Publishing

Snowlines – Rebecca Gethin

We are delighted to reveal the cover for Rebecca’s new collection which will be released on the 2 February 2024.

Snowlines is a collection based on Rebecca’s experience of finding her family’s roots in the Ligurian Alps and where her father was a partisan in WW2.

The poems come from reflections while exploring the valley and beyond. 

Rebecca found the village where her Italian family had come from by chance (after research had failed) and subsequently learned much about the history of the area and its wildlife. However, the more she learned the more she realised that history is unknowable and depends on interpretation and point of view. 

In our shifting climate, Rebecca also documents the land and its creatures, weaving these two strands to show the vulnerability of the Maritime Alps. 

Snowlines will be available from the 2 February 2024. Cover image by David Coldwell.

Don’t forget to visit our store for those last minute stocking fillers – we’ll ensure that all orders are posted in time for Christmas.

Two Poems

Two Poems – January

Welcome to 2023 at Maytree.

We can’t quite believe that we’re now beginning our fourth year of poetry publishing and preparing to launch what will be our forty second publication out into the world.

If you’ve signed up to our newsletter then you will have already received our email inspired by the colour blue featuring news of new publications for spring and details of some of the many wonderful books already available in our online store.

It’s easy to sign up and don’t worry about spam as we’re really not that sort of operation – you’ll receive a newsletter with offers and news approximately once every two months so give it a go – we look forward to welcoming you to the Maytree family.

You can sign up here – Sign Up – Maytree Press

To help celebrate the new year we thought we’d take a look back at Sarah Barr’s appropriately titled collection, January.

Sarah is a writer of poetry, fiction and non-fiction for both children and adults. You can find out more about her work and other publications by visiting her website here – About Sarah Barr – Sarah Barr (sarah-barr.com)

About January, award winning poet, John McCullough writes:

“Sarah Barr writes subtle poems that probe the edges of uncertainties, the details of objects and landscapes gradually revealing her speakers’ unease. The disjunctions in the title piece evoke the sudden leaps of a mind actively thinking, the white spaces between stanzas inviting us to imagine what’s going on beneath the clipped surface of the language. Elsewhere, simple phrasing holds carefully nuanced images: the menace of cracking ice, a long-married couple surrounded by ‘masks / and stiff-limbed, velvet-dressed dolls.’ The writing carries on unfolding inside the reader long after their eyes have left the page.”

But don’t just take our words for it, you can also read the collection of five star reviews in our online store here – January by Sarah Barr – Maytree Press

January

This time I’m taking more notice –
the sandbags, submerged fields,
flooded crypt, the marooned town.

There’s more water than the land
can use, or the skies hold.

Perhaps it’s natural
to shiver with excitement
at this odd, reflective world.

A swan wings upward, abandons
its mirror-image on the bright lagoon.

Are there going to be two
of everything, including me?

I think about new surfaces
and new below-the-surfaces.

Earwigs are gorging on lush
peony heads


Their brittle bodies, pincers and folded wings,
remind me of childhood
and our proximity to small creatures like these
living in earth, bark and under stones
where we found their pearly eggs.

I can still hear my brother chuckling,
see his smile and smudged, rosy cheeks
as he gathers and stuffs these insects into his ears.
It made a sort of logic to a three-year-old,
experimenting,
then perhaps bewildered
as my mother shrieked and tried to shake them out.

I want to remember him outside playing
before the rules took over.

January, along with many other great titles, is available from our online store now. And don’t miss out as for the remainder of January every book order receives a free limited edition Maytree Press tote bag which is perfect for carrying your favourite books.

Visit our store here – Products – Maytree Press

Publishing

Village Voices – celebrating art and poetry

We are delighted to announce that we will be working with the newly formed Marsden Community Poetry group to bring you an anthology that promises to be one of the most entertaining reads of 2023.

Celebrating art and poetry from the diverse and inclusive communities of Kirklees and the South Pennines, Village Voices will be an inspiring collection of poetry and art that celebrates diversity, inclusivity, and equality. This is a post-pandemic anthology – a book that gives a voice back to our communities.

It’s often said that people just don’t read poetry. Well, Marsden Community Poetry want to prove them wrong. Remember, Marsden was the place where Poetry Pubs found fame and where the windows of village shops are often adorned with posters of poetry from all age groups, so perhaps it’s not a bad idea.

And if you didn’t already know, Marsden was home to our current Poet Laureate and also happens to be where Maytree HQ is based.

The anthology will be edited by a panel of acclaimed authors and poets selected by the group – please note that Maytree are not involved with the editorial process.

So, if you are a poet or an artist and you either live in the towns or villages of the South Pennines or have been inspired by lives, landscapes and stories of the area then now is the time to be part of this amazing new collection

To submit please follow these guidelines:

The anthology is aimed at a general audience.

Your poem:

Submit one original poem. Simultaneous submissions are discouraged as the editors and publishers are all volunteers and simply do not have time to change things once your poem has been accepted. Previously published poems are welcomed so long as the author retains copyright.

Although there is no specific theme, the editors are particularly interested in poems that promote and celebrate the diverse and inclusive communities of the towns and villages of the South Pennine.

Maximum line length not including title or breaks is 25. Longer poems may be considered, please send a cover note if this applies.

Illustrations:

Black and white only – sorry but we are unable to accept colour illustrations. The illustration should be Portrait, with space around. Do not draw a border.

Please do not sign – all images will be credited to the artists separately. Please send a high-resolution JPG of the image – original work is not required.

Please contact the project team if you are unable to produce a high quality image.

Copyright:

Copyright remains with the author and/or artist.

By submitting you agree to inclusion into the anthology and its publication and the selection process.

Selection process:

Please send your best poem. All work will be considered by the Marsden Community Poetry working group with final selection by our editorial team.

By submitting your work, you agree that the Editors reserve the right to publish or arrange broadcast of selected works. The right to use any included poems to further publicise the anthology is also retained.

Deadline:

Marsden Community Poetry are looking forward to receiving your work. Submissions will not be considered after midnight Sunday 22 January 2023

Submit:

Send your work to marsdencommunitypoetry@gmail.com

Uncategorized

Maytree 35 – cover reveal

We are very excited to reveal the cover for our thirty fifth publication: Jane Kite’s stunning new collection, The Blanket.

Jane may be familiar to many of our readers as not only is she a wonderful poet but was also part of the successful team behind Half-Moon Books, the publishing house responsible for launching the careers of many fine poets including a few who have since joined the Maytree family.

In The Blanket we find a sequence of poems in which the author tells the story of making a crocheted blanket and the thoughts and memories that the work evoked during it’s completion. Memories are weaved between the crocheted squares like faded photographs of dwellings, relatives, friends and neighbours found in a secret keepsake.

Jane explains that the sequence was written for her daughter in the lead up to her fiftieth birthday. Part memoir, part instruction, part gift, The Blanket is a collection that is instantly accessibly and incredibly enjoyable.

The Blanket was previously performed as a live event as part of the Chapel FM Writing on Air Festival.

The cover features the painting, Moorland Mist by our friend, Kevin Threlfall. We were delighted to be able to work with Kevin again on this collection. Many of the poems deal with time and place and together with Kevin’s expressive brushwork creating a woollen textured landscape, we thought the mystery of the painting worked beautifully for the collection.

The Blanket will be officially released on the 22 April 2022 and Jane will be appearing at a number of launch events during May – more news on this later.

You can find out more about Jane here

A link to Kevin’s online store here

If you’re not already signed up to our newsletter then what are you waiting for – as well as regular updates you’ll also be the first to hear about our publications, submissions and awards. You can sign up with your email here

Uncategorized

Maytree 33 – cover reveal

Happy New Year folks!

We’re delighted to be back for another year of poetry and publishing adventures.

Remember to sign up to our Newsletter to be the first to hear of submissions, new releases, awards and exclusive discounts.

It’s always a joy to share a new cover with you and Maytree 33 is no exception.

Hunger by Kathleen Jones will be released in February and features the painting, House in a Field by London based artist, Lydia Bauman. We have been huge fans of Lydia’s work for many years so we are absolutely thrilled to be working with her on this wonderful collection.

We’ll have more news about the book in the coming weeks.

You can find out about Lydia and see more of her wonderful work here – Gallery