Informative extract:
“Yet the success of book publication is not to be measured solely by the statistic of copies sold. The relationship between poet and editor should ensure that the quality of the work produced is significantly better than it might have been had the work not been edited, that it is accurately and attractively produced, and that it appears with the imprimatur of a publishing house which is a species of ‘guarantor’, providing a ‘license’ authorising the poet. The fact of edited publication remains crucial in the poetry sector, to the extent that even performance poets, while acknowledging the aurality of their work, aspire to this kind of validation. Poets active in the tertiary educational sector are required, to be considered ‘research active’, to have publications, though hitherto the educational sector has not been as consistent in discriminating the quality and level of achievement in terms of poetry book publication as they are in terms of academic publications.
Other forms of validation include awards and prizes (of which there are hundreds, perhaps a dozen of which have a national profile), and appointments in the academic or civic sector which entail a transparent selection process. Once established in these ways, poets will find they are more welcome on the reading circuit, receive fees and increase the sale of their publications many-fold at events. They are also in a stronger position to apply for academic and teaching posts and other jobs in the sector.”
Pages 9-10
------Original Message------
From: Alec Newman
Sender: British & Irish poets
To: [log in to unmask]
ReplyTo: British & Irish poets
Subject: Arts Council report on Contemporary Poetry
Sent: 24 May 2011 09:42
Anyone who's not seen this might find it interesting. Comments on a postcard please.
http://www.literaturedevelopment.co.uk/domains/nationalassociationforliteraturedevelopment.org.uk/local/media/audio/Poetry_mapping_DEFINITIVE.pdf
Alec
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
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