Without the state

Word Pirates

If like me you grate your teeth at some of the ways the English language is tortured by politicians and marketing people the Word Pirates site gives you the chance to get your own back. Its a bit messy but horrible constructions like 'Politically Correct' are duly put in their place.

The David St Thomas Charitable Trust writing competitions

Prizes for: The Adult Fairy Story; Ottava Rima Poetry Prize; Sea Story Contest. Deadline: 30 Jan 2004

The Adult Fairy Story Competition invites entries of fairy stories with enough of a bite to appeal to an adult readership. Between 1600 and 1800 words; Prize: £250 and publication in Writing Magazine.

Ottava Rima Poetry Prize: 8 line stanzas that reflect the Ottava Rima format. Entries: maximum of 32 lines. Winners entry receive £150 (first prize) and £100 (second prize) and will be published in Writing Magazine.

Sea Story Contest: entries which contain some connection with the sea or seafaring people. 1600 - 1800 words. Prize: £250 and published in Writing Magazine.

The entry fee is £2.50 minimum - £3.50 is the preferred fee. Entry forms are available by contacting Writers Magazine, and entries should be sent to the Competition Department Deadline Date - 30th January 2004

Contact: Writing Magazine, Freepost (NEA 15039), Leeds LS1 1YZ
tel: 0113 238 8333 www.writingmagazine.co.uk

Send completed entry forms to: Competition Department, DSJT Charitable Trust, PO BOX 6055, Narin IV12 4YB
Submissions should be clearly marked with the competition applied.

[via Voluntary Arts Network newsletter]

Why blog?

Why blog? In my case I think for two reasons - I enjoy writing but never have the time to finish anything of any size other than bread and butter work and also because I think blogging is a good way to bring together the links and pieces of information that the people I work with (and for) might find useful.

Its too early to tell if the second is going to be a success. At the moment I'm getting around 30 hits a day - not a lot, but what surprises me is how many are coming via google/yahoo/msn searches. Looking at the search terms they are often people looking for information on exactly what I want to provide - so maybe it can work.

Any comments?

Whatever else happens you will continue to get the odd rant from me on things that get me going as well as snippets on music, poetry and the like. I would like to settle down to a posting schedule - every other day or whatever - but thats probably unlikely!

Some poetry items

National Poetry day is on 9th October 2003. From 22 September until 9th October the poet Roger McGough will be poet in residence at the offices of the Poetry Society in Covent Garden.

Amongst other things he will be compiling a patchwork poem that covers the length and breadth of Britain.

As part of the National Poetry Day celebrations, Roger McGough has written the opening lines of a poem to mark this year’s theme ‘Britain’. Often refered to as a patchwork quilt, the landscape of Britain is made up many environments and characteristics. Roger’s opening lines make reference to the geography of Liverpool, but the journey doesn’t stop there. We are inviting people from all around the country to submit up to three lines about their own special places.

Your lines don’t have to follow exactly on from Roger’s, as he will piece his favourite submitted lines together to make a cento (both the Italian word for patchwork, and also the name given to a poem which is made up of other people's lines). This poem which will be published on this page of the Poetry Society website in time for afternoon tea (4pm) on National Poetry Day (9 October).

Cento

Helsinki.
Jubilee Rd, up by the canal.
Grandma McGough alone. Seven sons
and a daughter flown. Frost on the aspidistra.

Naples.
Alder street, down by the docks.
Grandma McGarry, knees up for a full house.
Biggles and Irish jigs. Lino dancing.

Growing up in Liverpool, this was my geography.
My North, my South, I sailed between the two.
Since then I’ve travelled the world and found
that everything I learnt, I already knew..

You can contribute to the poem here.

Also on the Poetry Society web site is a new section called Poetry Landmarks of Britain.

It may sound romantic, but many visitors from abroad think of Britain as having a rich tradition of poetry, and some even travel here because of it. Apart from the odd blue plaque, though, those of us living here may not be able to easily point to the nearest 'poetry landmark'. The Poetry Society decided that given the theme of "Britain" for this year's National Poetry Day, the most important contribution it could make would be to collate and publish a contemporary and historical map of Britain's Poetry Landmarks.

The Poetry Society and BBC Radio presenter, Ian McMillan, will be working to locate the country’s poetry landmarks and then archive them in an interactive map here. The interactive map will allow poetry enthusiasts to find existing poetry ‘landmarks’ in their area or look for events happening on or around this year’s National Poetry Day (9 October 2003).

The project will complement a special hour-long programme, presented by Ian McMillan, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on National Poetry Day.

Poetry Landmark suggestions may be submitted via the ON-LINE REGISTRATION FORM only, available here

Finally two poetry competitions:

National Poetry Competion 2003 organised by the Poetry Society - closing date is October 31 2003.

Book and Pamphlet competition organised by The Poetry Business - closing date again October 31 2003.

Maps as Place

The excellent Ecotone wiki has moved on to Maps as Place for its bimonthly topic.

Maps I think are a language, not a place. They translate what you see as you walk around into another medium, a story if you like, a story that you can take away and reread. Like any language some of us are more fluent than others and can read them in the original - we can look at a map and visualise what it represents. I find that easier with rural mapping than with urban. I can read the topography and get some idea of the landform, although crucially the vegetation will be missing except in the most rudinentary form.

With urban mapping however there is no building equivalent of the contour and so the key issue of enclosure is missing. That square we see could be surrounded by a series of single storey sheds or by the most elegant of Georgian terraces. While there are often clues in things like road layout, usually the place has to be experienced in the 'original language' for the urban map to mean something. Pushing the metaphor too far perhaps, urban mapping needs some sort of Rosetta Stone - photographs, written descriptions, personal experience for a full ranslation to be possible.