New Review of Dorset Voices, Janine Pulford

http://www.mags4dorset.co.uk/dorset-voices/

Dorset Voices

by Roving Press

Review by Janine Pulford
£6.99 soft back ISBN 978-1-906651-15-2

With a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales, this credible little book is packed with poetry, short stories, articles and photographs of Dorset.

In black-and-white it explores the county through the eyes of local people creating a reflective mood. I was intrigued to discover the ‘Forgotten uses of furze’ by Nigel Palfrey, amused to read a poem by Timmy Crump about an ‘Odd Encounter in Shaftesbury’ and loved Andy Case’s good old Dorset dialect in the verse ‘Shepherd’s warning.’ The photograph that will remain with me for longest is that entitled ‘William Barnes, the voice of Dorset’ in the snow. The short stories are well chosen, if a bit gruesome, and I would have liked something humorous, but for me the outstanding piece was an article by Benjamin Blech, ‘The world has changed; so must Dorset.’ In his piece, he details the stark fact that by 2035 the world will be a different place because of the acute shortage of oil. The repercussions for Dorset are that tourism could increase three fold. This article is a must read and got me thinking about the future and how the cost of air travel will eventually be crippling. But don’t despair, settling for good old Dorset for your holidays isn’t such a bad option.

Dorset Voices is a gem of a book, professionally produced and brought to fruition by an ambitious group of people called Poundbury Voices. I hope to see more from them.

Some Reviews of DORSET VOICES

Review by Helen Pizzey, PURBECK (above)

Two readers' reviews on Amazon:

"Gives a real sense of the county, past and present. Just the right mix of fiction, memoir, verse and pictures, written by exceptionally good writers who know and understand the area. Definitely take a look at this if you're interested in Dorset or just want a good read."

"A great read of an anthology of Dorset memories, tourism, fiction, sci-fi, ghost stories, poems and photographs. A must have for anyone interested in the lives of people from Dorset."

DORSET VOICES on sale! Waterstones, Dorchester, 21 April, 2012

Come along to Waterstones Bookshop, Dorchester, from 11am, 21 April.

Book Launch at Bournemouth Festival of Words, 23 April, 2012, from 6pm-8pm

Book launch, exhibition of photographs from the book, readings by fifteen contributors.

Bournemouth Library, 22 The Triangle, Bournemouth, BH2 5RQ


See ROVING PRESS website for more information

DORSET VOICES, Publication Details

Please see Roving Press Announcement

"DORSET VOICES": SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

DORSET VOICES: SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR PROSPECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS.

DORSET VOICES will showcase quality writing and the literary talent that can be found in Dorset (both new and established writers and photographers are invited to submit work). Submissions must be the author’s own original work and must not have been printed previously in any publication anywhere in the world.

The closing date for submitting your work for consideration by the editorial team is 30 July 2011.

Without wishing to be prescriptive, the editors anticipate that at least 50% of the work published will have some direct relevance or connection to Dorset, in terms of setting or inspiration.

The editors also anticipate that approximately 70% of the work selected will be prose and 30% poetry.

Black and white photographs of places/people/objects in Dorset can also be submitted; we aim to include from 10 to15 full-page photos (240mm x 150mm) in the book, mostly in portrait format, and some photographs may be considered for the cover. Photographers can submit up to 5 B/W images. All images should be submitted online as original digital images as .jpg or .tiff (preferred) files at 300dpi.

SUBMISSION, LENGTHS AND GENRES:

Short stories, flash fiction, essays, prose poems, etc., up to 2000 words

Poetry: poems up to 40 lines in length

The title is not included in the word or line count. Submissions must be in English. The word count should be written at the top. Submissions must show the name, address, email and telephone number of the contributor.

Contributors are required to: either have a residential postal address in the county of Dorset or to be able to demonstrate past residence or evidence of strong connections to Dorset. The Editorial Team (Poundbury Voices) and Roving Press (the publisher) have secured the support of Creative Dorset and other organisations with a Dorset focus, ensuring this is an all-Dorset production.

For written submissions, a fee of £5.00 is payable for each piece of work submitted. Each prospective contribution must be submitted by email as an attached, double-spaced, MS Word document. Photographers can submit up to 5 images for the £5.00 fee.

It will be the editorial team’s final decision as to what will be included in Dorset Voices. Each writer and photographer submitting work, whether or not it is selected for inclusion, will be entitled to one free copy of Dorset Voices, 2012 edition, regardless of the number of submissions. Contributors will be notified once copies are available and will be offered a 20% discount if they wish to order more.

The non-returnable £5.00 fee for each submission is payable by cheque and should be sent by post to Roving Press, at the same time as submissions are sent electronically to the editors.

Please send all submissions by email to: poundburyvoices@yahoo.co.uk
with a copy to: info@rovingpress.co.uk

Please provide your full name, postal and email address to accompany your cheque and your submission; a short five line biographical note should also accompany your submission. This will be printed in the book if your contribution is successful.

Please send the cheque (made out to Roving Press Ltd) to:

Roving Press Ltd.,

4 Southover Cottages

Frampton

Dorchester

Dorset DT2 9NQ

We regret that we are unable to provide comment or feedback, or to enter into correspondence.

We reserve the right to edit submissions. Submission of work indicates agreement to publication. In some cases, we may request permission to keep shortlisted submissions on file with a view to possible publication in a future "Dorset Voices".

Worldwide copyright of each submission remains with the author, but Poundbury Voices and Roving Press retain the unrestricted right to publish the submissions in the Dorset Voices annual anthology and in any relevant promotional material.

Selection of submissions (and sub-editing) will take place between 1 August and 30 November 2011. Selected contributions will be passed to the publisher by the end of November, with a view to publication in Spring 2012.

Neither royalties, payments nor fees will be payable for work published in Dorset Voices.

Standard rules apply, in terms of publication. Each submitting author must confirm that:

A) the work submitted is original and has not been previously published in print form either in volume or serial;

B) that none of the contents infringe copyright;

C) the rights of third parties are not infringed;

D) that all statements purporting to be facts will not, if the reader were reasonably to act accordingly, cause injury, illness or any damage to the user or third parties;

F) the work does not infringe privacy or confidentiality or the Official Secrets Act;

G) is not in any other way unlawful.

Each contributing author shall indemnify Poundbury Voices (ie the members of the editorial team) and Roving Press against all costs, expenses, loss and damage resulting from the breach of the above .warranties or any claim alleging breach therof.

If you would like to be included in a list of Useful Contacts, to be printed in the book, please contact Roving Press (tel. 01300 321531). For a small fee, we will include your details, information about your services, product or organisation, as relevant to readers of the book.

Further information and updates about this project can be found here:

www.poundburyvoices.blogspot.com

NB 

For updates, please go to our new website/blog at www.poundburyvoices.blogspot.com

Poundbury Voices, Dorset Voices: Background Information

Poundbury Voices editorial team has as its purpose the aim to combine the local with the international, and to select the best of creative writing produced by diverse writers in Dorset.

The Poundbury Voices team aims to be socially and culturally inclusive in its editorial policies, to reflect the vision of the urban planners involved with the creation of Poundbury. 

We aim to help people join in, to share their experiences with others and to connect. This is about helping to put the soul into a developing urban environment and about contributing to the community. We want to provide a platform for literary talent, alongside the work of outstanding architects, builders and crafts people.

We are not aiming to represent only well-tried and traditional forms of writing, however. The Poundbury Voices team has a wider agenda, and will encourage all forms of creative writing. We will offer no regulations, stipulations, codes or style-guidance (apart from length, and deadlines) to our contributors. We will welcome both the local (and vernacular) and the cosmopolitan. 

We want to break boundaries, and to demonstrate that Poundbury is succeeding in fostering social harmony, that it is breaking more boundaries than its early critics believed to be possible. We believe that, in time, Poundbury, as a distinctive but integral part of Dorchester, could become a new hub of creativity. 

Poundbury Voices will help to create a greater sense of a cultural community in Poundbury and the wider region.

We aim to reflect a changing Dorset and West Country, not the traditional rural image. 

By tapping the pool of talent in the Dorset and by attracting and encouraging new and established prose writers (short stories, flash fiction, prose-poems etc, up to 2000 words), writers of poetry (poems up to 40 lines in length) and  and photographers (black and white only), the aim of the editorial board is to select outstanding work by people resident in the region.

The annual publication of the Poundbury Voices collection "DORSET VOICES", on a commercially viable basis (to be published in association with Roving Press), will also aim to reflect aspects of the social philosophy and community ideals expressed by the Duchy of Cornwall, and to demonstrate the positive cultural outcomes and exciting creative activities of a harmonious mixed community.

Poundbury Voices and "DORSET VOICES" are the joint initiative of three writers, who are the project managers and who constitute the editorial board:

Louisa Adjoa Parker, Maria Strani-Potts and Jim Potts:

poundburyvoices@yahoo.co.uk

The publishers of DORSET VOICES will be ROVING PRESS

Poundbury Voices, "Dorset Voices" Annual

Do you enjoy writing? Would you like to see your work published in a new anthology that reflects local and diverse voices? 

Poundbury Voices has recently been set up by three local writers  to showcase new creative writing from Dorset. The emphasis is a mix of local and international interest, to reflect the diversity of the community in Dorset. 

Our aim is to produce a collection, "DORSET VOICES", in the Spring of 2012. It will be published in association with ROVING PRESS. 

If you are interested in submitting your work and would like to find out more, please email: 

poundburyvoices@yahoo.co.uk

or, alternative email,
:
poundburypress@yahoo.co.uk