This morning copies of Where You May Find Yourself arrived and they look great. The work on this anthology has been going on over the last few months. We submitted poems to Anthony J Quinn, Cavan Writer in Residence who agree to edit the publication. He chose the poems to include, suggested a title and a cover image. There was some agonizing over commas and capitals and last lines but eventually all was agreed and sent to the printer.
The finished product looks great and Anthony has written a most interesting preface. "The LitLab writers, I have to say, are one of the least Keatsian collection of poets you are likely to meet, and I mean that in the best possible way. The poems in this anthology carry the wisdom and good-natured humour of longevity. They concentrate a lifetime of thinking and being."
"These are poems by mature writers that aren’t an escape into the past but a means of slowing down and re-seeing the present, making this anthology a wonderful counter-balance to the quick thrills of social media and the internet."
This is the fourth anthology of members’ work. Previous anthologies were, Under A Thrupenny Moon, edited by Barbara Smith, in 2013, Between the Lines, edited by Julia Rice O’Dea, in 2015, and Frank Miller Stole my Girl, edited by Noel Monahan, in 2017.
Some of the poems included in this collection were first published in Poetry Ireland Review, The North, Crannóg, Stony Thursday Book and The Cormorant.
Some poems won prizes or were shortlisted in these competitions: Edgeworth Poetry Prize 2018, Padraic Colum Gathering Poetry competition 2018, Ledwidge Society Poetry Prize 2017 and Ilkley Poetry Competition 2017.
The cover photo is of Richard Cyril Duff, a Customs and Excise officer, father of LitLab member Honor Duff, at the Leitrim-Fermanagh border in the late 1920s.
The anthology will be launched at Bailieborough Poetry Festival on Friday 4 October and copies will be on sale there. It will also be possible to buy copies online on the festival site.
No comments:
Post a Comment