own. The site is part of Able Muse magazine, which is also listed by the Poetry Library.
For both poetry and prose fiction there is http://www.youwriteon.com/ , which is supported by Random House as well as the BBC and others. It works on a similar basis to Eratosphere - you review others work and they in turn look at yours.
Reviewage
Stephe Morris has a new website www.reviewage.net
The Medway-based writer and music lover is a regular reviewer for BBC Radio Kent and Radio Gloucester. The site also has a lovely animated graphic of a record player. Bring back vinyl, that’s what I say!
Tina Lawlor Mottram
Poet, artist, environmentalist, workshop leader, allotment gardener... the list goes on.
http://www.serpentinacreations.com/
Katherine May
Katherine May is an author of both prose and poetry, including Ghosts & their Uses (2006) and A Diary of Slow Progress (2007). She is currently working on a novel set in 1930s Gravesend. Glamorous locations are not her speciality. Her first novel, Burning Out (2009), has just been published by Snow Books.
In order to subsidise the writing, she works as an arts project manager and workshop leader. If she gets any time to spare, she knits, paddles in the sea, and over-feeds her husband.
http://www.katherinemay.co.uk/
Sarah Salway
Writer and teacher Sarah Salway has written two novels and was a collaborator on the marvellous Messages. Her novel, Something Beginning With, is one of my favourite reads.
http://www.sarahsalway.blogspot.com/
Rachel Taylor
Rachel Taylor is primarily an opera singer, but enjoys writing the occasional song, poem and piece of prose along with the odd foray into painting.
http://www.rachelhtaylor.co.uk/
Ban the Mind Reader
I have come across this weird and wonderful site run by Barry Hutchings, of particular interest to my Medway readers:
http://www.banthemindreader.co.uk/
Friday Poems
Get two poems in your inbox every Friday by sending an email to Tom Poston of Friday Poems fame
The Poetry Kit
The Poetry Kit produces a monthly newsletter with news of books, courses, events and competitions. Medwaymaria.co.uk is a 'Poetry Kit recommended site'.
http://www.poetrykit.org/
Cinnamon Press
This is a quality small press, which also runs several competitions with publishing opportunities
Medway Mermaids
Women’s writing group
http://www.medwaymermaids.btik.com/
Susan Wicks
Susan Wicks is the author of two novels, one of which, The Key (Faber, 1997), was serialised on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. She has also published a short memoir, Driving My Father (Faber, 1995 and Basic Books, 1996), as well as five collections of poetry, the most recent of which is De-iced (Bloodaxe, 2007). She has read her work on national radio and television and in the National Theatre, as well as in many other contexts. She is currently Director of the Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Kent, where short fiction occupies a special place. Roll Up for the Arabian Derby (bluechrome, 2008) is her first book of short stories.
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/
Moniza Alvi
I was at a poetry workshop run by Moniza Alvi in 2006. It was for poets shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize at the University of Kent. She is such a gentle teacher, and so self-effacing. I particularly like her work on the theme of the dual personality that comes from being raised by immigrant parents in England. This influenced the Mitchelstown sequence in my collection Nothing But.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moniza_Alvi
Kate Clanchy
I heard Kate Clanchy read at Chatham library a few years ago, on International Women’s Day. It’s good to hear a poet perform their own work; you get so much more from their poems. I was also in awe of her as she’d had twins about a month previously and was still managing to find time to write. During the time they slept in the afternoon, apparently.
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/profile/?p=auth125
Patience Agbabi
Another Chatham library event! Everything performed from memory The best performance poet I have seen. And now the new Canterbury Laureate
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth163
John Hegley
Who else could write a poem about an amoeba, turn it into a song and get a Chatham crowd singing it? He is also proud to wear glasses.
Katherine Sturtevant-Stuart
Katherine found me on Facebook, through a book review that I had written. An author of young adult historical fiction, Katherine lives in Berkeley, California
http://www.katherinesturtevant.com/
The Poetry Library
Based at the South Bank Centre in London, the Saison Poetry Library houses the Arts Council Poetry Collection, and hosts an online archive of poetry magazines. I visited the library recently and met an American poet, Jack Anderson. 'Us poets, we're shameless,' he said, as we both searched for our own poems in the library (his in book form, mine in various poetry magazines). How true... but the joy of finding your work in a library!
http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/
Lynne Rees
Formerly Kent -based poet and fiction writer, now based in France, Lynne runs an online poetry workshop. For inspiration, energy and originality, visit…
http://applehousepoetryworkshop.blogspot.com/
http://anopenfield.blogspot.com/