This week at Valley Press: a call for Yorkshire poems

Dear readers,

I'll leap straight in this week with the biggest news: as part of our Arts Council grant for 2016, we promised to publish a Yorkshire-themed poetry anthology, and we are opening submissions for it today. Here's the official announcement, which you can feel free to spread around the internet:

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Call for submissions: Yorkshire poetry anthology (deadline: 31st May)

In October 2016, Yorkshire-based Valley Press will publish an anthology of poetry which aims to document and celebrate our multi-faceted home county. We are now searching for great poems to feature in the book, from writers based anywhere in the world. Poems can be on any subject or topic – a place, an incident, a person, an idea – with only one rule: there must be some connection with the county of Yorkshire. (If in any doubt as to where Yorkshire begins and ends, consult this helpful map.)

Contributing poets will each receive a copy of the finished book, and a share of £900 in prize money/fees. We are considering poems which have been published before, but the author must be able to grant Valley Press non-exclusive rights to reproduce them in this anthology (if in doubt, consult your previous publisher).

The anthology will be edited by York-based poet Miles Salter, and submissions (maximum three poems per author) should be sent to milesinyork@hotmail.com, with the subject line 'Yorkshire Poetry Anthology', by 5pm on May 31st. The featured poets will be announced by September 1st, and the book is expected to be launched on National Poetry Day (Thursday 6th October).

Funding for this project has been generously provided by Arts Council England. We look forward to seeing your poems – best of luck!
 

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In other news: I was delighted by the response to last week's newsletter – no great exodus of subscribers, plenty of emails of support, and better still, lots of people taking advantage of the 'buy one get one free' offer! Thanks folks!

To keep the goodwill going, I'll do another offer this week: anyone who buys our first hardback, Ex Libris by David Hughes, can receive a second VP book free of charge. You should be able to add a 'note to seller' at the checkout advising me which book you'd like as your freebie (or say 'surprise me!') – but if you can't find that button, just reply to this email and let me know your choice.

I've chosen Ex Libris as Antony Dunn, the book's editor, is coming to Scarborough on February 11th for a reading at our favourite bookshop Wardle & Jones, and he's promised to read from David's book as well as his own collections. You can find details on that event here, and contact the bookshop for tickets, which are £5. I won't be featuring too many events in these newsletters – as I worry about annoying the 95% of subscribers who don't live anywhere near Scarborough! – but that will be a really special evening.

Next week: the new website is coming, and it is looking good. Watch this space!

All best,
Jamie McGarry, VP Publisher

Two new books from Valley Press

Dear readers,

After all the excitement last month, October has been almost peaceful – but don't think I've been enjoying my good fortune on a beach somewhere, sipping cocktails! I've been preparing for a big November, which should see the publication of four new titles from Valley Press. I'll just tell you about the first two today, though, as they have launch events imminent (and you can have too much of a good thing).

We'll start with Ex Libris, which has the honour of being the first Valley Press hardback, and the first time the poetry of David Hughes has been collected in print. David taught English at St Peter's School in York for almost thirty years, whilst quietly getting on with some excellent writing – he had finished around two-hundred poems at the time of his death, in 2011. This collection has been meticulously edited by David's friend, fellow poet and former St Peter's student Antony Dunn, who should be a familiar name to many of you (from the Bridlington Poetry Festival, perhaps?)

It really is a fantastic book, but don't take my word for it – Brian Patten perfectly described Ex Libris as: 'A wonderful collection by a poet whose work has been saved from oblivion by an act of love'. Helen Mort has said: 'If you only discover one writer this year, make it David Hughes' ... so consider yourselves told!

You can read a sample of Ex Libris on the book's homepage, if the above has sufficiently piqued your interest. The launch event for this book will take place on Thursday November 5th, at St Peter's School, York; there'll be a fireworks display at 6pm, with drinks, food and Antony Dunn reading from the book at 6.30pm. This is a free event, but you are asked to RSVP to s.jenks@stpetersyork.org.uk if you'd like to attend. Here's a map to the venue. Hope to see some of you there!

The second November book will be Cinema Stories, by long-time Valley Press poets James Nash and Matthew Hedley Stoppard (who I'm sure need no introductions). For this volume, James and Matthew toured and researched the cinemas of Leeds – some abandoned, some re-purposed (there were seventy at one point) and some still proudly operational. They then wrote a book of poetry on that subject, and about the mysterious shared (yet personal) experience that is cinema-going ... the results are fascinating. As ever, you can read a sample on the book's homepage.

Cinema Stories is to be launched at the Leeds International Film Festival (no less!) on Tuesday 10th November, in an event at Leeds Town Hall from 7pm. The two authors will be reading from the book, and there'll be a few other treats as well (think, multimedia extravaganza). This time you will have to buy a ticket to attend; you can do so through the festival's website here.

That's all for today, I'll be in touch in a couple of weeks with news of the other two November titles – there's one more poetry collection, and one big chunky historical fiction novel, both by established Valley Press authors. Watch this space!

All the best,
Jamie McGarry (VP Publisher)