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John Rety was an energetic and deeply engaged publisher; a force for good in the world of poetry publishing. It is with regret and a heavy heart that we learnt of his recent death.
Born in Hungary in 1930 and a former editor of the anarchist newspaper Freedom, he later became a well-loved figure in the world of poetry and helped to nurture and support hundreds of poets. He began to work with Hearing Eye in the 1980s and has more recently been poetry editor at The Morning Star. He combined these two roles last year with the publication of the anthology Well Versed: Poetry from the Morning Star, which he also edited.
Morning Star assistant editor Richard Bagley paid tribute to John on the newspaper’s website. "John Rety was a captivating, razor-sharp and caring friend whose sense of fun and energy belied his years. He was without malice or prejudice," he said. "It has been a great honour to have known John and it is a deep shock to hear of his death. His family's loss is our loss."
Five Leaves editor Ross Bradshaw praised John’s work at the Torriano Meeting House, where he organised poetry events. “He had an ability to pull in important readers to this scruffy little venue, none of whom were paid, and who were happy to rub shoulders with "readers from the floor" with all that meant.” Ross continues, highlighting his skills as a publisher. “His press published Dannie Abse and others, actually about 200 publications in total, keeping them all in print.”
Julia Casterton summed up John perfectly in a review of Hearing Eye titles for Ambit magazine in 2002. “John Rety has an eye for all things counter, original, spare, strange... thank the Lord Hearing Eye exists.”
Camilla de Clermont's Review of The Skiers by Jill Bialosky
Anyone who has studied literature at any length knows the real and soothing pleasure of sinking into a book that has not been prescribed to them by a lecturer. The sensation is akin to slipping into a warm bath on a cold day and it was with just such a sensation that I opened Jill Bialosky’s The Skiers for the first time.
This is her first publication in the UK and brings together a selection of material from her three collections of poetry in one volume. The period over which they were published (not to mention written) spans over a decade, and through this time Jill Bialosky’s poems take us on a personal journey that speaks of very intimate experiences of love, desire and loss.
From detailed parental vignettes, through adolescent sexual awakening to the suicide of a sister, to the experience of motherhood, these poems draw the reader into a depth of genuine and, at times, raw emotion that strikes a chord on a far more accessible and relatable level than may be initially suggested. In The Skiers, inner emotion and external landscapes are seamlessly and beautifully interwoven, as are allusions to Classical and contemporary worlds, to create a collection that refuses to be confined to any one poetic form.
Bialosky’s balance of personal expression with scenic evocation produces poetry that is not only moving but also extremely enjoyable to read. At the end of this selection of wonderful poems I was left with only one question: when will Jill Bialosky’s full collections be published in the UK?
You can read more about Jill Bialosky here.
More Than Just Making Tea...
So with a final sneezing of snow and a spluttering North East wind, the most depressing month of the year is over for another 12 months - the beginning of the end for dark nights and cold mornings. It also marks the end of my (thankfully less depressing) stint as an Inpress Intern. It’s hard to believe that a month has passed already, and although my time here has been brief I leave with some fantastic experience and a heavily expanded list of ‘books to read in 2010’.
While some internships tend to require nothing more than the ability to stir milk into tea, the Inpress Internship has allowed me to have a genuine insight into the workings of the independent publishing sector. Over the past few weeks I’ve been able to see how Inpress carries out the vital function of promoting and marketing the books of its member publishers.
My own task of finding ways to help promote Sean Street’s brilliant new book, Time Between Tides, has allowed me to explore the multiple avenues through which independent books can become exposed to as many readers as possible. In an age of bestsellers lists dominated by blockbuster authors and celebrity autobiographies, it’s been great to see the passion for independent work that still exists and how effective Inpress is at giving those books a chance to compete against the big players.
And so I’d like to end by giving a big thanks to Inpress M.D. Rachael, who has done a brilliant job of growing Inpress into an increasingly significant player in the publishing industry over the past year, and who has ensured my internship has been an interesting and valuable experience. Both Rachael and her colleague James have been great to work with, and I wish both them and Inpress all the best for the future.
Recent events at the Warrington Peace Centre
By A.J. Duggan on 01 February 2010 at 11:11:51I've been to a couple of events at the Warrington Peace Centre in the last week – it's the home of the Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation For Peace. My first contact with the organisation happened last October, directly as a result of an article about Scars Beneath The Skin in the Warrington Guardian.
Last Wednesday was the Annual General Meeting. In addition to the usual order of business, short talks were given by a number of children from a school in Leeds, where the Peace Centre has been involved in conflict resolution issues.
Another talk was given by a former solider whose goal is to return to the place in Northern Ireland where his best friend was killed. This need to go back to the scene of a traumatic event is one of the themes in 'Scars Beneath The Skin.' It was a little haunting to hear a real person talking in the way I've imagined for my own fictional character, Karl Dresner.
On Sunday there was a Media Awareness Day, led by Claire White and John Kabia of the Peace Centre. For someone like me, with a book to promote, media involvement can only be a plus and my knowledge of how the media works isn't much more than zero. So, I felt I learned some valuable lessons. The other people on the course came from a mix of backgrounds and many of them had a lot more experience of the media than myself. There is a definite sense of camaraderie amongst strangers who've had a shared experience of conflict, regardless of whether that's direct experience or bereavement as a result of conflict.
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The Wide Expanse: Reading South Africa
In four weeks time, I’ll be taking part in a publishing tour to South Africa as a finalist with the British Council’s UK Young Publishing Entrepreneur award. Before I go, I want to answer a few questions: how do we value South African literature in this country? How and where do British readers interact with South African writing? To what extent does the industry nurture South African authors? Does our marketing do justice to their work? This blog will record my conversations and research before I leave the UK, and report on the book trade while I’m in South Africa.
Of all contemporary African literature, it is probably Nigeria’s which has loomed largest in the UK and US literary pages over recent few years, thanks largely to novelists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Helen Oyeymi, who have introduced a younger generation of readers to an established literary tradition which includes luminaries Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri and Wole Soyinka. Two South Bank Shows were devoted to Nigerian literature in May 2009 (and specifically to Adichie and Achebe). Has the rise of Nigerian writing left South African authors behind?
Not so, says Daneet Steffens, well-travelled bibliophile and editor of Mslexia, the magazine for women who write. Daneet believes that the UK offers a relatively solid representation of writing from throughout the Commonwealth via publishers, bookstores and prizes. “What's particularly exciting and vibrant about South African women writers at the moment,” she says, “is that there is a strong multi-generational and multi-ethnic presence, covering an intense and highly-charged time.”
Some of the writers who are particularly exciting to Daneet are Nadine Gordimer, Sindiwe Magona, Gillian Slovo, Pamela Jooste, Zoe Wicomb, Rozena Maart, Gabeba Baderoon and Rachel Zadok. “At a critical moment of the South African story, you've got a chorus of vibrant voices, contributing to a rich, all-encompassing narrative that's still developing.”
I wonder how many of these writers are accessible to the British reading public. In my next blog, I'll be reporting from the high street on the representation of South African authors in our bookstores.
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