Anon relaunched

I got an email last week saying that Anon magazine is being relaunched, which is welcome news. I like its pocketbook format, its range of poetry and articles, and its use of a different selection process to the usual. I’m not against the traditional model at all, but I don’t think it does any harm to have something different too.

Anyway, rather than me rambling on, here’s the (slightly edited) text of the email from new Editor, Colin Fraser. The previous editor, Mike Stocks, did a fine job, so will be a hard act to follow, but I like the sound of the plans they've set in motion.

Hi there

I’m the new editor of Anon – the anonymous submissions magazine for new poetry. I’d like to tell you a little bit about what’s been happening since we relaunched the magazine earlier this month, almost two years since the publication of the previous issue, Anon Five. Myself and my deputy editor, Peggy Hughes, took over the reins in December 2008 and since then we’ve been working hard to try to resurrect what we think is an excellent magazine.

After many months of preparation, Anon Six was launched on Thursday, 9th July at the Scottish Poetry Library (the same day we nail-bitingly took delivery of the Anons), and it has received some kind write-ups. It was a very different kind of launch, with over 100 in attendance, that combined jazz/folk fusion music with an innovative “find the poem” trail involving recordings of poems from Anon Six hidden around the SPL. Many people have told me it was one of the more memorable launches of a poetry magazine they have attended.

The newly relaunched Anon has been experimenting with new media, and we are active on various social networking sites, particularly the constrained environment of Twitter, which attracts poets of many different kinds. We’ve also been investing time in the development of audio, and produced daily podcasts for the StAnza poetry festival in March, as well as podcasts of our own – http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk/podcast

We’re keen to get new audiences to appreciate poetry and also to allow people to have the opportunity to listen to poets reading their work. A selection of poems from Anon Six (including a few set to music) can be heard at http://www.chirbit.com/anonpoetry

Submissions are now all via email, which are then processed by our editorial assistants Alastair White and Penny Faulkner. If you are interested in submitting, come along to http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk/submissions

If you were interested in re-subscribing, or having a look at Anon 6, check our subs and sales page – http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk/subscriptions – or our dedicated Anon Six page, where you can download a preview version. We hope to print the magazine twice a year and in order to do this we’d like to spread the word as far and wide as possible.

We’ve tried to keep what we liked about the magazine – its put in your pocket size, its commitment to the fair assessment of poetry – and add in a flash of something new. Anon Six has two interviews, with Roddy Lumsden and Peter McCarey, and we hope to include at least two interviews with poets in every issue, as well as more general articles on issues of interest. The current issue has a feature on Jen Hadfield and Jen Tynes, a reflection piece by Jim Carruth on the 100 Poets event at StAnza a few years back, and an insider’s account of the BBC Poetry Season.

Thanks for your support in the past and for taking the time to read this far.

Colin Fraser
Editor, Anon Poetry Magazine