Sunday, June 8, 2008

Chimaeric News

We're very proud of Angela France, Poetry Editor of our parent zine The Shit Creek Review, who has had an eventful few weeks. She has been appointed to the editorial board of the excellent U.K. poetry magazine iota along with SCR contributor Sonia Hendy-Isaac. The editorial team at iota will be headed by Nigel McLoughlin, who is another contributor to SCR ( here and here) as well as to The Chimaera. Congratulations, Angela, Sonia and Nigel!

Poetry submissions to iota poetry may be made here: http://iotapoetry.co.uk/submissions.htm

iota poetry journal is currently recruiting reviewers. Please send two sample copies of your review writing along with CV to Kate North, Reviews Editor, at: knorth@glos.ac.uk

But there's more! Angela and Sonia have had their poetry collections chosen from over 300 manuscripts submitted to the Bristol-based publishing house, Bluechrome. Angela's collection is provisionally titled Occupation, and Sonia's Flesh.

Anthony Delgrado, director of the press, commented: "Angela France’s work has a real depth of craft, and a lyrical quality to the language... Sonia Hendy-Isaac has a really saleable quality which feeds off the performance tradition but combines it with the literary tradition.”

Angela and Sonia will join a strong list of writers such as Catherine Smith, Matthew Francis, D.M. Thomas, Susan Wicks and James Kirkup, who have all recently signed up with the Bluechrome Press.

More congratulations, Angela and Sonia!


Resident artist Pat Jones, who does such fantastic work in selecting and crafting fresh, lively art to complement the poems published in SCR and The Chimaera, and who has been the soul and guiding light for SCR since its strange inception, has been honoured with a feature on her in the current Avatar Review . Go there and treat yourself to some stunning art, as well as to Pat's enlightening reflections on the artistic process.



Sally Cook, whose work is in the current Masks issue of SCR, has a poem "The Face of Morning" in the June/July
issue of First Things. Her "Advice On The Groundhog" appears in both the online and hard copy version of the recently published Poems For Big Kids. Her poem "A Passion For Fashion", which tied for third place, Limerick Award in Alfred Dorn's recent World Order Of Narrative And Formalist Poets Contest, is to be published in Light Quarterly. Two other of her poems have been accepted by The New Formalist.



Don't miss out on the Spotlight Feature on Alison Brackenbury in The May Chimaera. There's reviews, interviews, and new poems from Alison.



If you are a contributor to SCR or TC we will publish your poetry news here from time to time. Send news items to the editor([at]shitcreekreview.com . We assert our absolute right to decide what we will or will not publish, and particularly wish to avoid material which is political (rather than cultural) in nature. Sometimes we will include news of contributors' publications in other ezines and magazines, but this will be entirely at our discretion. Readers of the SCR and TC Blogs may also leave comments on the Blog sites, though these will be moderated.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Chimaera and Belonging

Part serpent, part goat, part lioness — the fabulous beast must roam unknown lands, always searching for its like...



The Chimaera has wandered far and brings to you now its 'Belonging' themed issue, exploring notions of both belonging and alienation through a variety of texts: poems, stories and articles that engage with the topic from a variety of perspectives.

As well there is a spotlight feature on English poet Alison Brackenbury, including nine of her new poems, an interview, and a review of her new book Singing in the Dark.

The Chimaera's lair is well-stocked with poetry, reviews and fiction for your enjoyment. Just be careful The Gryphon doesn't see you there!



After you've roamed hither, thither and yon with The Chimaera, leap into a barbed-wire canoe and start paddling upstream to The Shit Creek Review issue #7. The theme is 'Masks', the poetry is hot, the art is enough to make you lose your paddle!



('Sun-Paddle' art by Mark Bulwinkle)

Friday, May 30, 2008

Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Chimaera apologises...

...for this unfortunate delay in the May issue's publication. Hopefully proofs will go out to contributors very soon.



Even the Gryphon is depressed.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Slouching towards Bethlehem

The May Chimaera, its hour come round at last, will soon be born. It's just a matter of time. It will include a collection of texts—poetry, fiction, critical prose—on the theme of Belonging, and on Belonging's darker twin, Alienation. There will be other poetry, fiction and reviews galore, as well as a special feature on English poet Alison Brackenbury, including an extended interview and some new poetry by her.

Surely The May Chimaera is at hand!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Chimaera's Poetry News

 
The April 14by14 Sonnet zine is out! Sonnetic gems by Anna Evans, Robert Crawford and 12 others. Some of them are wicked! It looks like Peter has nicked the Adirondack chair from the front porch of The Gazebo! Only one poet at a time will be able to sit there now. You've got to keep an eye on these poetry editors.

~~~

Irish-American Poet T. S. Kerrigan whose work will appear in The Chimaera's issue #3 due out in May, will read from his new book, My Dark People in Sanata Monica (USA) on May 10th.

This new volume of verse is 'a profound look at the lessons of a difficult past with the hope for a better and richer future'. X.J. Kennedy, poet and former Poetry Editor of The Paris Review describes My Dark People in the current issue of Chicago's Light Quarterly as a book '[America] sorely needs by one of the finest and most entertaining American poets alive.' Distinguished poet Timothy Murphy has said that in this book 'Kerrigan's tenor has the register of John McCormack. It is a sometimes grave, sometimes hilarious, always profound view of the modern world by a man who has tasted victory and defeat at its highest levels. A master of understatement...'

The poems will be read by Kerrigan himself, an by Thomas MacGreevy (who trained at Dublin's Abbey Theatre) and Michael Cooke (Mulholland Drive, Showgirls). The reading will take place here:

May 10th, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Martin Luther King Auditorium
Santa Monica Main Library
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-8600


There is a map here.

My Dark People can be ordered on http://www.centralavepress.com or http://www.kerryrecords.com, or later this month on Amazon.com.

~~~

Joseph S. Salemi's latest essay 'The Witness Revisited: Whittaker Chambers and American Conservatism' has just been published in the Spring 2008 issue of The University Bookman. Joseph's essays and poems have appeared in The Chimaera/II here and here, and in Shit Creek Review here and here.

~~~

David Landrum has had two poems accepted for the fabled Blue Unicorn. David's work has appeared in SCR/II and The Chimaera here and here. He is the editor of Lucid Rhythms, a great little online poetry magazine.

~~~

Quote du jour:

'I’ll clean toilets at Piccadilly Circus but don’t let me come back as a Poetry Editor.'

—Carlol Baldock, Orbis.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Rose Kelleher wins Anthony Hecht Prize!

Rose Kelleher, a Chimaera/SCR poet, has just won the 2008 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize for her book Bundle o' Tinder, which will be published by Waywiser Press. The competition was judged by Richard Wilbur.

Rose is a poet whose work Shit Creek Review and The Chimaera have always loved to publish. Just two examples:

Sea Monster

Mortimer

Rose's web page may be found here.

Well done, Rose—thoroughly deserved!