I mentioned in these posts that I
was writing the blurb-matter for one of the two anthologies I am editing at the
moment, that one being the fake anthology of fictional poets (the EUOIA poets
who may be read about here), which is called Twitters for a Lark and which is scheduled for publication by
Shearsman. I speak of it here, but of course, there is the other anthology, Atlantic Drift: an anthology of poetry and
poetics which I am editing with James Byrne.
What is the connection between
the two? Oddly, quite a lot. Obviously all the editorial tasks of proof reading
and preparation are similar. But I have realised that there are a few poets in
common. I don’t mean my fictional poets, of course, but the collaborators that
I have been working with on one, appear as themselves in the other: Allen Fisher, Steven
Fowler and Zoe Skoulding are in both volumes. My co-editor of one, James, is a
collaborator for the other. Both publishers are called Tony.
Yes, I’d love to say that the fictional
poets were more difficult to deal with than the real ones, but neither group
has been difficult in any way. And we have been helped by a group of interns at
Edge Hill University Press. Although, thinking about it, there is a fictional
intern to the EUOIA, the poet Jason Argleton, also of Edge Hill, according to his biography in Twitters. There's a poem of his here. So he must be real (in some sense).
Another connection is that both
books are scheduled to be celebrated in the same week,
one at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the other at The Other Room in Manchester. I’m sure you
can work out which one is which, but just to say that I’m hoping many EUOIA
collaborators will appear in Manchester. (Note: 9th September: See here for an account of that evening.)
Of course, the poets in one
anthology are more than welcome to turn up for the launch of the other, though (rising
to the Bob McCorkle aspects of the project) the appearance of a posse of EUOIA
poets in Edinburgh
might prove a fissure in the substance of reality that we might not survive.
Here’s what we have about Twitters for a Lark so far.
Here’s what we have about Atlantic Drift so far.
In other news: Atlantic Drift: A Transatlantic Anthology of Poetry & Poetics (co-edited by James Byrne and Robert Sheppard), EHUP & Arc Publications, 2017, is now OUT! See here:
