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Oasis


 

About Oasis

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT IAN ROBINSON PASSED AWAY IN 2004, AND IT IS ADVISED THAT NO SUBMISSIONS OR SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE SENT FOR THE TIME BEING.

Oasis 108 - cover page    

  OASIS magazine was founded in November 1969 and has been in continuous production since then. The fifth series ran from July 1989 (Issue No 35) to November 1999 (Issue No 99). Issue No 100 (June 2000) was a special 88 page celebratory issue. The sixth series of the magazine began in December 2000 with Issue No 101.

OASIS publishes contemporary poetry and short fiction, and endeavours to present a large amount of work by each author. Contents are leavened periodically with older material, as well as prose-poetry, experimental work, translations, occasional reviews of important books, and articles, memoirs, letters - in fact, any form of writing that is new, vital, imaginative and attempts to extend the boundaries of literature.

Apart from normal anthological issues, occasional special numbers are also published, devoted to such subjects as translation, writing from particular areas or countries (e.g. Slovenia, Greece, Quebec), particular writers (e.g. a dead poets issue), or particular types of writing (e.g. prose). Indices are published at intervals.

OASIS supports no particular school of writing. It aims to be as eclectic as possible, while maintaining high quality, through seeking out a wide range of different types of writing. If it does have any bias at all, it is towards work that takes imaginative and linguistic risks, that is more innovative than what can normally be found in ‘establishment’ magazines. And in order to counteract native parochialism, good translations from all languages have always been an important part of the magazine.

Issues are usually published 3 times a year. Each is usually 32 to 36 pages in length. OASIS cannot be found in bookshops because of its format. It is issued only to subscribers and depends on them entirely for its existence since it receives no financial support of any kind from any organisation. Back numbers £2.50 each.

Some recent comments about the OASIS magazine:

The North magazine: Cheaply but attractively produced, OASIS is genuinely international, intellectually vigorous and much larger in impact than its 16pp, A5 format would suggest.

Scratch magazine: The small scale of the magazine combines with the consistent high quality of the poets to make OASIS fresh and readable, a spread of challenging poetries.

Terrible Work magazine: Head and shoulders above the vast majority of other magazines . . . such is the excellence of these issues that frying to locate high points could become a constant source of indecision . . . A lean and strong poetry mag that . . . has pushed its way to the front.

New Hope International: OASIS is modern poetry . . . the only thing all this poetry and prose has in common is it’s good.

Object Permanence: A resilient, open magazine, well worth supporting.

Ore: Far from domestic and worth dipping into.

Poetry Quarterly Review: An excellent magazine with regard to its serious content, its extraordinary value . . . and its careful, clear presentation ... A highly respected and recommended magazine for less than the cost of postage of Poetry Review! . . . OASIS was highly recommended in PQR #6 when we ran out of superlatives describing its great value and serious intent.

D. F. Lewis: an aesthetic and prestigious magazine.

Harry Guest: a most splendid and necessary enterprise.

Billy Mills: one of the most interesting, open and varied mags about.

Steve Harris: a good and varied menu of quality writing from different levels of the poetic spectrum.


Subscription
Sterling Cheques / P.Os should be made payable to OASIS BOOKS. Dollar cheques should be made payable to ROBERT VAS DIAS and sent to the Oasis address.

Subscription rates:

UK 4 issues (not per year) £6
8 issues £12
Institutions - 4 issues
£12
Institutions - 8 issues

£24

Overseas 4 issues (airmail)

$30
Single issues £2 / $5