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Poetry for the London 2012 Olympics
Winning Words, an opportunity for the public to be part of the lasting legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is announced
this month. Winning Words is asking people to nominate inspiring poetry which will encourage athletes taking part in the 2012 Games, as well as future generations of Londoners.
Until Thursday January 6, 2011, people can nominate inspiring poetry representing the values of the Olympic Games: respect, fair play, excellence,
friendship and of the Paralympic Games: courage, determination, inspiration and equality, via the Winning Words website
www.winningwordspoetry.com
The poetry, selected from the nominations, will be announced in February 2011. The lines will be installed on a prominent wall in the centre of the
Athletes’ Village, which will be seen daily by the athletes, and officials living and working in the Village. After the 2012 Games, the Village will be converted into new homes
for east London and the wall will be part of the lasting legacy for local communities and residents.
All nominations will be evaluated by a panel that includes Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, author Sebastian Faulks, poet Daljit Nagra, BBC Sports
presenters John Inverdale and Clare Balding and Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy at the Olympic Delivery Authority, Sarah Weir.
The panel will have the final decision on which poetry is chosen for the Athletes’ Village wall. Poetry will also be installed in other locations
within the Olympic Park, with further details announced in 2011.
What will you choose? Robert Frost’s
" The Road Not Taken" which ends with the verse:
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
or you might agree with BBC sports broadcaster John Inverdale’s suggestion,
" The Victor" by CW Longenecker, which includes the verse:
"If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind."
or Jeffrey Archer’s nomination:
"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
from " The Ladder of St. Augustine" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Sebastian Coe, London 2012 Chairman, says:
"The Olympic Village is unique in sport, and provides both sanctuary and a place of equilibrium for athletes during the intensity of competition.
This is a great initiative that will help make the Village an inspiring place for athletes during the Games, and provide a further legacy for local communities living there for many
years after 2012."
William Sieghart, who conceived Winning Words and founded National Poetry Day, comments:
"I’m delighted that poetry will be one of the ways of inspiring athletes as they compete in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It’s wonderful that the ODA and LOCOG are recognising the power of poetry to motivate and rouse people. I’m looking forward to hearing suggestions from around the country."
Inspiring poetry nominations can be submitted from today until midnight on Thursday January
6, 2011. To nominate poetry and for further information please go to:
www.winningwordspoetry.com
WHIP Magazine seeks submissions
WHIP is a small black and
white literary magazine, seeking submissions of poetry,
prose, and visuals. The deadline for the issue currently
being compiled is December 25, 2010.
Submissions can be sent by
email to whipmagazine@yahoo.co.uk.
For more details, go to www.whipmagazine.co.uk
For the details of over
1,300 other magazines, click
here
New interactive site for poetry launched
PoetryVoices is now live. PoetryVoices is an interactive site for
poetry where users can register for free membership, create
their very own Member’s Page, upload and share poems with the world (in text and video formats) and invite friends to join
their page.
The site also includes other interactive capabilities, including the ability to comment on other members
poems or simply read, listen and watch the poems read or performed.
The site also contains the capability to be used as a meeting place for poetry-interest groups, including writers’ circles, reading groups and students’
discussion groups, as well as forums for the various poetry forms.
The site is also a resource for poetry related news and activities and the place to find the list of
literary agents and the institutions that provide creative writing courses in poetry, including a list of
UK poetry
publishers. However, the site may take some time to populate as
they expect all information on the site to be put there by the member-owners of that information.
Lists that are already
populated can be found at www.firstwriter.com/Agents
and www.firstwriter.com/publishers
Nonfiction
and writing tips needed
Submissions are still being accepted for
Blinking Cursor Time Snippets. This will be much like the regular magazine, but it will contain
nonfiction only. Submissions can be anything nonfiction – articles, essays, reviews, opinion pieces; as long as it's factually correct, you can submit it.
Send up to three submissions up to a 1,000 word maximum. For full submission guidelines,
click
here.
Submissions are also being accepted for The Blank Page
Handbook. This will contain hints and tips about
writing. They could be about spelling and grammar, formatting, editing, creating believable characters, writing poetry, finding inspiration, anything!
Tips should be a couple of sentences or a paragraph, not a page or more.
Click here for full submission guidelines.
Blinking Cursor Literary Magazine Issue Four is
also now available, and can be downloaded from the website
here
for free.
Blinking Cursor Literary Magazine is currently closed for submissions to the literary magazine, but will be re-opening in the Spring.
New online community for unpublished writers
iwritereadrate.com is a new
online community for unpublished writers that gives you a place to publicise and sell your work direct to
readers who love to find new voices and explore new ideas. You will receive
constructive ratings and reviews so you can prove and improve your writing
with the ultimate objective of being published.
The final goal, in our opinion, of any aspiring writer is to be published in
the traditional manner, however sometimes we all need some support in
getting there.
To find out more visit the FAQs section of our website at
www.iwritereadrate.com
If you register now you'll be given pre-launch access to upload your work
before everyone else, and you'll also be entered into a competition to win a
compatible eReader.
Resources for
writers at firstwriter.com
Visit firstwriter.com
for the following invaluable resources for writers:
To advertise
on this newsletter for as little as $30 / £20 click
here
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