SECOND LIGHT NETWORK OF WOMEN POETS: News and Information
SECOND LIGHT NETWORK OF WOMEN POETS (SLN), founded by poet, editor and publisher, Dilys Wood, was created to encourage and promote women poets – forty-plus. SLN lives in London but membership is open to women poets over forty-years old living anywhere in the world.
NEWS & INFORMATION
SLN’s ARTEMISpoetry, Issue 18, themed “Risks in Poetry” is just out and can be purchased from Second Light via Anne Stewart’s poetry pf.
Each issue of ARTEMISpoetry is chock full of information, inspiration, poetry and introductions to good poets who might be new to you. There’s always a sprinkling of black-and-white art and often a clever cartoon by Kate Foley. A “note board” provides news and updates on publications by member poets and on events, conferences, classes and poetry readings. These latter are in and around London and so mostly benefit local poets.
ARTEMISpoetry, Call for Submissions – Opportunity Knocks
Issue 19, November 2017
Editors for Issue 19 are: General & Artwork – Dilys Wood and Katherine Gallagher; Poetry – Anne Stewart.
New: Readers’ Letters are invited. Comments on the journal’s content or anything you would like to see discussed in relation to women’s writing. (max 100 words).
All submissions: submit paper copy initially to Dilys Wood, 3 Springfield Close, East Preston, West Sussex, BN16 2SZ. Please write “ARTEMISpoetry” on your envelope. (Enquiries only: e-mail Administrator editor@poetrypf.co.uk) Poems: Issue 19 deadline – August 31, 2017
Poems by women of any age. Poems should be typed, or if written, then very neatly. Each poem should commence on a new page, headed “Submission for ARTEMISpoetry”. Please SEND TWO COPIES. Include your name with each poem and include your name and full contact details in your submission. Long poems are considered. Submit up to four poems to a maximum of 200 lines in all.
Artwork: Black and white photographs or line art. Submit up to four pieces to Dilys as above.
EVENTS
Bookings open for AUTUMN FESTIVAL in mid-to-late August. This Festival is scheduled for November 17 & 18 this year.
Bookings open for SPRING FESTIVAL in mid-to-late February 2018. This Festival is scheduled for May. Exact dates to be announced.
Details HERE.
COMPETITION
Second Light Poetry Competition for Long and Short Poems by Women 2017 – Deadline Tuesday, August 15th
JUDGE MYRA SCHNEIDER will read all entries. Myra Schneider’s latest and recent books are Persephone in Finsbury Park (SLP), The Door to Colour (Enitharmon); What Women Want (SLP); and the writing resource, Writing Your Self (with John Killick). Myra is a Poetry School and Second Light regular tutor. More at Myra Schneider website where you can also order Myra’s books
Awards:
- £300 First Prize for each of Long (no upper limit) and Short (max 50 lines) poems
- £150 Second Prize (1 poem from either category)
- £75 Third Prize (1 poem from either category)
Winning & Commended Poets published (in full or extract) in ARTEMISpoetry. Winners offered a London reading.
Entry fees are:
- £6 each per long poem.
- Short poems: £4 each or £9 for 3, £14 for 8. Enter by post (2 copies) or online.
Members are entitled to one free entry into the competition. Join now to be eligible.** (see About Second Light/Joining)
Rules & Entry direct link to payment at poetry p f online shop.
The competition results will be posted on the website by September 30th. Once winning poems (or extracts) are published in ARTEMISpoetry, they will be available to read there.
REMOTE (DISTANCE LEARNING) WORKSHOPS
REMOTE WORKSHOPS, a service you can access from anywhere in the world, are offered. There are two courses from which to choose with eight sections each. The workbooks are two of the many poetry anthologies published by SLN, Her Wings of Glass and Fanfare, both can be purchased from poetry pf. Workshop details HERE
PERCEPTIONS OF TIME, a full-day remote/distance workshop (5 hours plus) designed by Myra Sneider. Price: £8.
“Time plays a central role in every aspect of our lives. The workshop explores ways in which we perceive time and how we represent these perceptions in writing.
“Past experience crucially influences how we view the present and future. Earth’s distant past, cosmological time are difficult to imagine … Clock time is fixed but our impressions of time are subjective – an hour’s enjoyable exercise session will seem to be over quickly, but the minutes drag during a boring lecture…”
Further details on Myra Schneider (workshop designer and tutor) are HERE.
To order, contact Administrator, Anne Stewart, +44 (0)1689 811394 / +44 (0)7850 537489 or e-mail
Poems written in these workshops are invited for consideration for ARTEMISpoetry.
REMEMBERING MARY MacRAE
THE MARY MacRAE ACCESS TO POETRY MEMORIAL FUND: “many will remember the outstanding poet and Second Light member, Mary MacRae (her books As Birds Do and Inside the Brightness of Red are available from Second Light).
“The Fund has been created in her memory, begun with a substantial donation from Mary’s family, with the intention of providing modest grants to enable local members on low income, along with a travel companion if they are unable to travel alone, to come to Second Light events.
“If anyone would like to make a contribution to the fund in Mary’s memory, all donations, however small, will be most welcome. Donate to the Fund”
“Members on low income, who may not otherwise be able to attend Second Light events, may apply for assistance with local travel, for themselves only or for themselves and a travelling companion, if they are unable to travel alone. Recipients will be asked to make receipts for expenditure available whenever possible. Applicants should be aware that Donors of substantial amounts to the Fund may be given access to Fund records on a confidential basis.”
CONNECT
- Join SLN
- SLN Facebook
- Members and non-members may sign-up for the email list to keep abreast of news and info.
- Contact SLN
Photo credits: header is courtesy of cladcat under CC-BY 2.0 license; © photo portraits of poets Dilys, Myra and Anne belong to them and Mary’s to her estate; Sappho Eresia (below) is in the public domain
RELATED:
- Distinguished English Poet, Myra Schneider, explores: Why poetry and why is poetry often viewed as a minority art, Myra Schneider (originally published in ARTEMISpoetry)
- Dilys Wood’s “Antarctica” … the work of a highly original poet, Myra Schneider, exclusive for The Poet by Day readers
- Anne Stewart’s pf poetry, good resource for poets and poety lovers, Jamie Dedes
- Poet, Teacher and Inspiration, Dilys Wood and the Latter-day Sapphos, Jamie Dedes
- The New Sapphos: Challenges for Women Poets, Dilys Wood
- Meet Mary MacRae, an interview with Dilys Wood on poet, Mary MacRae, Dilys Wood w/Jamie Dedes, exclusive for The Poet by Day readers
My SLN member page is HERE.
Jamie’s THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 