The Emma Press Newsletter #37: The Thankful Edition

#37: The Thankful Edition Hello everyone, Since the last newsletter I've done three festive markets in Birmingham, met up with or Skyped eight of our twelve new pamphlet authors, and turned thirty. I spent most of my birthday on my own, at one of the festive markets. This wasn't what I'd expected or hoped for my thirtieth birthday, but it wasn't the worst way to mark the end of my twenties. I am starting to feel proud of myself and my achievements, and my book table at events is a reminder of how I am strong and I get stuff done. I feel lucky to have the support and trust of my tiny editorial team and all the authors who want to be part of what we do. I also feel thankful to be part of the Birmingham Originals Etsy team, run by my heroes Kirsty and Adrienne at Frilly Industries. Their Winter Makers Market last weekend in the old Municipal Bank building was an astounding success and a tribute to what can be achieved by having a vision and being determined and hard-working as well as really nice. I loved taking part in the Winter Makers Market and being amongst a community of makers. I felt more at home there than I ever do at gatherings of poetry publishers, and I felt spurred on to take part in the #MeetTheMakerWeek challenge on Instagram, sharing some of the backstory and inner workings of the Emma Press. You can read my posts here.  If you're a long-time subscriber, you might notice that the newsletter format has changed a bit. I had some problems with the delivery of my last couple of newletters (you can read the November one here), so I've upgraded to Mailchimp, with all its mind-boggling functionality. Let me know if you spot anything going wrong, such as images not displaying properly. * * * E & R & C at the MMAs The Emma Press has been shortlisted in the Michael Marks Awards for the third year running, so I'll be going along to the awards dinner next Tuesday with my lovely co-editor Rachel Piercey. Excitingly, we'll be joined for the first time by one of our pamphlet poets: Camille Ralphs, author of shortlisted pamphlet Malkin. You can read what the judges said about us on the Wordsworth Trust website, and you can read Camille's fascinating 'How I Did It' article about one of her poems over on the Poetry School website. * * * Perfect Xmas presents I'm not one to give people the hard sell, but my old Prince's Trust mentor Geeta will be reading this and she'll want to know why I haven't mentioned Christmas presents yet. So, I will casually mention that my webshop is hereand I think poetry books make wonderful gifts. Moon Juice is a particularly good stocking filler – aimed at children aged 8+ but a delight for all ages really. You can read a glowing review on Playing By The Book, along with an interview with author Kate Wakeling. * * * Submissions Update Open calls for submissions None currently. We'll launch our next call for submissions in early 2017, once we've replied to all the 2016 submissions. I'll give you all a sneak preview of some of next year's subjects in the January newsletter. Closed calls for submissions * Our call for POEMS ABOUT ANIMALS closed on Sunday 4th December 2016 and we are no longer accepting entries. I am Skyping the editors next week and will let you know the ETA for responses in January. * Our call for poems about British and Irish KINGS AND QUEENSclosed on 13th November and we are no longer accepting entries. We are currently aiming to send our responses by early February. * Our call for poems for POEMS ABOUT AUNTS ended on 29th May and we are no longer accepting entries. Rachel and I are a little behind on these but we are meeting up to discuss the submissions next week and we will have sent out all the responses by 22nd December 2016. This is a complete update on all of our calls for submissions, and we do send responses to everyone's submissions individually. In the meantime, just keep an eye on our newsletters for news of our progress and read our blog to find out what we do when we process submissions. And finally... * Ticket sales are now open for VERVE, Birmingham's first festival for poetry and spoken word, taking place 16-19th February 2017. You can book places in the various workshops and readings here. * Congratulations to Rachel Long, winner of the Poetry School diary poems competition! Congratulations also to Cynthia Miller, Ben Bransfield and Marvin Thompson, who have been selected for Primers Volume 2.  * Rachel Piercey, main editor person at the Emma Press, is teaching a Poetry School course called To Sea in the Sieve: Writing Poems for Children, starting 25th January 2017. You can find all the booking info here. * Have you made a recommendation for the Ted Hughes Awards yet? They're open till 9th January 2017 and you can read this helpful guide to the kinds of new work in poetry you can recommend. That's all for now! Do forward this newsletter onto your friends if you think they might enjoy it, or encourage them to sign up themselves here. Best wishes, Emma Wright Publisher at the Emma Press