PRESS & MEDIA
BOOK REVIEWS
BALLERINI BOOK PRESS BOOKSTORE For an ever-growing selection of beautiful books….
THE GALWAY REVIEW
CLOCKS IN MY MOTHER’S ROOM by Tanja Stupar Trifunović
Between Voices and Silences: On Translating Tanja Stupar Trifunović’s Clocks in My Mother’s Room by Petar Penda
A RARE SWAN EMPORIUM exclusive translation first edition release.
AWARD WINNING MONTENEGRIN LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION
CONCRETE BLUES by Slavica Perović – TRANSLATED BY WILL FIRTH
A REVIEW BY PETAR PENDA
CONCRETE BLUES. On Building, Ambition and the Limits of Seeing
A RARE SWAN EMPORIUM exclusive translation first edition release.
POETRY CHAPBOOKS JULY 2025 – Monthly Release Roundup
“Clear-eyed and bracing” poems that grapple with family and memory at midlife . . .”
From the POETRY DEPARTMENT August reading list
Review by Jennifer Martelli
In her poem, “Dead Leaves and Lost Daughters,” Elizabeth Sylvia writes, “Mania splits the mind like a pomegranate, red shell vexed / to mount a spine of arils. Memory, a scattering of seeds.” These seeds are planted throughout Sylvia’s newest collection, My Little Book of Domestic Anxieties. Here, memories take the form of ex-boyfriends, Facebook posts of an old mothers’ group, the shame of a father’s “rattly car / he bought off the town drunk. . .” The anxiety, rendered masterfully by this poet’s clear-eyed writing, is the ever-present tightrope balance between the speaker and her past, which lies fitfully on her shoulders.
The concept of the mother — both the speaker’s and the speaker as mother — underscores this tension. In her sonnet crown, “Mother’s Day,” Sylvia writes, “Midlife heat / flares in my chest, igniting old hurts.” The speaker’s estrangement from her mother is compounded by her own mothering,
“See,” I tell no one
who is listening, “I’ve fucked up less
than others might have, not let emotion
curdle into rage, repressed regrets” —
and still, I know my own daughter sees
I haven’t spoken to my mom in weeks.
A review by Ruth Hoberman, professor emerita of English at Eastern Illinois University.
EXCERPT
Elizabeth’s Sylvia’s new book presents itself modestly: My Little Book of Domestic Anxieties contains only twenty-four poems, and their tone (like the title) is low-key. But such a book isn’t “little” when it’s a forceful, principled embrace of wit, complexity and understatement. In poems that take a range of forms (pantoum, sonnet crown, shaped poems among them) Sylvia strips domestic life of its banality. The experience of being a wife, mother, daughter, beekeeper, and teacher comes across as insistently embodied and strangely unsettling.
Household objects, for one thing, are a little eerie. “I have an excellent view of the banana peel,” Sylvia writes in “Comic Interlude” (7). Indeed. We’re not fully in control of our objects any more than we are of our pasts, the poet suggests. At a mothers’ group gathering, identical puffer coats form a “baffled nylon pile” (3). In “Note for my Husband on the Occasion of my Death,” the speaker, suggesting a posthumous yard sale, warns her hypothetical widower-husband not to “try to oracle some sense/out of the table’s two black legs as they wave off/from a stranger’s open hatch-back car” (6).
WINNING WRITERS
Kari Ann Flickinger Memorial Literary Prize
THE GALWAY REVIEW
Review by Nicholas Birns, New York University
What on one reading might seem an interpersonal exchange becomes on another a self-interrogation. “I often thought it would be better,” muses the narrator, “if we left our love as a permanent fantasy, imprisoned in the bookish or film atmosphere, just as sweet to wish it again and far enough not to revive it” (123). As it stands, Since I Bought A Swan occupies a sort of liminal space between imagination and reality, self-consciousness and social relationships. The actor with whom the younger woman takes up, for instance, could be seen as simply an embodiment of toxic masculinity, and a warning that such modes of behavior are to be found even in spheres like the artistic and theatrical which like to think they have transcended such flaws. But there is also a sense in which the actor mirrors the narrator, in performing deeds that are scripted, being nonetheless a sentient, conscious entity, but not perhaps fully able to extricate one from the other. I was reminded a bit of the late Australian writer Gillian Mears, especially her 1991 novel The Mint Lawn …
2022: END OF YEAR REFLECTIONS
A Reading by Marian Christie
” Visual and hybrid poetry can take a variety of forms. I’ve enjoyed spending time with pamphlets by Laura Kerr and Robert Frede Kenter . . .”
Here’s the full list of my 2022 Poetry Advent Calendar, grouped by publisher. Browse! Enjoy! Treat yourself and buy some books! Buy them all!
Stories – A Miscellany of Things
“One of my favourite projects this year came late and was a crazy zine-like collaboration.”
Although chapbooks and poetry publications can be tricky for visual poets, it was a joy to work with Rare Swan Press on a hybrid project; the owl stories of the post title turned into a fold-out concertina book. We put this together with extraordinary speed, finding printers, getting work print-ready, making lovely extras to send out (it’s nearly Christmas, after all) and deciding that this should be not-for-profit, a kind of gift for fellow poets and artists everywhere (if you were quick enough).
Stories from the eyes of an owl
Owl-Light Ekphrastic Competition with Sarah Jane Crowson
As a co-judge of an Ekphrastic competition (the image above as a starting point), what I wasn’t suspecting was the sheer quality of entries. And that’s not just the shortlisted entries. All the poetry I read that had been written in response to the image was unique, beautiful and amazing.
You can read the shortlisted entries on the Rare Swan website as well as the finalists (poets Louise Mather and Roger Hare) and the winner, the utterly amazing Ankh Spice.
What I loved about each poem on the shortlist
Guest feature with Alan Parry
Guest Feature in White Wing Books
I have since published my second solo collection, Echoes (Rare Swan Press). Echoes has some similar stylings to my earlier work, and is distinctly mine. However, my focus switched from imagining a lost America to reimagining my familial memories. It is an autobiography, of sorts. It reveals much more of me to my readers; is far more honest and personal. This gear shift was wholly intentional, as I do not think it is sustainable to write purely those noir style poems for which I was becoming known (although I do still find room for those every now and again).
A FEVERS OF THE MIND – QUICK9 with Sarah-Jane Crowson
Q9: Do you have any recent or upcoming books, music, events, projects that you would like to promote?
Sarah-Jane: I’ll be collaborating again with the fabulous Renee at Rare Swan press soon.
Stories through the eyes of an owl
ECHOES – A Review
June 8th 2022
“Echoes” explores the after-effects of grief on memories, both on the memories of the departed and memories of the time when they were alive and how these might be shaped by the actions of the person while they were still alive or feelings towards that person after their death. The collection is shaped into three acts. The opening act is called “Diagnosis . . .”
BUZZ MAGAZINE WALES
MONTHLY REVIEW COLUMN by Mab Jones
” In this review, Mab Jones references her love of Charles Bukowski and acknowledges the same qualities in Echoes:
” …they are terse, immediate (set within a moment), and simple in their style as if the author is talking directly to you. this gives them a power, which, despite their brevity, is sometimes startling … Parry lacks Bukowski’s beefiness but retains his emotional brilliance. “
FOLKHEART PRESS
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH April 2022
In her FOLKHEART PRESS blog for this year’s National Poetry Month, Karen Pierce Gonzalez, very generously headlines her book reading recommendations with CEILING FAN by Kari Flickinger.
BUZZ MAGAZINE WALES
MONTHLY REVIEW COLUMN by Mab Jones
“Eight dispatches of new poetry for that post-Pancake Day, pre-Easter zone of curiosity from scribes that include Rae Howells, Ben Silverson, Alison Brackenbury and more. Mab Jones is your guide, of course.”
EAT THE STORMS PODCAST
Featuring Readings from Ceiling Fan, read by Kari Flickinger
“Looping back”: An Interview with Kari Flickinger
Choosing a home for your second poetry collection may be more difficult than the first. Some would argue you have more choice in the matter, but on the other hand, there can be added pressure following a debut. How did you come to choose Rare Swan Press for Ceiling Fan?
Rare Swan Press chose me. I released an earlier version of Ceiling Fan as a self-publication. It garnered a surprising amount of attention, and Rare Swan Press asked to see it. I’m so grateful that they approached me. Otherwise, I would’ve self-published. I’d like people to read it, but I understand that there’s a lot of truly stellar work out there, new stuff every day, and with a saturated market like that, I didn’t expect to get noticed, especially writing the weird things that I do. So, again, I’m grateful.
FICTION PODCASTS
100 Words of Solitude: Global Voices in Lockdown
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
Season: 4 Episode: 14
Published on Jun 20th at 4:00am
100 Words of Solitude is a collection of writing on the subject of the solitude and isolation resulting from the Covid lockdowns. 100 pieces of of exactly 100 words each by 100 writers from all around the world based on the Rare Swan Press publication and from the original concept by Simon and Philippa Holloway.
Trigger warning: The podcast contains descriptions of death, loneliness, isolation and of mental illness. If these are likely to upset or disturb you we suggest you skip this podcast.
Our podcast is presented by Sally Walker Taylor
The readers are Sally Walker Taylor, Marie-Claire Wood and Chris Gregory
Production, sound design, music and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory with sound effects from freesound.org
You heard interviews with Philippa Holloway and Publisher, Reneée Sigel
NATIONAL POETRY DAY PODCAST
OCTOBER 5th 2021
Poets, Hannah Ingeborg and Joanne Sutton-Smith contributors to 100 Words of Solitude are featured in this #NationalPoetryDay podcast, alongside work from some of the best poetry publishers; including @SerenBooks @NineArchesPress @VervePoetryPres @MasterHousePub @rare_swan_press @canongatebooks + more
Listen free here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730 https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt/status/1445035516471169027
EDGE HILL UNIVERSITY NEWS
An Edge Hill Creative Writing tutor and her partner have collected 100 powerful stories and poems from people all over the world and put them into a new book, 100 Words of Solitude: Global Voices in Lockdown 2020, which is being sold to raise money for UNICEF and other humanitarian charities Dr. Philippa Holloway, Associate Tutor in Creative Writing, was inspired by the sacrifices of NHS staff and charity workers on the front lines during the pandemic and wanted to do something to help people. She put out a call for people to write literary responses to the isolation caused by the pandemic, with the aim of publishing the 100 most impactful pieces. It didn’t take long for the callout to go viral on social media, attracting stories and poems from all over the world.
Philippa said: “This project started in March as the UK lockdown got underway, my husband and I were thinking about how we could help the community. We’re not doctors or nurses, so how could we help? We’d both previously taught creative writing for MIND and know writing can help people with their mental health, help people feel less alone and to express themselves. For me a great example of how the project gave people a voice is a piece by an 11-year-old Pakistani boy. He wrote a really moving, revealing story and thanks to this project his story is now published alongside world renowned writers and poets.”
WRITERS & ARTISTS
06/11/2020
Author: Philippa Holloway
Categories: Authors and Books
How we turned lockdown isolation into a global polyphonic collection exploring solitude…
There is a myth that the writer is a lonely and isolated creature, working locked away somewhere, observing but not interacting with the world. I’m sure most writers would agree that while there are moments where elements of this myth might ring true, the reality is far less ‘romantic’ – writers have families and friendships, often have other jobs, and are very much part of the world. After all, real, busy populated life is where writing is fomented, tested and finds meaningful connections. So, while the 2020 lockdowns might seem like the perfect condition for writers, the reality is that the situation has had an impact on everyone differently.
As writers and teacher ourselves, my partner and I knew we were lucky to be able to retreat safely into online work and isolate at home when the lockdowns reached the UK in March 2020, but we also knew the effects on people’s lives and mental health over the coming months would be significant. Sitting up late one night we found ourselves talking about whether we could do something, anything, to help. And over the cutlery-scarred wood of our kitchen table, mugs of comforting coffee clasped in hand, 100 Words of Solitude was conceived.
If you’d told me that night that the idea of connecting writers and readers in isolation would lead to emotional and enlightening email conversations with hundreds of writers from all over the world, would provide a view of how the lockdowns affected diverse different cultures and lives, and eventually result in a publishing contract for a collection of 100 word vignettes and poems exploring the global impact of solitude and isolation in relation to the lockdowns, I wouldn’t have believed you. But this is what happened. An idea, gone global.
The Munster Express Newspaper. Art Review Section
Review by Liam Murphy
FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES