Prole Laureate competition

The second Prole Laureate competition is now open. We are looking for a poet who epitomises the qualities of Prole: a writer who engages, challenges, entertains and is inclusive of a wide audience.

We are open to all forms of poetry: free, blank, structured, rhymed. You write it, we’ll read it. The only arbiters that will inform the shortlist are the elements mentioned above. Once the short list is formed, it will be sent to our Judge. This year Andrew McMillan has kindly agreed to make the final choices. We’ve included brief details here. A full version of guidelines for our competition can be found here: http://www.prolebooks.co.uk/page6.html

All forms of poetry considered.
This is an international competition.
Entries should be with us by March 1st 2012
Winners will be announced in the April 2012 issue of Prole and on our website 30th April.
Winner: £130, publication in the April 2012 issue of Prole and on our website.
Two runners up: £25 each, publication on our website and possible publication in April 2012 issue of Prole.
Entries are welcome by email and post.
poetrycompetition@prolebooks.co.uk
or
Prolebooks
15 Maes-y-Dre
Abergele
Conwy
LL22 7HW
United Kingdom

One entry: £3, subsequent entries, an extra £2 per entry.
Full details on our website at: http://www.prolebooks.co.uk/page6.html

We are also very proud to announce the publication of our first two poetry pamphlets (or chapbooks, if you prefer): Nan Hardwicke Turns into a Hare by Wendy Pratt and Merlin’s Lane by Robert Nisbet. Both have already received high praise.

Phil Carradice, an editor at Roundyhouse Magazine, said of Merlin’s Lane: “Merlin's Lane” is the sort of collection we would all loved to have written. Very few of us ever could. And that's what makes it a fascinating, interesting and evocative read. It is an excellent collection of poetry by an excellent writer.

In her foreword for Nan Harwicke Turns into a Hare, celebrated poet, Alison Brackenbury wrote: I was astonished by the courage and generosity of this pamphlet. Many poets, finding in their finished work a powerful story of magic, and briefer lyrics of personal loss, would have eked them out into separate publications. But poetry is a drawing together, and Wendy Pratt excels at the deft and moving assembly of her poems’ world... Its final astonishment is that such power can rest within a handful of lyrical stories, like the woman in the frail body of the hare. I left these compassionate poems with admiration and regret.

Both pamphlets can be purchased at: http://www.prolebooks.co.uk/page10.html

Brett and Phil
Editors, Prole--
Website: www.prolebooks.co.uk
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News blog at: http://prolebooks.blogspot.com/
Reader/writer blog: http://readwriteblog.prolebooks.co.uk/