Tuesday 20 November 2012

Last call for submissions for morphrog 6



morphrog 6 will go live on 1 January 2013. 
The deadline for submissions of 'poetry in the extreme' is 30 November 2012. Please send up to six poems in a single word file to morphrog@gmail.com


morphrog 5 can still be viewed at  http://www.morphrog.com/

morphrog is an online poetry journal. It publishes poems that operate at the extremes of experiment and tradition and welcomes submission of both very long and very short poems. Copyright in every case will remain with the poet.

Friday 9 November 2012

Free lecture on Frogmore anthology Languages of Colour at University of Sussex on 20 November 2012


Frogmore Managing Editor Alexandra Loske will be talking about the joy of editing the recent Frogmore anthology Languages of Colour. Details below, all welcome:
Tuesday 20 November:
17:30 until 18:30
University of Sussex
Language Learning Centre, Arts A
Speaker: Alexandra Loske
Part of the series: SCLS Language and Culture series
Alexandra Loske recently edited and published an anthology entitled Languages of Colour, comprising poetry, prose, critical writing and art work on the theme of colour. The title might suggest a discussion of linguistic aspects of colour, but in this context 'languages' stands for the many different approaches and attitudes to colour and how colour is used as a tool in various art forms and disciplines, just as actual languages vary and interact with each other. In this lecture art historian and erstwhile linguist Alexandra Loske will talk about the idea, concept and inspiration behind the anthology, the selection and commissioning of material, and observations on the theme of language, colour, poetry and art made during the editing process.
Alexandra Loske is a doctoral researcher at the department of Art History at the University of Sussex and is currently investigating the use of colour in the interiors of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. She also has a background in languages and linguistics and is the managing editor of the Frogmore Press.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Poems from Russia: Sasha Dugdale and Irina Mashinski reading at the University of Sussex

On Monday 15 October 2012 the inaugural event in the Sussex Centre for Language Studies ‘Language and Culture’ series will take place at the University of Sussex. Poems from Russia will feature readings by British poet Sasha Dugdale and Russian poet Irina Mashinski.
 
Language and Culture Series 2012/2013

in association with Russoc
 Sasha Dugdale and Irina Mashinski will read recent work.
Sasha Dugdale
 Monday 15 October 2012, 17.30
in room 4, Language Learning Centre, Arts A
Free event. All welcome.





The second event in the series will feature Frogmore Managing Editor and editor of the Languages of Colour anthology Alexandra Loske delivering a lecture on … languages of colour. This will take place on Tuesday 20 November, same time, same place.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Frogmore looks back over thirty years


Frogmore poets read to a packed house at Needlemakers in Lewes on National Poetry Day (4 October). At an event celebrating the Day itself, Frogmore's 30th year and the publication of Poems from the Old Hill: A Lewes Anthology, and the 80th number of The Frogmore Papers and an appreciative audience listened attentively to Lewes poets Marek Urbanowicz, Julia O'Brien, Robin Houghton and Patrick Bond and special guest Joe Sheerin, who had driven over the Downs from Rottingdean to beguile with his customary Irish wit.

The Frogmore selection available at Skylark Bookshop, Needlemakers, Lewes
The evening concluded with Jeremy Page reading a selection of poems from 30 years of The Frogmore Papers, culminating in Michael Swan's 'At the Opera', which brought the house down.

Jeremy Page reading from 30 years of Frogmore publications at Needlemakers, Lewes

Thursday 4 October 2012

Where it all began nearly 30 years ago: The Frogmore tearooms in Folkestone

Since Frogmore is celebrating its 30th year today here is a very rare (I guess we can call it 'vintage') picture postcard of where it all began in 1983: The Frogmore tearooms in Folkestone, complete with(out) spurious missing apostrophe. Now long gone and replaced by a pizza chain.
Happy National Poetry Day everyone!

The Frogmore Press was founded by Andre Evans and Jeremy Page at the Frogmore tea-rooms in Folkestone in 1983. The Press has published hundreds of writers in its now bi-annual magazine The Frogmore Papers and also in individual collections and anthologies. 



Sunday 23 September 2012

Frogmore celebrates its 30th year on National Poetry Day at Needlemakers in Lewes


Frogmore will celebrate National Poetry Day on October 4th, 2012, at the Needlemakers in Lewes with readings by Joe Sheerin, Kay Syrad, Julia O’Brien, Robin Houghton, Marek Urbanowicz and Patrick Bond. 
This event will also celebrate the thirtieth year of The Frogmore Press and publication of Poems From The Old Hill: A Lewes Anthology and the 80th number of The Frogmore Papers


The former includes contributions from twenty poets who are resident in Lewes, including John Agard, Judith Kazantzis, Grace Nichols and Catherine Smith, while the latter features a history of the Press and poems from every year of The Frogmore Papers alongside new work from the likes of Sarah Jackson and Sarah Salway. Poems shortlisted for this year’s Frogmore Poetry Prize, including the winning entry by Emily Wills, are also published in this issue.

Thursday 6 September 2012

Readings and events with Frogmore writers in September


September sees a number of events and readings by Frogmore writers in the Lewes area.  On Saturday 8 September Miriam Darlington launches her new book Otter Country (Granta Books), a prose account of her search for otters in Britain,  at the Linklater Pavilion on the railway land in Lewes.  6.00 – 8.00.

On Wednesday 12 September Rachel Playforth is a reader in ‘Poems from the Crypt’ at the Crypt Gallery in Seaford.

On Wednesday 19 September Judith Kazantzis and Jackie Wills join Clare Best and friends for a reading at the Needlemakers in Lewes.  7.45 (doors 7.00), entry £5.00.

And on Monday 24 September Jeremy Page will be reading at the Quick Fictions event at the Brighton Digital Festival. The Latest Music Bar (6.30 – 8.30). Free entry.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Poems from the Old Hill: a Lewes anthology


Which town has the strongest claim to be the poetry capital of the United Kingdom?  

Cover art by Neil Gower
If the number of poets per head of population is anything to go by, then the answer must surely be tiny Lewes (population approximately 16,000) in East Sussex.

Poems From The Old Hill, an anthology to be published by the Frogmore Press on 28 September, includes contributions from no fewer than three Cholmondeley Award winners, a Commonwealth Poetry Prize winner, a Paul Hamlyn Award winner, nominees for the Forward Prize, Seamus Heaney Centre Prize 2012 and Michael Marks Award 2012 and a Next Generation poet. 

The anthology is edited by Jeremy Page and published as part of the Press’s thirtieth year celebrations and features the poetry of Anna Adams, John Agard, Judith Kazantzis, Grace Nichols, Catherine Smith and fifteen other widely published poets who are resident in the town’s precincts, and will be launched at the Needlemakers in Lewes on National Poetry Day (4 October).  

Copies will be available at £5.00 (post free) from the Frogmore Press or through good bookshops.

Friday 20 July 2012

Stephanie Norgate to adjudicate Frogmore Poetry Prize in 2013


Stephanie Norgate will adjudicate next year’s Frogmore Poetry Prize.  Stephanie is a playwright and poet. She lives in Sussex and runs the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. Her plays have been produced on the London Fringe and her radio plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Fireclay, a Poetry Business prize-winning pamphlet appeared in 1998, followed by a selection of poems in Oxford Poets 2000. Her two collections with Bloodaxe are Hidden River (2008), which was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, and The Blue Den (2012). She is currently editing a book of international essays on poetry and voice.

Previous winners of the Prize include Tobias Hill and Mario Petrucci.  This year’s (26th) Prize was adjudicated by Janet Sutherland and awarded to Emily Wills.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Number 5 of morphrog, Frogmore’s online journal, now live


Number 5 of morphrog, Frogmore’s online journal, went live on 1 July.  As ever, morphrog promises ‘poetry in the extreme’ – where experiment and tradition meet.  





Contributors to the issue are:

Simon Harker worked as a psychotherapist in North London for many years.  Now semi-retired, he lives in a hut on the banks of the River Ouse.

Pete Howells was born in the North East of England. He attended Bretton Hall College where he studied Art and Drama. His first degree was from Leeds University, his MA from Brighton. Pete has taught English, Art and Drama to a variety of students. He spent four years as a singer songwriter touring with various bands before returning to teaching.

Miles Salter  is a writer, songwriter and storyteller based in York.   His novel for teenagers, A Song For Nicky Moon, was shortlisted for The Times/Chicken House children’s novel competition. He won the Slipstream Poetry Prize in 2008, the Sentinel Poetry Prize in 2009, and was shortlisted for the Templar Poetry Prize in 2009.

Marek Urbanowicz qualified as an acupuncturist in 1979 and is a former Chair of Brighton Poets.  He was selected to be on the first ‘Becoming a Poet’ programme with the Faber Academy in 2009.  His poems have appeared in Agenda, The Frogmore Papers and other magazines, and a first collection is due to be published next year.


Submissions are invited for morphrog 6, which will go live on 1 January 2013.  Send one Word file to: morphrog@gmail.com


Sunday 1 July 2012

Frogmore Poetry Prize 2012 results


Part-time Gloucestershire GP Emily Wills has been awarded this year’s Frogmore Poetry Prize (the 27th) by adjudicator Janet Sutherland for her poem ‘Island’. Emily is the author of two collections of poems Diverting The Sea (The Rialto, 2000) and Developing The Negative (The Rialto, 2008).  She won the Lisa Thomas Poetry Prize in 2010.  See www.emilywills.co.uk

Emily Wills, winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize 2012
First runner-up is singer/songwriter and poet Virginia Astley for her poem ‘The Curative Harp’.  Virginia has a very impressive track record as a singer/songwriter and founded the legendary Ravishing Beauties, who toured with The Teardrop Explodes in the 1980s.  A remastered version of her debut album From Gardens Where We Feel Secure was released in 2003.  See www.virginiaastley.com

Second runner-up is Melinda Lovell for her poem ‘Yellow Yolks’.  Melinda lives in a small hamlet in the Auvergne, South West France, where she co-founded poetry chapbook publishing house Inchivala Press in 2003.  See www.inchivalapress.com

Other poets shortlisted for the two-hundred guinea prize were Jo Bell, Dorothy Fryd, Abegail Morley, Derek Sellen, John Whitworth and Howard Wright.  All shortlisted poems will be published in the celebratory 80th number of The Frogmore Papers in September.  Available post-free from The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes BN7 1PJ for £5.00.

Thursday 17 May 2012

Deadline for Frogmore Poetry Prize entries is 31 May


The deadline for submissions to this year’s (26th) Frogmore Poetry Prize is fast approaching.  Janet Sutherland will be adjudicating throughout June, with results announced in July and all shortlisted poems published in the special 80th edition of The Frogmore Papers in September.  Last year’s winner was Sharon Black, whose collection To Know Bedrock was subsequently published by Pindrop Press. 
For full details of how to enter go to: www.frogmorepress.co.uk 
Deadline for entries is 31 May.

Friday 11 May 2012

'Poetry in the extreme': Submissions invited for number 5 of morphrog

Submissions are invited for number 5 of morphrog, the Frogmore Press online journal – ‘poetry in the extreme’.  We aim to publish excellent work located at the extremes of both experiment and tradition.  morphrog 5 will go live on 1 July and the deadline for submissions – in a single Word file to morphrog@gmail.com – is Friday 8 June. 
If you have any work that can be classified as  ‘poetry in the extreme’ lurking in your files, morhprog may prove to be the perfect home for it.

Thursday 3 May 2012

New anthology 'Languages of Colour' to be published 31st of May 2012


Languages of Colour
Edited by Alexandra Loske

 A collection of writings and artwork on the subject of colour and colour theory.
Contributors include Graham Dean, Clare Best, Liz Rideal, Julian Bell, Tania Hershman, Rachel Playforth, Aprilia Zank, Niki Fulton, Robert Hamberger, Jeremy Page, Tamar Yoseloff, Roy Osborne, Ros Barber, Catherine SmithMario Petrucci, Kay Syrad, and many others.


Date of publication: 31 May 2012
ISBN 978-0-9570688-0-3
To order a copy with free p&p please send a cheque for £10, payable to The Frogmore Press, at 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes BN7 1PJ

Cover art by David J Markham
A limited edition of twelve lithographic prints of the artwork, produced by the Curwen Studio and signed by both artist and editor, is available from The Frogmore Press at £95 per print, plus p&p.

To order a print or request a review copy please contact Alexbythesea@hotmail.com

Sunday 15 April 2012

Call for submissions: Frogmore Poetry Prize 2012

31 May is the deadline for entries to this year’s (26th) Frogmore Poetry Prize, adjudicated by Janet Sutherland. Full details at www.frogmorepress.co.uk

Previous winners of the Prize include Katy Darby, whose debut novel The Whore’s Asylum was recently published by Penguin; Tobias Hill, author of four collections of poetry, whose most recent novel is The Hidden (2009); Sharon Black, whose debut collection To Know Bedrock was published by Pindrop Press last year; Ann Alexander, who has gone on to publish three collections of poems; Mario Petrucci, author of numerous volumes, most recently the waltz in my blood (2011); Gill Andrews, who was subsequently shortlisted for the inaugural Picador Prize; Howard Wright, whose debut collection King of Country was published by Blackstaff Press; Julie-ann Rowell, author of Letters North (Brodie Press), whose short fiction was longlisted for the Asham Award in 2006; Gina Wilson, who went on to win the Lace Open Poetry Competition in 1999; John Latham, who has published four collections of poems with Peterloo; and Caroline Price, whose third collection Wishbone was published by Shoestring Press.

This year’s winner will receive a cheque for 200 guineas, a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers and publication in the celebratory 80th issue of the magazine and on the Frogmore Press website.



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Tuesday 6 March 2012

Frogmore Papers number 79 is out now!

We are happy to announce the arrival of the latest issue of The Frogmore Papers, with another splendid cover by Lewes-based artist Michael Munday.
The issue will be available from Skylark bookshop at the Needlemakers in Lewes from Saturday 10th March. Subscribers and contributors can expect their copies in the next 10 days.

Here are the contributors to this issue:

John Arnold, Will Buckingham, Laura Chalar, John Daniel, Patricia Debney, Clive Eastwood, Martin Edwards, Robert Etty, Andrew Fentham, Sam Gardiner, Desmond Graham, Richard Hughes, Terry Jones, Judith Kazantzis, David King, Noel King, Liz Lefroy, Mórag McCarron, Edward Mackay, Theresa Muñoz, Michael Newman, Wolf Orff, Peter Phillips, Wendy Pratt, Martin Reed, Michaela Ridgway, Alex Smith, Michael Swan, Alexei Talimonov, James Turner, Tony Turner, Selwyn Veater, Irving Weinman, Hamish Whyte, F J Williams, Richard Wotton, Howard Wright.

The next issue (number 80) will be a retrospective issue, so please note that new work cannot be considered for publication until September 2012. In May the Frogmore Press will publish Languages of Colour, a collection of poetry, prose and artwork on the theme of colour, edited by Alexandra Loske. Contributors include Catherine Smith, Ros Barber, Julian Bell, Graham Dean and Jeremy Worman.

Friday 13 January 2012

The Frogmore Press now on Twitter: @FrogmorePress

Under the guidance of Tweetmaster Tom Roper and with the assistance of Rachel Playforth the The Frogmore Press has now embraced the Twitterworld.

Find us, follow us, re-tweet us under @FrogmorePress