Submission Call – PLAY Anthology

 

At about this time each year it should be the start of the submission window for The Broadsheet, our magazine of new poetry from the South West. This year, however, we’re suspending The Broadsheet and doing something different:

 

Just before Christmas last year, our three year old grandson, Reuben, was killed in a car crash. As a memorial to his life, his parents, friends and both of us are raising money for a new play area on Vire Island in Totnes, the town he lived in. As part of this effort (you can see more on the JustGiving site here), we are publishing an anthology of poems on Play. This subject isn’t widely represented in poetry, but is essential for all, particularly for a three year old.

 

We aim to launch the anthology at the start of the Exeter Poetry Festival in early October, so please submit up to three poems based broadly on the theme of Play by the end of July. We intend to include 100 poems in the anthology, which will be priced at cost, plus £5. If we can sell 200 copies, this will raise £1,000 towards the £12,000 target. All successful contributors will be offered a copy at half the cover price.

 

Here are the essentials of what we’re asking for:

 

Submission: Up to three poems of no more than 40 lines each. While we expect most to be about children’s play, either personal reminiscence or about youngsters you know, adult games are also in the mix. Please bear in mind though, that we intend the anthology to be suitable for all ages 😊. Please include your name and postal address in the covering email.

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Usage: Since this is an anthology, poems may be new work or previously published. If previously published, please provide publication title, press name and date of publication, so we can acknowledge it.

 

Submission window: From now to 31st July

 

Send to: the editors at editor@thebroadsheet.co.uk

 

Open to: Anybody who would like to contribute. This call is NOT restricted to poets from the South West, or even to the UK.

 

Format: If you can send the poems as .doc or .docx files (a type that’s produced by Word and can be created by most other word processors), as attachments to an email to the email address above, that would be great. It would be even more of a timesaver if you can format the body of each poem in 12pt Baskerville Old Face, with the title in 14pt bold. This isn’t essential to submission, though.

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The Editors Susan Taylor and Simon Williams