The new Frogmore Press website is launched

The Frogmore Press has a shiny new website! We will mothball this blog and include news, calls for submissions and other announcements on the website:

http://www.frogmorepress.co.uk/

Call for submissions: Pale Fire - New writings on the Moon

The Frogmore Press invites submissions of poetry and short prose on the subject of the Moon for an anthology titled Pale Fire - New writings on the Moon.  It will be published in 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing.

Ink Moon by Fergus Hare

Submission details:

Please send up to three poems and/or one piece of short prose in hard copy to The Frogmore Press, "Moon", 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes BN7 1PJ, or email a word document with your name and contact details clearly on every page to Alexbythesea@hotmail.com . If submitting by letter, please include a stamped and addressed envelope (SAE).

Submission deadline: 30th September 2018

News from the Frogmore Press: Readings, Frogmore Poetry Prize and Frogmore Papers 90

Frogmore poets Jeremy Page, Kitty Coles and Michael Bartholomew-Biggs will read at Lumen, King’s Cross, London, on Tuesday 19 September 2017. The event starts at 7.00 pm and entry is £5.00. All proceeds go to cold weather shelters for the homeless.
Full details at: https://camdenlumen.wordpress.com/2017/09/06/lumen-poetry-series-tuesday-19th-september/

Janet Sutherland will adjudicate the 2018 Frogmore Poetry Prize. Janet is the author of three collections from Shearsman, most recently Bone Monkey. Her fourth is due next year.
Submissions are invited for the January edition of morphrog, ‘poetry in the extreme’. Up to six poems may be sent in a single Word file to: morphrog@gmail.com The current edition can be viewed at: http://www.morphrog.com/

And finally, the 90th edition of The Frogmore Papers will be published later this month. The issue will feature poetry from Maggie Butt, Jonathan Edwards, Abegail Morley, Michael Swan, Howard Wright and others, prose by Michael Loveday and Kevin Tosca and artwork by Dee Sunshine. All the poems shortlisted for this year’s Frogmore Prize, including Emily Wills’ winning poem, are also published in the issue. Copies will be available for £5.00 (post free) from: The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes BN7 1PJ.

Number 15 of morphrog, Frogmore's online journal of ‘poetry in the extreme’ is now live

Number 15 of morphrog, the online journal promising ‘poetry in the extreme’ and published by the Frogmore Press, is now live at http://www.morphrog.com  

The issue contains new poetry from the customary eclectic range of authors: American poet Gale Acuff, author of The Story of My Lives (2008), who has taught university English in the US and China as well as on the Palestinian West Bank; widely published poet and poetry editor of London Grip Michael Bartholomew-Biggs; multiple Pushcart prize nominee Lana Bella; Natalie Crick, whose poem ‘Sunday School’ was nominated for this year’s Pushcart Prize; recent runner-up for the Frogmore Prize Nicola Daly; Antony Johae, author of Poems of the East; Missouri poet Donal Mahoney; priest, mediator, trainer and poet Chris McDermott; Ian C Smith, author of wonder sadness madness, who lives in the Gippsland Lakes area of Victoria, Australia; poet, sound artist and graphic artist Lawrence Upton; and Austrian writer Theresa Vogrin. At a time of increasing global uncertainty, the international flavour of this issue offers a wide range of perspectives on and insights into the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in.

morphrog is published twice a year in January and July, and subscription is free. To subscribe please contact: morphrog@gmail.com

The winner of the 31st Frogmore Poetry Prize is...

Adjudicator Maggie Butt has awarded the 31^st Frogmore PoetryPrize to Emily Wills.

This is the third time Emily has won the Prize: her previous successes were in 2012 (awarded by Janet Sutherland) and 2013 (awarded by Stephanie Norgate). She joins the distinguished company of Caroline Price, another three-times winner, and John Latham and Howard Wright, who have both won twice. Emily works as a GP in Gloucestershire and her latest collection is Unmapped (The Rialto, 2014).

Maggie Butt says the winning poem, ‘Her Labour’s Fruits’, ‘leapt out at me from the first reading. The first line ‘the buttery cool of milk just on the turn,’ held promise which was fulfilled over and over again with sensual images, tastes and colours. I was immersed and then led into the slow reveal of the viewpoint of the speaker, the accomplished way the poet trusts the reader to complete the story.’

Emily Wills, three-times Frogmore Prize winner

Runner-up Vaughan Pilikian, a film-maker and Sanskrit scholar, was a candidate for the Oxford Professorship of Poetry in 2010. His 15-line, single-sentence poem ‘May It Be You’ uses vivid imagery ‘fluted/in plainsong,/ shuttled in the blood,’ musical repetition and religious allusions to create a multi-faceted and jewel-like love poem.’ Maggie advises: ‘Read it to someone you love!’

Other poets shortlisted for this year’s Prize were Nicola Daly, Sarah Doyle, Alan Dunnett, Jonathan Edwards, Katie Hale, Anthony Head, Sarah Wallis and Mary Williams. In addition, ‘Surfer’ by Emily Wills also reached the shortlist.

All shortlisted poems will be published in the September issue of The Frogmore Papers (number 90), available from The Frogmore Press for only £5.00.

Written in Water - a very special Frogmore event - 6 May 2017

The Frogmore Press invites you to a very special poetry and prose event at the Constable and Brighton exhibition at Brighton Museum.

Written in Water (a nod to Keats' epitaph) will take place on Saturday 6 May 2017, during the Free for the Festival Day at the Brighton Museum. It coincides with the beginning of the Brighton Festival, which this year is directed by poet Kate Tempest. The themes of the readings will be loosely connected to the Constable exhibition: water, wind, weather, storms, clouds, the Sussex coast and Downs, the sea, Brighton, landscape painting, the Romantic Age, Brighton as a home etc.

The event will be compèred by Frogmore Press Managing Editor Alexandra Loske, who is also a curator at the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museums. There will be two readings, one at 12noon and one at 3pm. 

In addition, Tanya Shadrick, creator of Wild Patience Scrolls and co-editor of Frogmore's latest anthology Watermarks: Writing by Lido Lovers and Wild Swimmers will be there as writer-in-residence for the day.

There is no need to  book, but the museum is likely to get very busy and there is a strict limit on people allowed in the Constable galleries at any one time, so come early to avoid disappointment.

Here is the line-up of poets/writers:

12noon
Marek Urbanowicz, Vanessa Gebbie (also reading work by the late Joanna Seldon), Clare Best, Lyn Thomas, Janet Sutherland, Rachel Playforth, Zel Norwood, Mark Bridge, Jan Heritage, Stacy Carl-McGrath, Gary Goodman

3pm
Maria Jastrzębska, Chris Sykes , Mandy Pannett, Karen Antoni, Marek Urbanowicz, Sonya Smith,  Jeremy Page, Seema Kapila, Alison Rumfitt, Claire Booker, Michaela Ridgway, Claire Pankhurst

Deadline for Frogmore Poetry Prize 2017 fast approaching

THE FROGMORE POETRY PRIZE 2017

The deadline for entries to this year's Frogmore Poetry Prize is 31 May. 

Maggie Butt, the adjudicator, will read all entries and the winner will receive 250 guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. All shortlisted poems will be published in number 90 and on the Frogmore Press website.

The winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize for 2017 will receive two hundred and fifty guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. The first and second runners-up will receive seventy-five and fifty guineas respectively and a year’s subscription to The Frogmore Papers. Shortlisted poets will receive copies of selected Frogmore Press publications.  Conditions of Entry Poems must be in English, unpublished, and not accepted for future publication. Poems should be typed and no longer than forty lines. Any number of poems may be entered on payment of the appropriate fee of £3 per poem. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to The Frogmore Press. The following methods of payment are acceptable: cheque drawn on UK bank; British postal order; sterling.    Each poem should be on a separate sheet, which should not include the name of the author. The author’s name and address should be provided on an accompanying sheet of paper. The winner, runners-up and shortlisted poets will be notified by post. All shortlisted poems will appear in number 90 of The Frogmore Papers (September 2017), which will be available at £5.00 from the address below, and on the Frogmore Press website.           To receive a copy of the results, please enclose an s.a.e. marked ‘Results’. Poems cannot be returned. Closing date for submissions: 31 May 2017. Copyright of all poems submitted will remain with the authors but the Frogmore Press reserves the right to publish all shortlisted poems. The adjudicator’s decision will be final and no correspondence can be entered into. Entries should be sent to: The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1PJ. The submission of poems for the Prize will be taken as indicating acceptance of the above conditions.

New Frogmore anthology 'Watermarks - Writing by lido lovers & wild swimmers' out now

Watermarks

Writing by lido lovers & wild swimmers

 edited by Tanya Shadrick & Rachel Playforth

 A Frogmore Press & Pells Pool collaboration

Artwork by Neil Gower

Watermarks is a collection of new poetry, stories and non-fiction by lido lovers and wild swimmers: writers who find inspiration in or near outdoor pools, lakes, rivers and other wild waters.

Full of quick turns, graceful strokes and surprising dives into the depths, this is writing to make us catch our breath, laugh in delight or shiver a little.

Our call for new poetry, short fiction and life-writing celebrating the life aquatic was answered by swimmers at home and abroad. F Scott Fitzgerald wrote that ‘all good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath’ and all the writer-swimmers in the book had us hold ours a little too.

Lake Ontario. Skarðsvík. Isola Santa. Galway. Hong Kong. Trollhagen. In waters from around the world, we are immersed in birth and death, danger and rescue, new loves and last. Ness Cove. Spitchwick. Thurlestone. Sharrah. Swimmers closer to home take us places few know and less dare: freezing mountain pools, rivers in full spate where buoyancy is lost suddenly in froth and bubbles.

With work by more than fifty fine writers, the collection includes an extract from Alexandra Heminsley’s new memoir Leap In and work by Lynne Roper, the visionary West Country wild swimmer and former press officer for OSS who died in August 2016.

You can order Watermarks at your local bookseller, such as Skylark at Needlemakers in Lewes, or online at, among others, Waterstones, Foyles and Telegraph Books.

Would you like to read your work surrounded by the works of John Constable?

The Frogmore Press editor is looking for creative writers who would like to read some of their work on 6 May in the exhibition galleries in Brighton Museum, during the much-anticipated Constable and Brighton exhibition, which opens 8 April 2017. 

The event will be called Written in Water (a nod to Keats' epitaph) and take place on Saturday 6 May 2017, a Free Day at the Brighton Museum. It coincides with the beginning of the Brighton Festival, which this year is directed by poet Kate Tempest.  The themes of the readings (poems or short prose pieces) should be loosely connected to the Constable exhibition, but can be interpreted quite freely: water, wind, weather, storms, clouds, the Sussex coast and Downs, the sea, Brighton, landscape painting, the Romantic Age, Brighton as a home etc. 

There will be two slots: one at 12 and one at 3pm. You may read at either or both, for a maximum length of approx. 10 minutes. You are welcome to include your favourite poem(s) from the Romantic Age, or about the sea. 

Among the poets who will read a the event are Clare Best, Sonya Smith, Michaela Ridgway, Jeremy Page, Rachel Playforth, Maria Jastrzebska, Karen Antoni, Amber Agha and Marek Urbanowicz.

Tanya Shadrick will be Writer-in-Residence for the day, continuing her A Wild Patience: Laps in Longhand project.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact me by email for more information. Please include a few lines about yourself  and samples of what you would like to read.

Alexandra Loske

Managing Editor, The Frogmore Press

Alexbythesea@hotmail.com

Frogmore Papers No. 89 out now

The 89th edition of The Frogmore Papers is now available by post from the Frogmore Press or from Skylark Books in Lewes (still only £5, incl. postage). With a cover by Paris-based artist Eva Bodinet, the issue features poetry, prose and artwork from around the world. International contributors include Robert Ammons (artwork), Les Bernstein (poetry), Megan Kitching (poetry), Rachael McGill (prose), Mary O'Donnell (poetry and prose), Donna Pucciani (poetry), Kevin Tosca (prose) and Margaret Wilmot (poetry).

The issue also includes the usual crop of reviews of recent publications and full details of the Frogmore Poetry Prize 2017 to be adjudicate by Maggie Butt. The deadline is 31 May 2017.

Frog news: morphrog 14, Frogmore Papers 89 and the Frogmore Poetry Prize 2017

morphrog 14, presenting a further selection of 'poetry in the extreme' is now live at http://www.morphrog.com/ . This edition includes new poetry by

Luigi Coppola
Colin Crewdson
Jane Frank
Angelica Krikler
Emma Lee
Chris McDermott
James Piatt
Sanjeev Sethi
Ian C Smith
& Peter Stewart

In other news:

The 89th issue of The Frogmore Papers will be published in March.

The deadline for entries to this year's Frogmore Poetry Prize is 31 May. Full details are available at http://www.frogmorepress.co.uk/. Maggie Butt, the adjudicator, will read all entries and the winner will receive 250 guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. All shortlisted poems will be published in number 90.

Lewes Voices at the Elly: Clare Best, Catherine Smith and Jeremy Page

Three Frogmore poets read from recent collections at the Lewes Voices event at the town’s Elephant and Castle pub last week. 

Clare Best's Cell

The evening began with Clare Best reading from her Frogmore artefact Cell, which won first prize in the Second Light Poetry Competition’s long poem category. Cell  is written in the voice of Christine Carpenter, a 14 year old girl who, in 1329, took a vow of  ‘solitary devotion’ to become an anchoress.

  

Catherine Smith

In a subtly different vein, Catherine Smith entertained the audience with her ballad The New Cockaigne (Frogmore Press, 2014), a ‘verbal feast of sexual, gastronomic and alcoholic excess’. 

Jeremy Page

The evening concluded with the launch of Jeremy Page’s new Frogmore pamphlet Stepping Back: Resubmisison for the Ordinary Level Examination in Psychogeography, which brings together poems written over the last twenty-five years exploring his relationship with the coastal town where he spent his formative years. 

All three titles are available post free from The Frogmore Press or from Skylark in its new roomier quarters downstairs at the Needlemakers in Lewes.

Lewes Voices - Poetry event at book launch at the Elly 22 November 2016

Come and join us at this free event:

Frogmore Papers editor Jeremy Page will launch his new pamphlet Stepping Back: Resubmission for the Ordinary Level Examination in Psychogeography at the Elephant and Castle in Lewes on Tuesday 22 November.  Fellow readers at this event will be Clare Best, who will read from her Frogmore Press artefact Cell – described by Helena Nelson as ‘a potent tale for our times’ – and Catherine Smith, who will read from her Frogmore Press pamphlet The New Cockaigne, of which Ros Barber has written: ‘Delicious, delightful and more than a little bit frightening … creates a verbal feast of sexual, gastronomic and alcoholic excesses.’

Free event. Upstairs at The Elephant and Castle, White Hill, Lewes BN7 2DJ. 7.00 (readings start at 7.30) Tuesday 22 November 2016.

Frogmore Prize 2017

The Frogmore Press is pleased to announce that the Frogmore Poetry Prize for 2017 will be adjudicated by Maggie Butt. 

Maggie Butt

Maggie is the author of Lipstick (Greenwich Exchange, 2007), Petite (Hearing Eye, 2010), Ally Pally Prison Camp (Oversteps, 2011) and Degrees of Twilight (The London Magazine, 2015). She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Kent.

The current issue of The Frogmore Papers showcases all the poems shortlisted for this year's Frogmore Poetry Prize by Catherine Smith. It is available (£5.00 post free) from The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes BN7 1PJ.

13th edition of morphrog - 'poetry in the extreme - now live

The 13^th edition of morphrog – ‘poetry in the extreme’ – edited by Jeremy Page and Peter Stewart is now live at http://www.morphrog.com/ 

morphrog 13 features challenging and innovative poetry from names both familiar and unfamiliar. Contributors include Nisha Bhakoo, Michael Bartholomew-Biggs, Michael Curtis, Robert Etty, Nancy Mattson, Lindy Usher and Aprilia Zank. 

morphrog 14 will go live in January 2017. Submissions of ‘poetry in the extreme’ (supply your own definition), in a single Word document with brief biographical details, are welcome to: morphrpog@gmail.com

Frogmore poets at South Downs Poetry Festival 16 - 24 July 2016

A number of Frogmore poets will be participating in the inaugural South Downs Poetry Festival from 16 - 24 July 2016. 

Clare Best, Patrick Bond, Robin Houghton, Wendy Klein, Jeremy Page and Janet Sutherland are among the writers contributing readings or workshops to this week of poetry. Full details available at: http://www.sdpf.org.uk/programme/

Eve Jackson wins 30th Frogmore Poetry Prize (2016)

Adjudicator Catherine Smith has awarded the 30th Frogmore Poetry Prize to Eve Jackson from the Isle of Wight for her poem ‘Calves on a Carousel’.

Eve Jackson

Catherine says of this winning poem: ‘From the first reading it did strange things to the top of my head. One way of reading it is to say that it describes calves in a field before they embark on their final journey to the abattoir. Not a comfortable subject, perhaps, but an everyday one. ‘Calves on a Carousel’ dazzled me with its quietly devastating imagery.’ Eve will receive two hundred and fifty guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers.

Runners-up were Kate Ling with ‘Blackheath, Early Morning’ and Catherine Edmunds with ‘Cabbage on a Leash’. Other poets shortlisted were Kaddy Benyon, Sharon Black, David Hale, Wes Lee, Anthony Powers, Andrew Sclater and Natalie Whittaker. All shortlisted poems will be published in the September issue of The Frogmore Papers (number 88), which will be available from The Frogmore Press for £5.00 inclusive of post and packing.

Deadline looms for morphrog - 'poetry in the extreme' - 12 June 2016

The deadline for submissions to the thirteenth edition of Frogmore's online journal morphrog - 'poetry in the extreme' - is looming.

As ever, editors Jeremy Page and Peter Stewart are interested in reading poems that may struggle to achieve publication in more mainstream journals. If you have never seen morphrog, visit http://www.morphrog.com/ where number 12 will give an indication of the kind of work that is likely to find favour.

Submissions should be sent in a single word document to morphrog@gmail.com no later that 12 June 2016.

morphrog 13 will be published in July 2016.

Frogmore call for submissions: Watermarks - New Writing by Lido Lovers and Wild Swimmers

In 2017 The Frogmore Press and Pells Pool in Lewes — the oldest freshwater pool in the UK — are publishing an anthology of exceptional new prose and poetry to celebrate the life aquatic.

The anthology will be edited by Tanya Shadrick (currently Writer-in-Residence at Pells Pool), Rachel Playforth and Rob Read. 

Tanya Shadrick, writer-in-residence at Pells Pool, Lewes

 We are looking for work by writers who find inspiration in or near lidos, lakes, sea pools and other wild swimming places. The writing has to be short — a maximum of 1000 words for prose and 50 lines for poetry — but supple. We want work full of quick turns, graceful strokes or surprising dives into the depths: stories which hold the attention and last in memory as good swimmers do when they take to the water; writing which has us catch our breath, laugh in delight or shiver a little.

Rachel Playforth

Nature and life writings are welcome, but must — like fiction and poetry — emphasise scene, story and sensation. We are not seeking local history, natural history or journalism.

We can only consider original writing in English, but authors are not restricted to UK waters: We are interested in work situated both close to home and far away.

Further criteria for submissions:

•   Original material only. Submissions must not have been published previously in print or online , nor should they be out on simultaneous submission before January 2017

•   Work should be double-spaced in Times New Roman or Arial

•   For email submissions, use Watermarks in the subject line. Only one piece can be considered, and should be sent as a Word attachment to: watermarksanthology@gmail.com

•   You can submit work by post to Watermarks, The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1PJ. If you would like your work returned to you please enclose a suitably-sized SAE. We can only acknowledge receipt by email, so for that purpose please include an email address with your postal submission.

•   If you swim regularly at a particular lido or outdoor water, please mention this in your covering message.

•   We are not able to pay for work accepted, but contributors will receive a copy of the anthology upon publication.

•   The deadline for submissions is 15 September 2016

•   Successful authors will be contacted by the end of January 2017

Alexandra Loske, Editorial advisor

Submission details: The Frogmore Poetry Prize 2016, adjudicated by Catherine Smith

The deadline for submissions of poems or this year’s 30^th Frogmore Prize is 31 May 2016. 

Adjudicator 2016: Poet Catherine Smith

Adjudicator Catherine Smith will read all entries. 

Sponsored by the Frogmore Press    www.frogmorepress.co.uk

Submission details:

The winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize for 2016 will receive two hundred and fifty guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. The first and second runners-up will receive seventy-five and fifty guineas respectively and a year’s subscription to The Frogmore Papers. Shortlisted poets will receive copies of selected Frogmore Press publications. Previous winners of the Prize have been David Satherley, Caroline Price, Bill Headdon, John Latham, Diane Brown, Tobias Hill, Mario Petrucci, Gina Wilson, Ross Cogan, Joan Benner, Ann Alexander, Gerald Watts, Katy Darby, David Angel, Howard Wright, Julie-ann Rowell, Arlene Ang, Peter Marshall, Gill Andrews,A K S Shaw, Sharon Black, Emily Wills, Lesley Saunders and Sarah Barr. Adjudicator: Catherine Smith will read all poems submitted for the 30th Frogmore Poetry Prize. She is the author of three full collections of poetry: The Butcher’s Hands (2003), Lip (2007) and Otherwhere (2012), all published by Smith Doorstop. The Butcher’s Hands won the Aldeburgh/Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection, and Lip was shortlisted for the 2008 Forward Prize for Best Collection. The Frogmore Press published The New Cockaigne, a ‘rollicking ballad of revolution and fantastical carnal excess’ in 2014. Conditions of Entry Poems must be in English, unpublished, and not accepted for future publication. Poems should be typed and no longer than forty lines. Any number of poems may be entered on payment of the appropriate fee of £3 per poem. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to The Frogmore Press. The following methods of payment are acceptable: cheque drawn on UK bank; British postal order; sterling.    Each poem should be on a separate sheet, which should not include the name of the author. The author’s name and address should be provided on an accompanying sheet of paper. The winner, runners-up and shortlisted poets will be notified by post. All shortlisted poems will appear in number 88 of The Frogmore Papers (September 2016), which will be available at £5.00 from the address below, and on the Frogmore Press website.           To receive a copy of the results, please enclose an s.a.e. marked ‘Results’. Poems cannot be returned. Closing date for submissions: 31 May 2016. Copyright of all poems submitted will remain with the authors but the Frogmore Press reserves the right to publish all shortlisted poems. The adjudicator’s decision will be final and no correspondence can be entered into. Entries should be sent to: The Frogmore Press, 21 Mildmay Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1PJ. The submission of poems for the Prize will be taken as indicating acceptance of the above conditions.