Reflections on our first submissions window…
We have had a busy Summer, carefully reading through your submissions, and then, after letting each one simmer for a while, re-reading them. It’s often that second-reading stage that is most powerful - a sense that we’re encountering an old friend, a deeper set of meanings coming to the surface.
There’s plenty of research out there that shows that the judgements people make about things vary according to a whole host of factors. Decision-makers are more likely, for example, to reject a proposal the longer it is since their last meal, but tend to give a more favourable ruling just after a snack!
This is true of editors and their shortlists too! If you’ve read our home page, you’ll know how important biscuits are to the dithering process. And now we have the science to back us up!
“This poem isn’t speaking to me right now, Gena!”
“Have another jammy dodger, love.”
“Ah, yes! Now, I’m picking up the assonance...”
Something we’re proud about in our decision-making process is the fact that we respond to each submission, whether shortlisted or not, with a brief, positive critique. This is a good discipline for us as, sometimes, writing such comments can cause us to reassess. And it also allows us to sweeten the pill for recipients of all those emails that start, “I’m sorry to say that we have not been able to include your collection in our shortlist...” Finding the positives is a key part of the Dithering Chaps ethos and it elicits really nice emails back from those we have to disappoint:
“Quite the nicest rejection I've had! Thank you for taking the time to share your comments - it's really appreciated.”
Announcing our first shortlist!
Overall, we were delighted with the quality and range of this year’s submissions and we had long discussions before producing our shortlist. Commiserations if you did not make it this time - the work of the following seven poets just spoke to us that little bit more:
Addenda: After the Fall by Mara Adamitz Scrupe
Familiar by Kate Castle
Don’t Let Your Mother Be the Excuse by Janet Dean
Oddities, Jokes and Death-trips by Neil Douglas
Ghosts of Nightshifts Past by Nicole Durman
She Leaves Her Face in Your Mirrors by Hilary Hares
Conversation With Magic Stones by Vivienne Tregenza
Congratulations to all seven!
We will be reading their full collections over the coming months – with a final decision due in December about the author we will be publishing next year.
We are now open for submissions all year round and you can read about our new submissions policy by going to our Submissions page, here.