News and Events

SLN Competition
2010

8 Oct: Inside the Brightness of Red

18 Nov: Losing & Finding

1&2 Apr 11: Spring Festival

15-19 Aug 11: Holland House

Comps & Calls

Past Events

ARTEMIS poetry

Second Light Network, News and Events, Competition…

News and Events

Note, Members only: To submit News / Events items for e-notices or inclusion in ARTEMISpoetry Noticeboard, see Submit News Item

ARTEMISpoetry Issue 5, submissions of poetry. The deadline has passed.
30th September: ARTEMISpoetry Issue 5, submissions of artwork and members’ news
see guidelines

Second Light Long & Short Poetry Competition, 2010 DEADLINE 1st OCT 10

Poetry Competition 2010: Scintilla is no longer running a poetry competition so, as we think it is important for women poets to have an outlet for long poems, this year, the Second Light competition has two categories – Cat 1: short poems (up to 50 lines) and Cat 2: long poems (50 lines plus).

This year’s judge is Myra Schneider.

There is a first prize of £250 for each category plus other cash and book prizes. Winning, shortlisted and commended poems will be published (long poems may be in full or extract) in ARTEMISpoetry in May 2011 and the poets invited to read at an adjudication event in London, also in 2011. Winning poems will be published on the SecondLightLive website.

Second Light Members: please do take up your free entry of 1 poem…

               Download prize and entry fee details

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8th Oct 10: Inside the Brightness of Red

The first of two full-day Autumn festivals – workshops with Fiona Sampson and Penelope Shuttle, Anne Stewart reading from her new collection, launch of Inside the Brightness of Red, a posthumous second collection of poetry by Mary MacRae.

A private donation to cover all costs has enabled Second Light Publications to follow-up Mary MacRae’s As Birds Do with this second collection. Special prices apply if order form is used. All members are invited to the reception and reading and we will hear Mary’s poems from as many readers as we can fit in.

               Download order form

All events are very close to Russell Square tube station (Lumen Centre and Art Workers Guild).

EARLY BOOKING ADVISED – as always, Second Light members have priority when booking for all – in this case ‘both’ – workshops. The two readings are free entry.

               Download booking form

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18th Nov 10: Losing & Finding

Second festival day – workshops with Wendy French and Myra Schneider, readings from recent collections by Angela France and June Hall, followed by Second Light at the Lumen Poetry Series, presenter Ruth O’Callaghan, readings by Second Light members.

The Lumen event is pay on entry, £5/(£4 conc) with all proceeds to the Cold Weather Shelter. If you would like to read at this event, please contact Ruth to make arrangements (details on booking form).

               Download booking form

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1st & 2nd April, 2011: Spring Festival

The Spring Festival for 2011 will be 1st & 2nd April at the Art Workers Guild, London, including Myra Schneider’s adjudication of the Second Light Poetry Competition 2010, readings by winners and others, and a workshop and reading by Penelope Shuttle.

15th to 19th August 11: Residential Course

We have booked Holland House again for 2011, now to take place over four days from 15 – 19 August. Workshop tutors will include Penelope Shuttle. The cost will be in the region of £300 for single rooms and substantially less for sharing. Beautiful grounds, comfortable rooms, a warm welcome and excellent food… more t/f

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Comps & Calls

Torriano Poetry Competition

Torriano Poetry Competition – Closing date 3 February 2011 Poems up to 40 lines. Contact details and titles on separate sheet. Adjudicators: Wendy French & Maggie Butt. Prizes First £250 Second £150 Third £75. Feature readings for winners. Entry fees: £3 one poem, £5 for two, £10 for five. No translations. Cheques to Torriano Support Fund. Entries to: Pat Griffin, 4 Cundishall Close, Whitstable, Kent CT5 4DA.

Lumen/Camden Poetry Competition

Lumen/Camden Poetry Competition. Poems up to 40 lines £2.50 per poem, 6 poems £10. Deadline: 14th February 2011. Judge: Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate. Proceeds to the Cold Weather Shelter. Submissions and cheques to Ruth O’Callaghan, 49 Ripley Gardens, Mortlake London SW14 8HF. Prize: Pamphlet publication of winner’s poems – 50 free copies plus reading.

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Past Events & Competitions

MAY MADNESS!!
Spring Festival 2010

Holland House
23-26 Mar 2010

Celebration of Mary MacRae

FIFTY-FIFTEEN Festival 2009

Autumn Festival 2008

SLN Competition
2009 Results

SLN Competition
2008 RESULTS

MAY MADNESS!! Spring Festival 2010

Two full days of workshops and readings, and the 2009 Second Light Poetry Competition adjudication event. The three workshops (with Katherine Gallagher, Pascale Petit & Myra Schneider) were inspirational!

Pauline Stainer, the judge of the 2009 competition presented an interesting and informative talk on the poems she chose and the winners, commended and shortlisted poets gave us a very fine reading, as did Pauline herself and our main readers on Saturday evening, which included launch readings from new books by Katherine Gallagher, Maria Jastrzębska, Lyn Moir and Caroline Natzler.

The fast-becoming-traditional All Comers! reading by any Second Light members who wished to read was amazingly varied – and even more amazingly came in under time(!), which enabled us to force Dilys Wood onto the stage to give us a reading of her wonderful sonnet sequence written for Mimi Khalvati.

Holland House, Worcestershire, March 2010          

A wonderfully successful 3 day residential event… Tutors Myra Schneider and Penelope Shuttle ran stimulating and productive workshops on Myth (Myra) and War (Penelope). It is noticeably liberating to spend some quality time with fellow poets, particularly when all are feisty older women! Members of Second Light will receive a booklet of poems, the Holland Haul, arising from this event, courtesy of our willing volunteer editor, Penny Hewlett.

Holland House is a lovely venue for groups of around 30 people. We were well looked after, with very good food and comfortable rooms. The house itself is in beautiful grounds with a path down to the river and various gardens. More on their web-site.

CELEBRATION OF MARY MacRAE

When we ran an event to celebrate the work of Mary MacRae on 11th December 09, we had a full house and a very memorable evening. Mimi Khalvati, Myra Schneider, Lucy Hamilton, Nadine Brummer & Dilys Wood, plus many of Mary’s friends and colleagues, gave very moving readings from Mary’s work, and shared their own poems about her and their remembrances. It’s good to know that her work will continue to be read.

FIFTY-FIFTEEN FESTIVAL – 19-21 NOVEMBER 2009

A festival of readings and workshops celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Second Light Network, took place at The Art Workers in London. Thanks to an Arts Council grant, a small number of Bursaries was made available and it was a real pleasure to be able to accommodate some participants who otherwise may not have been able to attend.

The ‘Fifty’ element in the title is ‘fifty years of the rise and rise of women’s poetry’. So what was beginning to take off in 1959? It’s difficult to pin-point a base year when women began to find the inspiration, not simply to pursue the lone woman artist road, but to feel themselves part of a highly charged large-scale movement.

In 1959, Sylvia Plath wrote some remarkable, now well-known poems, including "The Bee-Keeper’s Daughter", "The Colossus" and "Mushrooms". The imaginative power and raw assertion in these poems energised many women writers. It was the beginning of a certain kind of female-artist self-awareness which had to be renewed many times but in the end there was exponential progress.

One of our ways of celebrating was to include in the rich festival line-up a reading by the very distinguished poet, Anne Stevenson, one of the poets whose development has spanned over fifty years, and what an inspirational reading it was! We are delighted she agreed to participate in the festival, along with R V Bailey, Alison Brackenbury, Katherine Gallagher, Caroline Price, Mimi Khalvati, Myra Schneider, Lynne Wycherley and many others…

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Autumn Festival, November 2008

A great time was had by all, sell out readings and workshops. Romanian participant, Elena Nistor, had her camera to hand…

Joan Waddleton, Maggie Norton

Maggie shows Joan how the coat fits …

Anne Ballard (speaker), Daphne Schiller, Anna Avebury

"and in this one here, look…"

Anne Stewart, Administrator

Something funny this way comes?

Pat Earnshaw and Hilary Llewellyn-Williams

Discussing the finer points…

Penelope Shuttle, Kay Cotton

Cornwall meets Normandie; Penelope and Kay talk shop

Elena Nistor, Katherine Gallagher, Anne Stewart

Katherine takes the throne… Elena (on her right) directs the shot

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Second Light Poetry Competition 2009

The Judge is Pauline Stainer, whose latest collection, Crossing the Snowline (Bloodaxe 2008), has been received with acclaim by reviewers. We included a review in ARTEMISpoetry Issue 1 and Pauline kindly read for Second Light at the Autumn Festival 2008, following up with a workshop at the May 2009 event.

The winning poems, along with poems which were commended or shortlisted, are published in ARTEMISpoetry, Issue 5, which came out in May 2010 and many of the poets, including the winners, read their poems at the adjudication event at the Spring 2010 May Madness Festival.

Results:

1st prize: Lynne Wycherley, The Lightning-Horse
2nd prize: Margaret Wilmot, Hermetic
3rd prize: Kay Syrad, "Registering their flora,/their fauna"
Read the Poems

Commended:
Suzanne Burrows, The Horses and Crossing the Bridge
Anne Cluysenaar, The Pear-tree
Kate Foley, Heart Surgery
Clare Holtham, The Jerwood Library
Pippa Little, Acrobat
M R Peacocke, The greeting
Marion Tracy, Nest and Bipolar
Jenny Vuglar, This Morning

Shortlisted:
Ann Alexander, Cabbage Cutters Wanted. Basic English. Night or Day
Dorothy Baird, 29 April
Ann Boileau, Within its Time and Frame
H Coffey, On Ivory
Margaret Eddershaw, Queen of the Tightrope
Jacqueline Gabbitas, Grass discovers metempsychosis
Mavis Howard, Nature
Gill Learner, Resurrection
Helen Loselock-Burke, Clouds on the Blackthorn
Sue MacIntyre, Interior, 1893 and A Wine Glass Half Full of Milk
Jane McLaughlin, Crossings
Rosemary McLeish, Handless Bride
Nancy Mattson, Learning the Letter Щ and Compasses: a Triptych
Caroline Natzler, Paper place
Elizabeth Rowe, Blue
K V Skene, Why I Wasn’t Listening
Dorothy Yamomoto, The button box Tiger hunt

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Second Light Poetry Competition 2008

Judge, Gillian Clarke, announced her selections just in time for a sneak preview of the winners’ list at the Autumn Festival. The winning and other poems were published in ARTEMISpoetry, Issue 2, in May 09.

Results:

1st prize: Eleanor Livingstone, Snow Hare;
2nd prize: Anne Wigley, Learning to Swim
3rd prize: Sheila Wild, Shiant Wife

Runners up:

Alison Brackenbury, Great-Great
Wendy Klein, Kid Gloves
Gill Learner, Counted Out
Pat Marum, The Insect Parlour
Lyn Moir, Ice Dream
Gillian Moyes, Norah
Isobel Thrilling, Last Day
Nicola Warwick, The Iceman’s Wife

Shortlisted:

Hilaire, The Colonel’s Daughter’s House
Claudia Jessop, Hope
Carlotta Johnston, Wild Grass Mull
Thelma Laycock, The Sash
Gill Learner, Through and Through
Gill Learner, A Descent from Mount Olympus
Eleanor Livingstone, The Soul
Lyn Moir, Juanjo, The Guggenheim, Me
Jennie Osborne, Quantum
Diana Pritchard, Barefoot in the Snow
Kate Rhodes, Details

Gillian Clarke is President of Ty Newydd, the writers’ centre in North Wales which she co-founded in 1990, tutor on the M.Phil in Creative Writing at the University of Glamorgan, and the current National Poet for Wales. Her poetry is studied for GCSE and A Level throughout Britain. Recent books include Making the Beds for the Dead, 2004, a prose collection, and At The Source, 2008. A new collection, A Recipe for Water, is due in 2009.

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