I’ve finished writing four reviews of chapbooks for the excellent Sphinx magazine. I’ll let you know when the next issue is due.
The best of the chapbooks was 19th Century Blues by Patrick McGuinness, published by Smith/Doorstop, the imprint of the Huddersfield based Poetry Business, who also produce UK poetry magazine, The North. I’d thoroughly recommend buying 19th Century Blues. At £3, it’s a real bargain, and probably the best written poetry chapbook I’ve read all year.
In addition, you’d be doing The Poetry Business a favour, as Kirklees council has withdrawn their funding for the next three years because (in the words of a councillor) they are “now not working as effectively as other applicants to contribute to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the district.” (!)
But it seems that no literature organisation within this borough now gets a council grant. You can find out more here.
