The third edition of Popshot with work from over 50 of the finest poets and illustrators that are breathing today. Including poems from the likes of Jack Stannard, Inua Ellams, Helen Mort, Musa Okwonga, Sophie Clarke and Hollie Mcnish and illustrations from such talents as James Dawe, Holly Wales, Paul Holland, Dan Hillier and Mydeadpony.
Click Here to find out more about Issue 3.
You don't have to have been published a hundred times before to get your poetry into Popshot. In fact, we quite like it if you haven't. Visit the submit page to find out more about submitting your poetic gems.
[ POPSHOT NEEDS YOUR BRAIN ]
September 1stHello Green Days.
It has rather delightfully come round to that time again where we at Popshot have to ask you for a small slice of creative consultation. Diehard Popshotters will already be acquainted with this concept but for those of you that haven't come across it before - here's the idea:
Each issue we have a quote next to the editorial that starts with 'Poetry. It's not just for...'. For the last issue, strength in numbers decided that 'Poetry. It's not just for poets' was the winner. This time we're looking to recruit your outside of the box thinking for our forthcoming 4th issue which goes to print in under a week. All suggestions are welcome from the sublime to the ridiculous.
The winning suggestion will get a free copy of The Modern Living Issue and will be read by people across the globe. Please post your suggestions on the - Popshot Magazine Facebook Wall - by Saturday 4th September. Thank you!
[ RICHARD WILKINSON ]
August 31stHello Corner.
I'm slightly bewildered as to why the incredibility of - Richard Wilkinson - has never before been mentioned on this blog but it's about time it was so here we are. We first came across his work after seeing an editorial piece he did for The Economist or The Spectator which was absolutely mindblowing. In my opinion, he's one of the finest examples of an editorial illustrator that I can think of and if you take a drawn out peep through his work, you'll soon see what I mean. Alot of his work has this profound sense of isolation and reflection so it seemed fitting that he should illustrate Inua Ellams' poem 'Defiant/Definite' which spoke of his fathers fight and eventual loss to a long term illness. Find more of his work here.
[ FUSELIT & DAYS OF ROSES ]
August 26thHello Dynamite.
August seems to be the month of collaborations and here is the most recent one. London literary night, Days of Roses, has teamed up with - Fuselit - the handmade magazine makers, to celebrate their 5th birthday at The Book Club in Shoreditch. The line up looks brilliant so if you get the chance to meander down on your Tuesday evening, take it.
Through trying to find out information about the night, I also stumbled across a rather fascinating article written by one of the Fuselit editors in response to a comment the Forward Prize judge, Hugo Williams, made about there being too many poetry books published each year. It's a beautifully thought out piece of writing, so for your daily quota of extended reading - check out the post here.
[ BROKEN BISCUITS ]
August 24thHello Crumbs.
Intrigued? Find out why we're being so foolish and how you can be so clever by checking out the Broken Biscuits page.
[ HOW TO WRITE BADLY WELL ]
August 23rdHello Revision.
Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who came down to the Clinic/Popshot night at Utrophia on Saturday. It went splendidly well and the venue was one of the most weird, wonderful and original places I've ever seen. Vegetables growing in trolleys in Deptford? Triffic. No doubt some photos will follow if you keep your eye on things over at the Clinic website. Here's news of another event you may want to get your head round.
You may remember us mentioning the last Homework night which was festival themed back in July. This next one entitled 'How to Write Badly Well' is a baby from the same mother, but a different baby altogether. Keep up. Here's the blurb:
If you’ve ever dreamt of becoming the next William Faulkner or Vladimir Nabakov, then this night won’t be much use to you. Homework is running a one-off seminar on how to become a dreadful writer. In just one sitting, Joel Stickley will teach you how to mix metaphors, twist tenses and abuse awkward alliterative... artful... arbitrary... uh... apples, I guess. With modules on style, plotting, marketing, genre and three hundred diff...erent words you can use instead of “said,” you’ll come away feeling like Dan Brown’s heir apparent. Plus, there'll be support from Aisle 16's Joe Dunthorne, Chris Hicks and John Osborne. Further information of how to get there can be found at their Facebook Event Page.
[ ALEX ROBBINS ]
August 20thHello British Garden Bird.
The last time we spoke to British born and raised illustrator - Alex Robbins - he was living in Berlin so I'll assume that's still relevant. After graduating from the Camberwell College of Arts in London, he has since produced work for Time, Wired, ROJO, The Guardian and for us. The poem 'Freedom in the USA' by Shams Abu-Tayeh was accompanied by Alex's illustration which pulled on the line 'It's moonlit-nights and rabid raccoons ambling' as inspiration. If you wish to see his illustration, you'll have to buy a copy of Issue 3 - The Liberate Issue. You know where to go.
[ POPSHOT & CLINIC PRESENTS: SEMIOTICS ]
August 17thHello Parevine.
This is just a swift reminder to let you know that 'Semiotics', our collaborative event with the starlets of Clinic and Print Club London, is upon us in a jiffy like fashion. Reportedly, Utrophia, the former ice cream factory in Deptford, is currently being cleared of tubs of ice cream and towers of 99 flakes in anticipation of Saturday's merriments.
Thus, you have 4 days to gather your friends, pick your outfit, then shuffle your dancing feet on down to Utrophia where you can get painfully drunk on elderflower gin and take in the cultural onslaught we'll be putting on for you. What a wonderful way to spend an Augustian evening.
Full details of the night are attainable from our Facebook Event Page or by scrolling a few posts down this page. We hope to see your pretty little faces there.
www.clinicpresents.com
www.printclublondon.com
www.utrophia.net
[ SUPPORT THE INDEPENDENTS ]
August 16thHello New Space.
I just wanted to shed some light on the issue of distribution as for magazines such as Popshot and many others, it takes up a gigantic chunk of brainspace and time. Ever since the high profile collapse of Borders, many magazines folded as a result of having up to 35 of their stockists swiped from under their feet. Popshot managed to weather this by having a healthy list of subscribers and some very open minded stockists who were willing to take a punt on stocking a poetry & illustration magazine despite the rather difficult economic climate and dip in magazine sales.
Recently, it feels like has been a slight shift and independent bookstores, galleries and boutiques are starting to make up for the loss of Borders by stocking select ranges of magazines themselves. One such London bookstore is Housmans who previously only stocked radical books and periodicals before expanding their range to support independent magazines. They'll be holding talks in September with publishers, distributors, stockists and journalists, to discuss the issue of specialist title distribution. Another store is Beyond The Valley, originally a fashion boutique store who also stock a select range of magazines that seem to sell outrageously quickly. Another is the rather splendid Albion Beatnik in Oxford who primarily stock books but have taken on Popshot as their first magazine.
Check our stockists list for more stores that are willing to break the mould, then go and support them by buying their entire magazine range. The more stores that stock and sell independent magazines, the healthier independent magazines will become. Also, if you know of any stores or are from a store that you think would be interested in stocking magazines - get in touch.
[ NO PLACE ELSE ]
August 13thHello Bad Luck Days.
Previous Popshot illustrator, Matthew Dent, is part of an exhibition that opened today called 'No Place Else' alongside some fairly like-minded illustrators. Full details on the flyer above and more information over at the No Place Else website.
[ LITERARY DEATH MATCH, EPISODE 8 ]
August 10thHello Cement Mixer.
If you believe what the hype says, literary salons are now cooler than anything Nicky Clarke can do with a pair of scissors. Indeed, the literary salon is taking over and spearheading this whole shampoo orientated mess, is the rather splendid - Literary Death Match who return to London's fair shores for yet another bout of word punching. This time, the night will be held at Concrete in Shoreditch and will feature all-star judges Emmy the Great (creator of the genius album First Love), brilliant comedian Miriam Elia, and Dazed Digital's arts & culture overseer John Paul Pryor.
The threesome will pass judgment on a killer lineup of readers, including Gavin James Bower (Dazed & Aroused), actress/author Abigail Tarttelin (representing Beautiful Books — who'll publish her debut novel, Flick, in 2011), poet and Eric Gregory award-winner Jack Underwood (editor of Stop Sharpening Your Knives), and the voice of historical whoredom, Hallie Rubenhold (Lady Worsley’s Whim; An Eighteenth Century Tale of Sex, Scandal and Divorce).
Full details of the night can be found at their Website or at their Facebook Page.
[ POPSHOT & CLINIC PRESENTS: SEMIOTICS ]
August 4thHello Ice Cream Factory.
Oh my days! We're mightily excited to announce the new date and line up for our previously mentioned Clinic/Popshot event. It's shaping up to be an incredible night of poetry, music and art based shenanigans and you might not want to miss it. Tell your friends, tell your mothers, tell everyone you know then get your new shoes on down to Utrophia - a charity-run converted ice-cream factory on Tanner's Hill, just off Lewisham Way, New Cross.
Here come the details:
Clinic & Popshot Magazine proudly present: SEMIOTICS
Forever capitalising on the nomadic nature of the arts, Clinic will set up camp at the fantastic Utrophia, and curate a one-day festival of poetry, music and art in association with Popshot Magazine and Print Club London. Check out the line-up:
*** LIVE MUSIC ***
Tall Ships
www.myspace.com/tallshipsfromfalmouth
Men
www.myspace.com/menoftheuk
Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea
www.myspace.com/crookedmountaincrookedsea
*** POETRY ***
Roddy Lumsden
Jack Underwood
Tim Cockburn
Oli Hazzard
David Tait
Amy De'ath
+ Clinic Poets
*** ART ***
Plus, a collaborative Zine workshop with live screenprinting from Print Club London and an exhibition curated by Clinic
Saturday 21st August 2010 at Utrophia.
3PM-2AM - £3 Entry.
www.clinicpresents.com
www.popshotpopshot.com
www.printclublondon.com
www.utrophia.net
[ THE NEW WAVE OF LITERARY EVENTS ]
August 3rdHello Entrance Fee.
Here's an interesting article about the new wave of literary events that I read over the weekend. I would write more but there's enough words in this article to keep you satisfied - read the full thing Here.
[ END OF SUBMISSIONS ]
August 2ndHello Poem Picker.
So this is where we meet the end of yet another call for submissions for Popshot's 'This Is Modern Living' issue. A massive thank you to everyone who submitted their labours of love - we received a barrage of incredible poems and in the end had to turn away quite a number of them that were more than good enough to make it in. This is a rather frustrating but necessary part of the selective process. We estimate we received about 800 poems in total which were consequently whittled down to a rather select 20 poems. These poems have now been sent out to our 20 illustrators who will be working their magic on the poems during the next 4 weeks.
[ DAMIEN WEIGHILL ]
July 30thHello Fat Mound.
You'll have to scroll back over a month ago to find our last illustration showcase which is simply not good enough. So to reinitiate ourselves back into the illustrator love, allow me to present to you the editorial deftness of a certain - Damien Weighill - who was reportedly abandoned at birth and raised by relatives of Bigfoot before becoming a fully fledged illustrator in the ever creative capital of East London. He's produced work for a rather impressive list of clients and was responsible for creating his own interpretation of Daniel O'Connor's intriguing poem - 'Straw Dogs'. Go check his editorially humourous illustration skills out at his Website now.
[ THE ROUNDHOUSE POETRY SLAM ]
July 29thHello Grand.
As much as it may infuriate the musty old bottom burps, the youth is the future and any nurturing of that can only be seen as a good thing. Which is precisely why the annual Roundhouse Poetry Slam is such a good thing. The basic premise is to showcase 'some of the hottest new spoken word talent as they battle it out for the 2010 title'. They’ll be joined and judged by some of the leaders in the UK poetry/spoken word scene, including PolarBear, Warsan Shire, Inua Ellams, David J and Dean Atta. The poetry slam is spread over 3 seperate nights, comprising of 2 heats and a final. Tickets are a painfully low £2. Find out the details and book tickets Here.
P.S Yes, two updates in a row with a white background and a circle in the middle. Can't be helped.
[ 5 DAYS LEFT FOR POETRY SUBMISSIONS ]
July 26thHello Week.
Gosh, hasn't it sprung up quickly? Yes, that time has flung itself upon us already and there are a mere 5 days left for you to submit your delightfully thought out poems on the theme of 'This Is Modern Living' for the fourth issue of Popshot. You can find out the full guidelines by hopping over to the Submit Page and reading carefully. We'll stop taking submissions at 11.59pm on Saturday so although drunken last minute poems will be accepted, they're certainly ill advised. Thank you and as always, we look forward to reading your mini masterpieces.
[ HOMEWORK BY AISLE 16 ]
July 23rdHello Supermarket.
The rather superb Aisle 16 (who we mentioned a couple of posts below) are arguably one of the most exciting performance poetry collectives that exist. Made up of Tim Clare, Joe Dunthorne, Chris Hicks, Joel Stickley, John Osborne, Ross Sutherland & Luke Wright - their shows are a wonder to behold and have received a phenomenal amount of praise in the press both as a collective and as individuals. If you want to see what all the hype is about, you can catch them performing their show entitled Homework once a month until October at The Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in East London. Their next date is July 28th, festival themed and if it's anything like what we saw at Latitude, it'll probably be amazing. Find out full details of their upcoming shows by clicking exactly here. It's a wonderful way to spend £5.
[ DE ZINES 2 ]
July 21stHello Showroom.
Those of you with a capable scrollbar or a suitable memory will remember us posting about the 'De Zines' exhibition at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, Spain. Here's a picture of various magazines, zines, publications and Popshot at said exhibition. First one to pick out the copy of Popshot from the shelves wins a nonexistent prize. The exhibition looks absolutely amazing, so if you do get the chance to frequent Madrid before August 29th, do it.
[ LATITUDE AND OTHER POSTPONEMENTS ]
July 20thHello Mild Annoyance.
Unfortunately, thanks to a rather massive mix up from the kids at Rough Trade, we have had to postpone our upcoming 'Semiotics' event until August 21st. So although this is a tad upsetting, it does mean that you now have more time to buy some nice shoes for it and convince your friends that poetry nights are actually cool. We'll keep you closely updated with all goings on as we receive them, both here and on our Facebook Group.
In other more uplifting news, Latitude Festival was an absolute splendour to behold and was a showcase for some of the finest poetry performances I've ever seen. The standard was ridiculously high and one of the massive highlights was the whirlwind that was, Aisle 16. Believe any hype you hear of them. There were also performances from Phill Jupitus, Blake Morrison, John Cooper Clarke and virtually any other poetic talent you can think of. The only low point was hearing of the two rapes that happened during the weekend. May the monsters that committed the crimes eternally rot in hell...
[ LATITUDE ]
July 15thHello Longitude.
We're off to Latitude Festival to go and sit in a field and drink overly strong alcohol from dissolving plastic bottles whilst contracting cystitis. While we're there we might also listen to some poetry from some of the best young voices of the spoken word/poetry scene. As a result, we won't be going anywhere near a computer for the next few days so if you have an urgent email for us, put it off for a while. Thanks and have a splendid weekend, whatever you do.
[ LIBERTY AND THE ARTS ]
July 14thHello Stormers.
To celebrate Bastille day, there is an article up over at Open Magazine about liberty and its role in the arts. As well as the director of Liberty, I was lucky enough to be asked a few questions about our most recent 'Liberate' issue and what I had learnt about liberation and freedom as a result of making the magazine. It's an interesting read and for today, is extremely topical. Take a look at the article here and marvel at the fact that there is an advert for Liberty's at the top of the website. Now that my friends, is relevant advertising. (Illustration above is courtesy of the tremendous James Majowski).
[ POPSHOT, CLINIC AND ROUGH TRADE PRESENTS... ]
July 12thHello Event.
We are absolutely overjoyed to present to you our first foray into events - an afternoon and evening of poetry, zine making and screenprinting (courtesy of Print Club London) at the rather brilliant Rough Trade East in Brick Lane on Wednesday 21st July. With the gigantic support and organisation of the prolific Clinic Presents, the event will run from 3pm - 9pm with poetry starting at 7ish, so get there early if you can. Readings are courtesy of Roddy Lumsden, Annie Katchinska (Faber), Oli Hazzard, Olly Todd, David Tait, Amy De'ath and the Clinic poets.
The night is entirely free and you can pop in and out as you please, so even if it's just for 5 minutes, it would be brilliant to have you there. If you're on Facebook, the event invitation can be found here.
[ SHOREDITCH FESTIVAL 2010 ]
July 9thHello Haircut.
East London's haircut kids may be familiar with the Shoreditch Festival, a weekend of cultural celebration with acts ranging from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to tea dancing to film to spoken word and literature. This year there is a dedicated Literature and Spoken Word tent with a wide variety of locally based writers and performers. So that's pretty ruddy splendid. Check the literature line up here. The festival runs from July 16th - 18th at Shoreditch Park in East London. There looks to be loads of interesting stuff going on so if you're in the area next weekend, drop your cultural bottom in.
[ BANG IN JULY ]
July 7thHello French Bangers.
Bang Said The Gun seems to be getting bigger and better with every month that passes and July looks like being no different. This month Bang opens its arms to Luke Wright and the great John Hegley amongst others, for a giant hug of poetry goodness before the toerags behind it go on their summer break. Check the Bang Website for more shizzle.
[ THE NEW BREED OF LITERARY MAGAZINES ]
July 5thHello Press.
We're happy as a chap called Larry to report that Popshot was featured in todays Independent as part of an article about the new breed of literary magazines breathing life into publishing. Popshot sits alongside such magazines as Pen Pusher, Litro, Gutter and Five Dials, presenting our own opinions as to what the future of literature holds within independent magazines. It's well worth reading, even from an un-biased standpoint. Click here to read it in full or if you're quick on your feet, you can go pick up a physical copy from your nearest newsagent.
[ ROSS SUTHERLAND AND THE STREET FIGHTERS ]
July 5thHello Cannes.
You may be gifted enough with memory to recall us mentioning Ross Sutherland on this very page not so long ago as he launched his one man show 'The Three Stigmata of Pacman'. Well, the talented soul is venturing again and is now in the process of creating his new E-Book - a collection of twelve sonnets, each one inspired by a different character from Street Fighter 2. Each sonnet is being illustrated by a different artist (much like this very magazine) and he is currently looking for illustrations for the last few characters - Guile, Balrog, Ken and M Bison. If you are an illustrator and would be interested in being sent the manuscript and hearing more about the project, drop Ross an email in a fairly swift manner. Goodnight.
[ SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME ]
July 1stHello July.
Yes indeed - it's July already which means we're half way through poetry submissions and loving every minute. Also, this here above looks crazy good and you should probably go to it. There's little else I can say that the flyer doesn't already say so read it, weep, then visit the East Gallery Website to find out more. You don't have long so polish the shoes and get them feet adancing.
[ PREVIOUS ENTRIES / JAN 2010 - JUN 2010 ]