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Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

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C. J. Allen

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Reviews

Poetry: Large and Small

I was talking to a colleague the other day.  It was one of those conversations about reviewing policy, about what and who we ought to review; whether we should bother with the ‘big’ publishing houses and the ‘big’ names, or stick to the small presses?  At some point he offered the very telling observation that virtually all poetry publishing is, in effect, small press publishing.  Whether it’s a little publisher struggling along on uncertain Arts Council funding or Faber & Faber bankrolling its poetry list with the royalties from Cats, the truth is that publishing poetry these days isn’t a serious commercial proposition.  Now whilst we know that’s not exactly news, what it does mean is that poetry and (more to the point) poetry publishing couldn’t really survive without the industry, commitment and - here’s the really important bit - belief of a small number of people who take the view that poetry is important and vital and something that we should nurture and encourage. And in order to prove it, some of them actually set up poetry presses.  A particularly fine and notable example, from Staple’s new home city of Nottingham, is Shoestring Press.  It turns out an impressive number of books and occasional pamphlet collections every year - from first collections to New & Selecteds, and the titles under review here (all published in 2006) are, I think, representative in their range and diversity.

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