Poetry is making a bigger impact in our lives as we’ve moved into the 20s. The slams and performance poetry of the previous decade have generated interest in the written word. Lyrics and verse are once more intertwined. What does all this mean for a poet wishing to join the world of poetry publishing?
At Into Print we embrace the creativity of the poet. We debate the most appropriate book format, fonts, paper and images to present poets’ work in the best possible way when poetry publishing in print. It’s a similar challenge to working with fiction but with the extra parameters and strictures that poetry can impose on writer and page designer.
There’s a lot of poetic activity: small presses creating minor publishing hits, poets collaborating with musicians, festivals celebrating past poets, theatre groups dramatising their lives. Mainstream media has no problems with poets like McAuliffe, Tse, Herangi, Baker and Avia. Their work wins international awards and their opinions are sought on topics of the day.
Poetry publishing for all
There’s also a huge output of poetry from contemporary authors on blogs and in print. Three poets to appear in print recently with the help of Into Print are Matthew Ansell, Steen Andersen and Barry Williams.
Reading the poems of these authors leaves no doubt that poetry has the power to enlighten and entertain. Entertained, one feels open to enlightenment and, once enlightened, inclined to try to make things better. Powerful stuff.
Ansell released his book Uncovering Autism: A Book of Poetry to express to people what it is like to have the condition. Andersen is a Danish author who writes poetry in Danish and English. Dream Passages takes the reader to a dreamy, half-remembered, faded but familiar world. Irish author Williams rhymes about his personal relationship with work, sport, politics and people close to him in his A Book of Poetry.
At Into Print, we analyse a poetry manuscript to make suggestions about format, font size and leading – for example selecting a page width to accommodate all, or most, lines without breaking them, thus enhancing the reading experience.
Poets looking to understand their place in the literary scene will find a home at the Poetry New Zealand journal website, where the links page is a cornucopia of resources for poets seeking inspiration and potential outlets for their work.