I have news. It concerns poetry and spiders.
When I was about eighteen, I started writing about the adventures of a character called Alice Spider. And I kept on writing about her, on and off. A couple of decades after I started, I realised all the little Alice fragments were part of a prose poem sequence. Sections of Alice have since been published in Turbine, AUP New Poets 3, JAAM and US-based Anomalous Press. And now Alice is getting her very own chapbook, courtesy of the wonderful folk at Anomalous. And it’s not just any old chapbook – it’s 3 types of chapbook: a limited edition of 26 handmade, letterpress-printed chapbooks with images by Jill Kambs (I’ve seen the proofs and the book looks beautiful), as well as a regular, offset-printed chapbook and an e-book. Very exciting!
This would not have happened without Mary MacCallum’s Tuesday Poem site – the Christmas before last, the Tuesday poets all had a “secret Santa” poem-swapping session, where we paired up with other Tuesday poets and posted each other’s poems. I was paired with US poet Melissa Green, who writes stunningly beautiful poetry. Melissa graciously hosted Alice on her blog, where she was spotted by Anomalous Press and invited to appear in their new journal, and now Alice is moving on to her next adventure. Many thanks to Cat Parnell and Erica Mena of Anomalous Press for this opportunity and to Jill Kambs for making beautiful books. I”ll post a photo when the books arrive.
Also, Anomalous Press has just announced its first chapbook competition. Entry fees are $US15 and all submissions will be considered for publication in the Anomalous Press journal. There is a separate category for translations.
Janis Freegard's Weblog 
This is fabulous news Janice – I am so excited for you – and that it came about because of Tuesday Poem makes it all the more exciting. Fancy having three types of chapbook – Alice the spider must be in a tailspin!
Congratulations Janis! well deserved!
Fabulous news, Janis–congratulations!
Congratulations, Janis. The power of the internet, eh? It’s not all porn and Trade Me.
That’s great news Janis. Alice and the interweb! Congratulations to you both 🙂 Helen Mckinlay
Congratulations Janis! I’ve always thought Alice deserved her own gig, and I’m delighted she’s getting it. The book sounds lovely.
Thanks so much everyone! You’re very kind. 🙂
‘A couple of decades after I started…’ So how does overnight success feel? Congratulations! (I love the careful colour co-ordination of arachnids and clothes in the photo, too.)
Thanks! The colour co-ordination was also about matching the cover of AUP New Poets 3, where Alice Spider appeared in paper form for the first time (in 2008, although she’d had some earlier adventures on the internet). I had the green top already – it just needed spiders…
That’s great news, Janis – congratulations!!
Go Alice and Janis! Great lipstick also. I hope you’ll advise us where to get the chapbook when it arrives.
Thanks Mary – it almost matches the Mighty Mighty curtains.
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