Editor’s Note

EDITOR’S NOTE

I apologize for the delay in this issue there’s been a lot going on lately and time seems incredibly short, it hasn’t helped that my eye sight has been playing up. It turns out that one of the medications has been causing issues with my vision I’ve Glaucoma, its manageable and there’s no permanent damage which is a relief but it has impacted on my ability to work as either an editor, a publisher or as an artist so a lot of things ended up delayed.

We’re no where near finished with the journal and will continue to produce for as long as I’m able, I’m going to need to do a lot of work on the website in the near future and that’s going to be a time-consuming process as I need to transfer all of the issues from the old website over as it no longer works properly and many of the issues that were on it have disappeared leaving nothing but broken links. I’m also afraid that the hard copy edition saw its price go up due to costs by the printers and supply chain woes and that we cannot currently be read in a number of countries either online or in paperback that’s a shame and completely out of my hands right now.

Happy reading, good health, and keep creating,

Amos Greig (Editor)

LAPWING PUBLICATIONS

‘IN A CHANGED WORLD’

Over the past number of years technology has transformed poetry publishing: shop closures due to increasing operational costs has had an impact, to put it mildly, shops are releuctant to take ‘slow moving’ genre such as poetry and play-scripts among other minority interest genre. The figures given a few years ago were: we had 5000 bookshops in the UK-Ireland and at the time of the research that number had dropped to 900 and falling: there was a period when bookshops had the highest rate of ‘High Street’ shop closures.

Lapwing, being a not-for-profit poetry publisher has likewise had to adjust to the new regime.

We had a Google-Books presence until that entity ended its ‘open door’ policy in favour of becoming a publisher itself. During that time with Google, Lapwing attracted hundreds of thousands of sample page ‘hits’. Amazon also has changed the ‘game’ with its own policies and strategies for publishers and authors. There are no doubt other on-line factors over which we have no control.

Poetry publishers can also fall foul of ‘on consignment’ practice, which means we supply a seller but don’t get paid until books have been sold and we can expect unsold books to be returned, thus ‘remaindered’ and maybe not sellable, years can pass! Distributors can also seek as much as 51% of cover-price IF.they choose to handle a poetry book at all, shops too can require say 35% of the cover price, which is ok given floor space can be thousands of £0000s per square foot per annum..In terms of ‘hidden’ costs: preparing a work for publication can cost a few thousand UK £-stg. Lapwing does it as part of our sevice to our suthors.

It has been a well-known fact that many poets will sell more of their own work than the bookshops, Peter Finch of the Welsh Academi noted fact that over forty years ago and Lapwing poets have done so for years.

Due to cost factors Lapwing cannot offered authors ‘complimentary’ copies. What we do offer is to supply authors with copies at cost price. We hold very few copies in the knowledge that requests for hard copies are rarely received.

Another important element is our Lapwing Legacy Library which holds all our retained titles since 1988 in PDF at £4.00 per title: the format being ‘front cover page - full content pages - back cover page’. This format is printable as single pages: either the whole book or a favourite page.

I thank Adam Rudden for the great work he has done over the years creating and managing this web-site.

Thanks also to our authors from ‘home’ and around the world for entrusting Lapwing with their valuable contributions to civilisation.

If you wish to seek publication please send you submission in MW Word docx format.

LAPWING PUBLICATIONS

POETRY TITLES 2021

All titles are £10.00 stg. plus postage from the authors via their email address. PDF versions are available from Lapwing at £4.00 a copy, they are printable for private, review and educational purposes.

9781838439804_Halperin Richard W. DALLOWAY IN WISCONSIN Mr.Halperin lives in Paris France Email: halperin8@wanadoo.fr

9781838439811_Halperin Richard W. SUMMER NIGHT 1948 9781838439859_Halperin Richard W. GIRL IN THE RED CAPE

9781838439828_Lennon Finbar NOW Mr Lennon lives in the Republic of Ireland Email: lennonfinbar@hotmail.com

9781838439835_Dillon Paul T WHISPER Mr Dillon lives in the Republic of Ireland Email: ptjdillon@gmail.com

9781838439842_ Brooks Richard WOOD FOR THE TREES Mr Brooks lives in England UK Email:richard.brooks3@btinternet.com

9781838439866_Garvey Alan IN THE WAKE OF HER LIGHT

9781838439873_McManus Kevin THE HAWTHORN TREE Mr McManus lives in the Republic of Ireland Email: kevinmcmanus1@hotmail.com

9781838439880_Dwan Berni ONLY LOOKIN’ Berni Dwan lives in the Republic of Ireland Email: bernidwan@gmail.com

9781838439897_Murbach Esther VIEW ASKEW Esther Murbach lives in Switzerland though she also spends time in Galway Email: esther.murbach@gmx.ch

9781916345751_McGrath Niall SHED Mr McGrath lives in County Antrim Northern Ireland, UK Email: mcgrath.niall@hotmail.com

9781916345775_Somerville-Large GILLIAN LAZY BEDS

9781916345782_Gohorry & Lane COVENTRY CRUCIBLE Mr Lane lives in England-UK and due to the recent death of Mr Gohorry Mr Lane will be the contact for this publication:

74

Launching June 27th: “Uplifting, joyful, thought-provoking and wonderful."

Madeleine’s debut collection, The Horse And The Girl is a series of 30 linked narrative poems, conversations between the ‘Horse And The Girl,’ looking at issues such as relationships, climate change, growing older, life, death and change in general. It offers a wry, poignant look at the world around us, with a strong environmental slant.

The collection has been written from the perspective of a woman in middle age and the relationship she has with her horse and is based along the coast and marshlands of east Kent. Although not strictly ‘ballad’ form, they form a ‘contemporary ballad.’

Says Madeleine: “I wrote the first poem on a day where I was feeling quite down and put it on my Facebook page. I had a flurry of responses: significantly more than usual, in fact. There were a number of comments, including one that they could see this as the start of a series. Evidently, so could I… as the rest of the work, based on my own experiences with my mare Lucie, came pouring out in a relatively short space of time.”

As well as being original and authentic, the voices in The Horse And The Girl are relevant. They call on us to embrace life and the world we live in, the message being that if we notice the small things, we have a better chance of seeing the big picture.

The Horse And The Girl is currently being serialised on BBC Radio Kent, playing every Tuesday between 9-10pm until early July. You can hear People from the collection on this link: https://bit.ly/people-poem-horse-and-girl .

Selected ARC reader comments:

Mary Walsh, Leader Barking Foxes, Poetry Stanza “The collection explores many of the environmental issues we face today and also the joy and tranquillity of wandering through the wild places that remain in the countryside. Uplifting, joyful, thought-provoking and wonderful."

An office worker in her early forties: “My friend’s parents died fairly recently, and her horse has been her coping strategy. I think she would love The Horse And The Girl.”

A dog owner in her early fifties: “I love them, I feel like I've been on an adventure with you. The Gift Horse brought tears to my eyes and the ending with the boy is just perfect. Can't wait for them to be published.”

An accountant in her forties: “I particularly like the use of a horse and the girl sharing their journey. You cleverly link the literal sense of a hack, with the journey of life (and death). I can hear your voice in them, from your early first experience on a horse to how connected you feel to them and how grounded they keep you. I do see your target market being women of a similar age to us. However, I also see a market within positive mindfulness. The grounding nature of your work was very uplifting and very mindful; all particularly apt at the present time when our mental health needs more TLC.”

An equestrian ‘influencer’ in her thirties. Once a competition ride, now an instructor: “It's a great read Madeleine! Particularly appealing to me is the references to age and time and mindfulness. It really strikes a chord with me personally and I can relate to the need to enjoy the moment and your surroundings. I felt like I was there with you and the horse. It made me consider my work/ life balance.”

Corporate mediator in her fifties: “Fabulously relatable on a number of different levels, as well as transporting the reader with their beauty. Really love how your humour comes through too!”

Madeleine White was born in Germany, with roots in Canada and the UK. Having produced a number of national and international web and print magazines, over the last three years she has focussed on being founder/editor of the Write On! suite of publications. As well as being published in a number of magazines and journals, Madeleine also the authored the 2020 speculative debut novel Mother Of Floods and, audio drama, The Ark, reached the top 50 in the Apple podcast charts. Paperback £10 Digital £4 ISBN 978-1-7396447-3-4 Page Count 56

For Trade Enquiries, Digital ARC review copies or to book a speaking event for your creative writing group, university faculty or book group, contact: madeleinefwhite@hotmail.com +44 (0) 790 483 5188

You can also buy copies directly from the website: www.lapwingpoeety.com

Publisher: Lapwing Publications Postal Address: Lapwing Publications 1 Ballysillan Drive Belfast BT14 8HQ