Very grateful to Mark Prejsnar for correcting and Bob Archambeau for adding to
my remarks about the Ric Caddel, Peter Quartermain anthology of the "Other"
British poetry. In my original draft of the message, I called "Other" the
first full anthology of British experimental writing to be published in the US
for decades. On checking, I was surprised I'd left out the word "full" during
self-editing.
I gladly remember the important Potes and Poets Floating Capital 1991
collection, pioneering at the time. The fine New American Writing selection of
26 new British poets was No. 8 & 9, Fall 1991, and many years before that New
Directions did a mini-anthology edited by Andrew Crozier. No doubt there have
been other inklings which I've forgotten, but the gist of what I said stands:
it's seven years later, there isn't much about, not published in the US, and
"Other" should prove to be "fuller".
Bob Archambeau's plug for Billy Mills' book service very timely in these
circumstances. One of the best British distributors of small press work is
Peter Riley, 27 Sturton Street, Cambridge CB1 2QG, England. John Tranter is
also doing a good job across the Atlantic-Pacifix axes on the Jacket website.
Another possibility for firming relations: Talisman House have broken the
new turf with the Jarnot/Schwartz/Stroffolino Anthology of Younger (American)
Poets. Excellent start. There's a good case for a US-British (or US-British-
Canadian-Australian) anthology of younger poets -- born after 1960, say -- one
day soon. Then, along with "Other" we'd have a representative set of texts on
the market to encourage book buying from the specialist distributors on both
sides of the Atlantic, and perhaps the Pacific. When I taught workshops on
the younger poetry in the US and Britain at Naropa this summer, the interest
from students was remarkable.
I've been fiddling myself with the idea of collecting up a set of young
poet texts on these lines for proposal to a publisher but have concluded,
sadly, that I have too many other projects on hand. This may make my
suggestion sound weak -- can't be helped. But I'd be glad to be in contact
with any person/ persons who did get enthused to offer what help I could.
Doug Oliver
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