Two things I sweared off early on - being a publisher and editing an anthology. I’m not really doing either here and somehow I’ve avoided all the pitfalls of being an editor by squeezing in between the gaps. In fact this project has been one of the most personally satisfying. Basically every year at the University where I teach, Kingston, I invite all students and alumni from the last five years, no matter their background, to send me short manuscripts, with an open call. Then I choose three and work with the brilliant publisher Sampson Low, which has been around for over 200 years and really are amazing to work with, Alban Low is a remarkable editor and publisher, to develop three young poets debut or near debut pamphlets. This series for 2019 is the third set. You can find them all here www.writerscentrekingston.com/sampsonlow

So it’s new work from Helena Artus, Marcia Knight Latter and Julia Rose Lewis and all three are beautiful works. Marcia has a rare energy, organically tuned into experiment and play without being an at all laden with theory, Julia is one of the finest poets working in the UK now in my opinion and Helena’s pamphlet, exceptionally, is entirely in sign language, being visual sign translations of her poems, drawing on her experience of BSL. The pamphlets will be launched at WCK events on Feb 21st and April 4th.