Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Magma is hitting the road. With support from Arts Council England, we are appearing at literature festivals around the UK. We are sponsoring Magma poets to give readings and workshops, and aim to meet more of our current and potential readers and contributors.

Our first roadshow was in July 2006 at Ledbury Poetry Festival in Herefordshire. We sponsored the main Saturday night reading by the festival’s poet-inresidence, Don Paterson. Don’s work has appeared in several Magmas, and he read at our 10th anniversary celebration in 2005, so we were delighted for him to appear in Ledbury’s biggest venue under a Magma banner – literally.

Don read poems old and new, including some of the Orpheus sonnets published this autumn by Faber, interspersed with aphorisms, mainly from The Book of Shadows. Three of the Magma team ran a stall at the event, talking to members of the audience, selling current and back issues, and receiving submissions for Magma.

In September, we had a stall at the annual book fair of the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh. Magma’s Helen Nicholson joined Michael Schmidt (PN Review) and Joy Hendry (Chapman) for a panel discussion on "The role of the magazine, the editor, and the challenges of creating a readership".

In October, we were part of a debate about journals and publishing at the Ilkley Literature Festival in Yorkshire. The event aimed to help writers submit work for publication, and Tim Robertson spoke about the advantages of Magma’s rotating editorship. The other panel members were Shaun Levin (Chroma journal), Andrew Oldham (Inc Writers) and poet Pat Borthwick.

The publication of the present edition of Magma 36, coincides with the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in Suffolk, 3 – 5 November 2006, www.thepoetrytrust.org . Participants in the festival’s workshops will receive a complimentary copy of our 10th anniversary anthology, and we are extremely pleased to be sponsoring the workshop led by Vicki Feaver, who has both written and read for Magma.

On the Saturday at Aldeburgh, the Festival hosts a special Magma talk. Our three latest editors – Anne-Marie Fyfe, Mark McGuinness, Tim Robertson – will each present a poem that they chose for publication, and answer questions about their editorial practice. The event takes place in the Peter Pears Gallery, where we have an all-day Magma stall.

Two other Magma editors, David Boll and Laurie Smith, will be giving a similar talk at StAnza Poetry Festival in St Andrew’s, Scotland, 15 – 18 March 2007 www.stanzapoetry.org We will also have a stall and host a reading of Magma poets.

To keep up with all our events, visit: www.magmapoetry.com