The latest Matter magazine (Matter 11) has been published. 

This year’s guest contributors are the award-winning poets Paul Farley and Colette Bryce and the short story specialists Vanessa Gebbie and David Gaffney.

Unfortunately we are having a few technical issues with the website. We hope to have full details of the new magazine posted soon, along with the option to buy a copy through the website.

Apologies for the delay.

It’s that time of year again, and the Sheffield summer festivals are underway.  Contributors from Matter 10 will be performing at Highfield’s Trinity Church with the Sharrow Festival as part of their art exhibition celebrations.  Hope you can make it.  The event is 6pm-8pm on Tuesday 5th July.  There will be performances from The Bints and Opor Choir, too.  Highfield’s is on the corner of Highfield’s Place and London Road.  Free admission.

Here’s a link to last week’s interview with Arto Vaun talking about his forthcoming translations of Armenian Poetry: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01074jb only a couple more days left to listen.

As part of the first Sheffield Poetry Festival, Bank Street Arts is hosting the Matter event on 3rd April, 6:30-8pm, to celebrate 10 years of publishing the best poetry, prose and script from MA Writing students at Sheffield Hallam University.

The event will feature readings from alumni, Katharine Towers (Slow Time, The Floating Man), Tony Williams (Rhetoric, The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street) and Carolyn Waudby (Dreams of Defiance).  Current students published in Matter 10 will also be reading, including Fay Musselwhite, who recently took 3rd prize in the Sheffield Poetry Prize, judged by Simon Armitage.  More details can be found in the festival brochure online here: http://www.sheffieldpoetryfestival.org.uk/third/matter_poets_3_4.html

The event is ticketed, £4/3 concs.  Tickets are available from the Showroom box office, or on the door at Bank Street, which is located just behind Sheffield Cathedral.  There’s a map on the Bank Street website: http://bankstreetarts.com/contact/

I hope you can make it.  It will be a great evening, a great way to celebrate Matter, to mark its achievements over the last decade.

Fay Musselwhite’s poem, “Boulder,” published in Matter 10, has won third prize in this year’s Sheffield Poetry Prize, judged by Simon Armitage.  Congratulations!

The prize winners will be reading at Bank Street Arts on 11th March from 7.30pm alongside Sally Goldsmith and Simon Currie.

http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/

Jane Rogers is launching her latest novel, The Testament of Jessie Lamb, on 23rd February, 6:15pm at Blackwell Bookshop, Sheffield Hallam University – opposite Millennium Galleries.  £1 advance or on door, redeemable against purchase of her book.  Come along to hear more about this extraordinary new novel, meet the author, enjoy a glass of wine, and discover why this great book will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading.

Jane has written eight novels, including, Island, which has been adapted into a film, and is being premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival: www.islandthemovie.com

It’s very exciting that Sheffield is getting ready for its first poetry festival in April this year.  The festival will run from the 1st – 3rd April, and will be based at a number of great venues, including Bank Street Arts.  There will be fringe events in the week either side of that weekend, including a reading from MA Writing students on 6th April, 6:15-7:45pm.

Matter is celebrating 10 years of publishing the best poetry, prose and script with an event at the festival, 3rd April, 6:30-8pm, at Bank Street Arts.  There will be performances from contributors, past and present, including Katharine Towers, whose debut collection, The Floating Man, was shortlisted for the Aldeburgh and longlisted for the Guardian first book prize.

Keep an eye out for the festival programme for more details.

Many thanks to Cadaverine for our first review!

http://www.thecadaverine.com/?p=1989

http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Matter_Issue_10/9781843873228 Matter 10 is now nationally available both online at Blackwell’s, Waterstone’s and Foyles http://www.foyles.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781843873228&sf_01=ctitle&st_01=matter+10&sort=eh_nbd_rank/d&m=4&dc=14 and in Bookstores, including The London Review Bookshop, amongst others.  Our Foreword by Margaret Drabble states, “This polyphonic world glitters with imagination and bold endeavour,” and our guest contributors, Iain Sinclair, Daljit Nagra, Diana Gabaldon and Arto Vaun are best-selling, prize-winning and critically acclaimed.  This is a truly fabulous issue, so get your copy now.  It is also available on this site via PayPal £4.99.

Maurice Riordan will be hosting the London Launch of Matter 10 at the London Review Bookshop.  Also, the AM Heath Prize will be awarded to Gill Blow, who graduated from the MA Writing this year and is this major agency’s chosen prize winner.

This will be a great night of poetry and prose from contributors to Matter and its sister publication, Best of MA Writing 2010.

Free entry.  Free wine.