New Beginnings E-Book

Various

• Herausgeber: Renard Press
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The Coronavirus pandemic of 2020–21 has been characterised by a suspended state of fear and confusion; political discourse has been pernicious, relationships strained, and the far-off notion of the new dawn promised for autumn is proving just about enough to keep the embers of hope burning. New Beginnings is a poetry collection with a difference – resulting from an international competition seeking to find those whose voices were silenced in 2020, the resulting anthology forms a celebration of the end of the toxic aspects of 2020 and the pandemic, a glimmer of hope for the future and a manifesto for change.

Leseprobe

New Beginnings

when the morning comes:

poetry for a new day

renard press

Renard Press Ltd

124 City Road

London EC1V 2NX

United Kingdom

[email protected]

020 8050 2928

www.renardpress.com

New Beginnings first published by Renard Press Ltd in 2021

Poems and biographies © the poets and judges, 2021

All other text © Renard Press, 2021

Cover design by Will Dady

The authors assert their right to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, or is used fictitiously.

Renard Press is proud to be a climate positive publisher, removing more carbon from the air than we emit and planting a small forest. For more information see renardpress.com/eco.

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, used to train artificial intelligence systems or models, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the publisher.

EU Authorised Representative: Easy Access System Europe – Mustamäe tee 50, 10621 Tallinn, Estonia, [email protected].

Permission for reproducing any poems in this book may be applied for via the publisher, using the details above, or by emailing [email protected].

contents

About New Beginnings

About the Judges

New Beginnings

university will be online today

Martha Grogan

today we are allowed to hug again

Rosie Gliddon

270,000,000

Melissa Sia

a countryside walk

Heather Rodgers

a new day

Laura Chouette

affection in the time of covid

Lizzy Lister

after lockdown, i’m quicker off the mark

Catherine Edmunds

alarm in the ccu

Heinrich Beindorf

becoming

Simon Jackson

chasing rainbows

Lucy Beckley

denouement

Lynne Taylor

dysphoria

Kay Saunders

four weeks

Allie Bullivant

getting a voice back

John Gallas

god only knows the blend

Ellie Herda-Grimwood

how to breathe

David Bottomley

i am a girl of many colours

Elisabeth-Rae Reynolds

if someone had asked me why

Ngoi Hui Chien

lockdown antidote:

Martin Bennett

metagenomics, coding and spring:

Ieva Dapkevicius

occupation: housewife

Sora Li Anders

on ampudia’s crisantemi

Jenna Pashley Smith

one strong day

J.L. James

pandemic classroom

Karin Molde

pandemic mums

Kathryn Louise Knight

petrosinella

Rose Cook

postpartum

Jessica Johnson

pride

C.M. Rosier

sertraline resin

Anna Dallaire

sick rapunzel

Charlotte Murray

stones

Christian Ward

the country called new beginning

Priyanka Kelly Burns

the day you stop surviving

Sophie Sparham

the gift

Voirrey Faragher

the race

Oyinmiebi Youdeowei

the song

Molly J. Evans

the upholding

David Hensley

to a friend

Ella Dane-Liebesny

trapped

William Foster

treading carefully

Nisha Bhakoo

tsunami

Aly Lou Smith

walk away

Peter Hill

when i come out

Hannah Ross

woman

Jasmine Kaur

About the Poets

Supporters

about new beginnings

In February 2021 Renard put out a call for submissions for the New Beginnings poetry project, a competition open to all those who ‘felt their voice was silenced in 2020’, no matter where they were in the world, or what age. The book you’re holding is the result, containing all of the poems on the shortlist, and is a celebration of the end of many of the toxic aspects of 2020 and the Covid pandemic we all lived through, and offers a glimmer of hope for the future and a manifesto for change.

As with any project, there were several vital people working away behind the scenes. The judges – Miriam Halahmy, Denise Rawls, Hannah Fields and Tom Denbigh – had the unenviable task of whittling down a vast pile of submissions to the shortlist you see here today, and it is testament to their skill and patience that the list is so varied and rich in talent.

The project was supported by a crowdfunding campaign, the kind contributions to which paid for the prizes and rewards – thanks in abundance go to all those who supported the project, and their names can be found on p 122.

Thanks must also go to Ruth Irwin, Matt Dady-Leonard and Finn Dady for their suggestions and input, without which this project might never have come to fruition.

the publisher

about the judges

miriam halahmy

Miriam was a teacher for 25 years, and, having worked with refugees and asylum seekers in schools, her writing engages with historical and contemporary issues that affect children across time – most notably the plight of refugees. Her young-adult novel, Hidden, was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and has been adapted for the stage. Saving Hanno, her latest book, is about a boy who comes to the UK on the Kindertransport, and reflects on the grief and loss experienced by refugee children.

denise rawls

Denise is a writer, based in east London. She is an alumni of Spread the Word’s Development Programme; the first chapters of her novel in progress achieved ‘highly commended’ in the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers’ Prize; and she is contributing to Common Gossip, a working-class anthology. Outside of writing, she has been vocal about the lack of career progression across the civil service for black and brown women on BBC’s Women’s Hour and Sky News. As well as writing her novel, Marisol’s Baby, Denise works for the National Theatre, where she leads the organisation’s communications team.

hannah fields

Hannah is a writer, editor and publisher from Texas. She founded the independent publishing company, Folkways Press, in 2020, and launched the company with an anthology, We Are Not Shadows, as its inaugural publication. The anthology selected writing from women of all ages and backgrounds and covers a wide range of topics – including issues of race, gender, sexuality, trauma, adversity, disability, and more. She has worked on various publications, from children’s books to award-winning magazines, along with various publishers in the US and UK.

tom denbigh

Tom lives in Bristol with an obscene number of books. He is the first Bristol Pride Poet Laureate and a BBC 1Extra Emerging Artist Talent Search winner. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and festivals around the UK, and has brought poetry to Brighton and London Pride. He is a producer at Milk Poetry and has facilitated writing workshops for groups of students from the UK and abroad. He is particularly proud of his work with queer young people. His debut collection …and then she ate him is out now with Burning Eye Books.

new beginnings

winner

university will be online today

Martha Grogan

runner-up

today we are allowed to hug again

Rosie Gliddon

special mentions from the judges

Miriam Halahmy

sick rapunzel

Charlotte Murray

Denise Rawls

god only knows the blend

Ellie Herda-Grimwood

Hannah Fields

the race

Oyinmiebi Youdeowei

Tom Denbigh

four weeks

Allie Bullivant