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New + Preview + Other (Stuff)

niiayikwei — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:30:30 +0000

So, we’re have a reading – well, a launch! We’re calling it New + Preview + Other (Stuff); it’s actually the launch for Emma Hammond’s fantastic new book tunth-sk, but we’ll also be previewing Kate McLoughlin’s debut book of poetry, Plums AND hearing from old favourites like Agnes Meadows and Aoife Mannix (Fiction) as well as newer members of the flipped eye family like Adrienne J. Odasso and Leila Segal (Fiction).

Guess what? It’s all FREE and it’s happening at the Poetry Cafe on Friday July 8, 2011. We’ll be there from 6pm (chatting, hugging and selling goodies such as our special tenth anniversary travelcard wallets and our 10 YEAR STORY POSTCARD), but the readings will start at 7.30pm. The address is 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9BX…. Please come out and support us and make the lovely Emma feel like the superstar she is!

Away from the readings, don’t forget that your votes until 20 July will help decide whether our two author-finalists will win BIG in the People’s Book Prize. Adrienne J. Odasso with Lost Books (which is also up for the Best First Book Award) and Truth Thomas with Bottle of Life are counting on your votes! Unfortunately, you can only vote for one of them since they are in the same category, so vote for the one you enjoyed the most. [ People's Book Prize Final Voting ]

My Running Credentials

niiayikwei — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:10:40 +0000

Now, I don’t want anyone to get excited. I am not in line for mayor, major, senator, sanitary agent, vice president or head of taste; I am just planning on running. After fourteen years of not really doing any distance running, I am returning to the roads, hills, paths, streams and hillocks to raise money towards the Venture Award, which we (at flipped eye) officially launch this week. Why running? I hear you ask. Well, I’ve done it before and it gives tangible targets, people can come and check on me if they wish etc. etc. plus most conventional funders don’t like to fund competitions. At a time when getting funding is challenging we didn’t want to wait for someone else’s signature before launching what we feel is an essential award. To prove that I can actually run and to give me some targets to work towards, I’m posting below the splits from my Rotterdam Marathon outing in 1997 – no joke! I’m close to 40 now so those are some tight figures to try to go for – even though I’m only starting with short distances for now (beginning with the Clapham Common 5K on Sunday July 3, 2011)

Now for the serious business. I have set up a page for all of you dying to sponsor me at: http://www.kapipal.com/runningforventure – and, of course, if you want to run and direct people to sponsor the award too you’re very welcome…

There’s a widget below that shows you how terrible I am at raising funds. Have pity for I can be quite pithy and surely that counts for something!

The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets

niiayikwei — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:11:20 +0000

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