Join the celebration!

Today’s blog is the moment we are finally able to do what our Year Five teachers always taught us: pat ourselves on the back. Well done us! Our first publication, ‘The Sheliand’, proofed, printed and launched to the world. 

So much fun, after all the hard work, to see you, our readers, asking D.G. Herring, its author, for signed copies and selfies and watch him making a name for himself on the local poetry circuit: performing a winning poem on stage as part of the Bournemouth Writing Festival; reading his especially-written anthem against hate to the good-guys during Boscombe’s Increase The Peace festival; and, preparing a set for his appearance at the Shaftesbury Fringe later this Summer.

Pride is the over-riding emotion. When our very own Lead Editor, Gena Morgan, hosted a panel discussion on Ethical Dilemmas for Writers, it was really moving to see the engagement and interest our first chapbook had generated – compassion and inclusion were the watchwords as those within and outside the trans community discussed, for example, whether lived experience is a necessary prerequisite for writing about transition.

And now, are focus is forwards. We are busy editing a chapbook from a local poet who caught our eye: poems which surfaced from dark days in a hospital room, following an operation to remove part of his tongue, balanced by lighter moments of love and meditation. We hope you’ll love his work as much as we do.

All we can reveal just now is his initials: SB. Even Samuel Beckett had to get his first acceptance somewhere, and, based on performances he has given at local open mics, we feel sure our SB is going to resonate with his readership.

Finally, and thanks for your patience, we’ll have some exciting news next month about our first submissions window.

So maybe it’s time for you to print out your poems, spread them across the floor, and visualise your words in chapbook form: Dithering Chaps could be the perfect fit.

As our Year Eight teachers would say, "You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great!”