News
ROOT - a collection of new fiction from the North-East
In 2013 IRON Press will be publishing ROOT, an anthology of new short stories from North-East based writers, and we are looking for submissions now.
Any writer resident in the North-East region (Northumberland, Durham, Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside) can submit, and submissions are free of charge. We shall be paying £50 for every story chosen. The collection will be edited by the novelist, Kitty Fitzgerald. Stories must not exceed 4,000 words, and can be on any topic and must not have previously been published. The stories themselves do not need to be set in the region. Entry is limited to one story per writer, and should be submitted bearing a pseudonym, as against the writer's name. Submissions must be typed, double-spaced on A4 paper, single-sided with pages numbered. Please include a SAE for return, which should also bear the same pseudonym. Do not send items by recorded or special delivery. No email submissions please.
We are offering a professional critique service for writers seeking constructive criticism of their story before submitting. This costs £20 per story (cheques to IRON Press), but again the story itself should bear a pseudonym. Deadline for this is March 31st 2012.
The deadline for submissions for the anthology is June 1st, 2012.
Send to: Root Anthology, IRON Press, 5 Marden Tce, Cullercoats, North Shields , NE30 4PY
Watch this web site for more publication details on the above!
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More than 200 people turned up at The Hyena, Newcastle's premier comedy venue, for the lively launch of our IRON Book of New Humorous Verse on November 15, 2010. Poets flocked in from throughout the country (and in the case of Julie Kane, flew more than 4000 miles from Louisiana), live music came from The Creels, there was a hot buffet, and to accompany Kitty Fitzgerald's reading of the Ian McMillan poem, In Praise of Yorkshire Puddings, trays of the wee fellers were piped in (well, almost), and eaten with four varieties of jam.
Thanks to the venue for their brill. organisation, to all the poets who made it such a vibrant event - 'just like the old days', as Linda France commented, and to the audience who cheered and hollered throughout. The 30-odd poets who read their work were all high quality and proved that poetry can be powerful and relevant without being po-faced or miserablist.
As if to affirm the collection's impact, it has already been reprinted after the first edition of 800 copies sold out in a matter of months.
Poets who read at the launch: Amanda Baker, David Bateman, Pauline Beaumont, Christine Bousfield, Diana Brodie, Helen Burke, Marianne Burton, Diane Cockburn, Andy Croft, Liz Dean, Sylvia Forrest, Kate Fox, Linda France, John Hegley, Joan Johnston, Julie Kane, Janina Aza Karpinska, Valerie Laws, Rennie Parker, Pauline Plummer, June Portlock, Jeff Price, Guy Russell, Gwen Seabourne, Murray Shelmerdine, Natalie Smith, Joy C Swan, Steve Tasane, Charles Wilkinson. The event was MC'd by Peter Mortimer and introduced by editor Eileen Jones.
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Readers' Groups - IRON Press is keen to promote reading. We can offer you good discounts on bulk ordering of any of our titles for your readers' groups. We may also be able to put you in touch with the writers if you'd like them to visit your group - do remember that writers need to live and eat, don't expect them to do readings/workshops for nothing. Your regional arts boards may be able to help you with funding information for writer's events
Readers and Writers - IRON Press itself can do events for readers and writers. We can offer a bookstall, a talk on Getting Published or How Small Presses Work or Poetry or Haiku or Getting Started in Writing, as well as readings. For more details e-mail us on ironpress@blueyonder.co.uk
