tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post7299714764410962360..comments2023-11-03T11:00:07.566+00:00Comments on Displacement: Poetry prizes: the elephant on stageFiona Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-61282317745894009482014-02-04T20:00:19.727+00:002014-02-04T20:00:19.727+00:00Do not go GENTLE.
As for the obvious biases, bull...Do not go GENTLE.<br /><br />As for the obvious biases, bullshit and bollocks prevalent in all aspects of poetry publishing and prizes, my motto is also a misquote of Dylan Thomas. Although in this case, it's deliberate:<br /><br />RAGE, RAGE AGAINST THE BUYING INTO SHITE!! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-77713736453318091962014-01-24T10:42:13.713+00:002014-01-24T10:42:13.713+00:00Thanks Claire. I should have mentioned these, as ...Thanks Claire. I should have mentioned these, as an example of what can be done - the opposite of the top-down approach. And I guess that, since the awards are based on the website and on books you've processed during the course of reviewing etc, there isn't that much extra work... <br /><br />Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-8081382653215588682014-01-23T15:20:48.581+00:002014-01-23T15:20:48.581+00:00Brilliant! Thank you.Brilliant! Thank you.Norbert Hirschhornhttp://www.bertzpoet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-27880425757162407702014-01-21T14:14:54.915+00:002014-01-21T14:14:54.915+00:00Here you go Norbert! http://sabotagereviews.com/20...Here you go Norbert! http://sabotagereviews.com/2013/05/30/saboteur-awards-2013-the-winners/Claire Trévienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05186774149799140709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-75008131227716550492014-01-21T14:12:59.705+00:002014-01-21T14:12:59.705+00:00That's why the Saboteur Awards exist: voted by...That's why the Saboteur Awards exist: voted by the public, supporting small presses and other small ventures such as pamphlets, magazines, spoken word poets... No prize money alas as we're not a money-making website but who knows, maybe one day a sponsor will turn up!Claire Trévienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05186774149799140709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-54347064815630196842014-01-20T11:32:20.412+00:002014-01-20T11:32:20.412+00:00Thank you. I wonder how much organising the Micha...Thank you. I wonder how much organising the Michael Marks pamphlet awards take, for example - they would be quite a good indicator, for anyone thinking of taking this on... Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-27124497546724834602014-01-20T10:37:45.534+00:002014-01-20T10:37:45.534+00:00What a great read, thanks Fiona. I love the idea o...What a great read, thanks Fiona. I love the idea of a small press prize too, surprised such a thing doesn't exist. I wonder what it would entail to organise such a thing.... hmmm, interesting ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-81523634233550866632014-01-17T20:22:30.273+00:002014-01-17T20:22:30.273+00:00F: Thanks Norbert. The American example sounds go...F: Thanks Norbert. The American example sounds good. Those relationships deserve more analysis here: between judges, shortlisted poets and (for the TSE prize) PBS selectors. I might do that when my inner geek recovers from the last audit, i.e. not for a while. <br /><br />Love the idea of a small press prize! Would fit well with the annual Poetry Book Fair. Big requirement: a dedicated person, or persons, to organise it…<br />Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-2499366849545687902014-01-17T20:11:13.891+00:002014-01-17T20:11:13.891+00:00Thank you, Simon.Thank you, Simon.Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-43769995883112746242014-01-17T16:39:06.079+00:002014-01-17T16:39:06.079+00:00Well done! In the US a website -- since disbanded...Well done! In the US a website -- since disbanded -- called Foetry, analysed relationships between judges and winners in the big competitions. The results weren't a surprise, but led to a uniform code of conduct, the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses Contest Code of Ethics, that all the major competitions specify.<br /><br />Are the TSE judges paid?<br /><br />I have another idea, though. Why not a small press prize? Winners get free beer and pizza, and ceremonies held at the Betsy Trotwood, or some such. No corporate sponsors needed.<br /><br />cheers,<br /><br />norbertNorbert Hirschhornhttp://www.bertzpoet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-68725903288522427732014-01-15T13:43:39.807+00:002014-01-15T13:43:39.807+00:00Dear Fiona
I have spent the last twenty years of ...Dear Fiona<br /><br />I have spent the last twenty years of my life desperately trying to persuade the British Poetry Establishment to become more democratic, transparent and accountable and have got absolutely nowhere. (I have now more or less given up and have published my own work with Lulu.com) I wish you the very best of luck with your crucial campaign!<br /><br />Best wishes from SimonPoetry Pleases!https://www.blogger.com/profile/16686247991180317838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-7545640492339755522014-01-15T09:30:39.452+00:002014-01-15T09:30:39.452+00:00Someone commented on Facebook that the PBS selecto...Someone commented on Facebook that the PBS selectors get the books / mss months in advance, which of course favours bigger publishers who are set up to do things like that. <br /><br />I like your idea of including all the PBS recommendations – then, as you say, the judges could pick 4 from them. That would widen the field quite a lot. I’m not a PBS member – was for a while some years ago, on the grounds that other people’s choices would be good for me, but decided I’d rather use the money to make my own. It would certainly be more attractive if they allowed one to choose from the recommendations. <br />Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-39182802642058839912014-01-14T22:34:55.817+00:002014-01-14T22:34:55.817+00:00Eliot Prize connection with Poetry Book Society co...Eliot Prize connection with Poetry Book Society comes into a bit, as you acknowledge. I'm glad the nominations aren't restricted to what's come via the PBS (though if they included all the recommendations it would be a bigger shortlist). Lately I've been feeling that the PBS needs a different system - partly a different selection process, but also it seems rather confining that most of us will just get The Choice. Maybe I'd like to see a group of books chosen as recommendations without one of them coming first, and you'd respond quickly to choose one that you want, or otherwise leave it to them to send you one random one (which is not so different from getting The Choice willy nilly). That would promote more of the range and feed the star system a bit less - don't know how it might relate to the Eliots but then the judges could still commit to nominating at least four of the recommendation/choices. Also the PBS subscription is now edging above what it would cost to buy four books in a bookshop over the year, and I think they could make more special offers for subscribers to make it worthwhile.Peter Danielshttp://www.peterdaniels.org.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-57259803826562495222014-01-14T22:26:01.535+00:002014-01-14T22:26:01.535+00:00That's probably what the big presses would say...That's probably what the big presses would say... though I'm not sure any of them would believe it in all honesty. Talent is diverse, and tastes vary. Big presses may get a disproportionate share of good writers, but not all of them. The feed-through to the prizes makes the big five into gatekeepers which doesn't seem right. Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-39186036042508238252014-01-14T22:23:42.831+00:002014-01-14T22:23:42.831+00:00Thanks for doing this, Dean. The Aldeburgh prize ...Thanks for doing this, Dean. The Aldeburgh prize is a tonic, and one to learn from. Maybe the diversity of small publishers will feed through to TSE and Forward, eventually, but things are so static that they need a push.Fiona Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10052038869211775919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-13827381175295827262014-01-14T22:09:48.045+00:002014-01-14T22:09:48.045+00:00Great analysis, Fiona. I guess one (rather unsatis...Great analysis, Fiona. I guess one (rather unsatisfactory) answer is that the big presses select out all the major talent, so that if you are good enough to win that sort of award, then that's who will be publishing your books. I was pretty shocked by the ethnicity figures, though, when there are so many great BME poets around.Judi Sutherlandhttp://www.judisutherland.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1648230750208763565.post-16770397495285974782014-01-14T21:43:55.886+00:002014-01-14T21:43:55.886+00:00Interesting! Inspired by this I just totted up the...Interesting! Inspired by this I just totted up the figures for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize Winners (since it began in 1989) - 13 men, 13 women, 15 different publishers out of 26 prizewinners. I suppose you might expect that, that the bigger publishers don't do so many First Collections perhaps, although every year they all do publish/enter at least one or two collections each. For a number of years we've had the same chair of the judges (first Michael Laskey, more recently Robert Seatter) who are joined by two other people each time. Mostly these are poets, although sometimes we get a poetry loving 'outsider' - such as broadcaster and songwriter Peter Blegvad in 2013. We try and choose people who know the Festival.Dean Parkinhttp://www.deanparkin.co.uknoreply@blogger.com