One of the problems faced by poets is that due to the large volume of poems submitted to major poetry magazines, it’s impossible for editors to give detailed feedback on those poems that are not accepted for the publication.
To address this problem we are delighted to announce a new service for subscribers to Magma Poetry magazine – a Subscribers’ Poem Workshop which will start in our next Newsletter and appear regularly after that.
Subscribers are invited to send a poem on which they would like advice, by e-mail to workshop@magmapoetry.com. The aim is to give focussed advice to help poets who are working towards publication, so priority will be given to subscribers who ask particular questions about the effectiveness of their poem. Our expert will answer these questions as well as giving an overall assessment of the poem.
One poem will be chosen for each Newsletter. The poem and the poet’s question(s) together with feedback will appear in the Newsletter. All the other poems received will be acknowledged. While we will clearly not be able to workshop every poem submitted, we hope that all readers of the newsletter will benefit from having an insight into the editors’ criteria.
Poems submitted to the Subscribers’ Poem Workshop:
- must not exceed 30 lines in length
- must obviously be the subscriber’s own work
- must not be a translation or adaptation of an existing work
- must not have already been published on paper
Only poems submitted by e-mail to workshop@magmapoetry.com can be considered, and we would ask the poem be included in the body of the text, rather than as an attachment unless it is layout sensitive.
The Workshop will be led by Clare Pollard who has three collections published by Bloodaxe. She will be assisted by Laurie Smith, Magma’s reviews editor. As Clare is currently busy editing Magma 45, Laurie will choose and respond to the first poem in Newsletter 4 which is due in November.
If you are a subscriber and have a poem which you would like to submit to be workshopped, do e-mail it to workshop@magmapoetry.com. If you would like to subscribe to Magma Poetry, you can do so by clicking here.
I think it’s a great idea. It will help closet poets and people working in isolation and those of us who have a tendency to become insular, and/or obscure.
I look forward to it!
Sounds a super scheme – all I need now is to create a short poem worthy of workshopping!
Wonderful – it will be super to have access to professionals
What a great idea. I look forward to contributing poems and comments.
[...] you are a regular reader of the Magma e-Newsletters, you will know about the Subscriber’s Poem Workshop in which a poem submitted by a subscriber to the magazine is workshopped by a Magma editor. Clare [...]