The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets
Summary
Blogger: NiiRole: Senior Editor
Area: Fiction & Poetry
Original Career: Scientist
Editor of the main poetry imprints until 2007, now focussing on fiction. Editor since 2001 » »
Books
As Editor:14-2: twenty eight love poems
Dance the Guns to Silence (with Kadija Sesay)
x-24: unclassified (with Tash Aw) mouthmark series
waterways poetry
lubin & kleyner
As Author:
eyes of a boy, lips of a man (1999)
So, I arrived from a British Council-linked trip to India to find a press release about the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets. I’m very pleased about the awards for two reasons: 1) there is an award for both authors and publishers 2) I can’t help but feel that we contributed to the higher profile of poetry pamphlets/chapbooks in the UK market. Now I’m not suggesting that flipped eye publishing started publishing pamphlets in the UK – in fact two of the pamphlet publishers I most admire started well before us; Torriano have been releasing beautifully-priced pamphlets since 1987 (if not earlier) and Flarestack have been doing the same since 1995 [both retail their pamphlets for £3]. However, until we started the mouthmark series in 2005, the pamphlets being produced followed the trend of a regular publishing programme; there was no pamphlet imprint that was producing a focussed series of work linked to a specific objective. mouthmark was started with the aim of taking work that had been succesful in live readings and translating it for the page. This meant that we used a very intensive editing process which often involved helping each poet find a comfortable mode of expression on the page; one that was accessible but didn’t kill the vibrancy that their work held on stage.
some of the jackets for the mouthmark pamphlet series
We also developed a distinctive look for the imprint which often has punters stopping for a second look at book fairs (samples on the right). The outcomes of the mouthmark pamphlet series initiative include press exposure in Straight No Chaser and the Independent on Sunday, a couple of PBS Pamphlet Choice Awards and – my love/hate outcome – a rush of submissions! More importantly, we noticed other publishers in the marketplace establishing similar initiatives. One of my favourites is the pilot series run by the tall-lighthouse – publisher of my chapbook M is for Madrigal. Launched in 2007 and edited by the ultra-talented Roddy Lumsden, the series aims to unearth young poetry talent in the UK and I believe it has already won three PBS Pamphlet Choice awards in its short life.
I believe the emergence of such well-managed, elegantly-designed pamphlet series meant that it was only a matter of time before an award such as the Michael Marks came along. Of course, the Poetry Book Society has been working on this for a while, but it’s always easier to close a deal when you have the quality to back it up. Now, the first award for publishers covers work published in 2008 and since mouthmark didn’t release any titles last year, my money is on the tall-lighthouse; Roddy has edited and groomed a truly amazing crop of writers and noone deserves it more.
To find out more about the awards, visit this link: http://www.bl.uk/news/2009/pressrelease20090203.html
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