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Dear writers,
This month we have a special collaboration with the much-respected imprint, Serpent’s Tail, to celebrate the debut novel of Victoria Gosling.
Let me tell you a little anecdote about Victoria Gosling. Several years ago, I found myself an hour from Berlin, in a strange little Fort (replete with a moat) with cavernous rooms and an honesty bar. This was The Reader Berlin’s Fort Gorgast Writer's Festival and I was there to represent Visual Verse. I sat in on a workshop that Victoria ran, in which she took participants through a number of writing activities that were very much in the spirit of the surrealists, and in the spirit of Visual Verse. These were activities designed to tap the subconscious and remove mental barriers to one’s own creativity. I expected to be more of an observer than a participant but as Victoria unfurled her intriguing, thoughtful array of writing exercises I found myself deeply engaged. I have kept the work I did that day. And I have never forgotten the feeling of liberation as her prompts evoked words I never knew I had in me. Victoria has a special kind of magic: she's a gifted writer and also someone who can share that gift, conjuring other people’s talents with great empathy and sensitivity.
So without further ado, I present your May visual writing prompt, an intriguing artwork thought to be from around 1850, by an unknown artist, and courtesy of Wellcome Collection. It is an honour and pleasure to present Victoria’s response on page one. Her first full-length novel, Before the Ruins, will be published on May 6th by Serpent's Tail. It is a fabulous book, full of mystery, speculation, characters that oscillate between dark and light, a complex but accessible narrative, and a protagonist who keeps us at arms length while anchoring us to her plight. Put it on your summer reading list immediately.
On page two, we are thrilled to feature another new Serpent’s Tail writer, Alice Ash, whose short story collection Paradise Block was released in February. Alice is the current Writer in Residence at Open Book, a literary organisation working across Scotland; you can read Alice’s stories here. She lives in Brighton with her boyfriend and 2,000 books.
And as you know we often invite regular contributors whose work has caught our eye month-to-month. On page three we are delighted to introduce you to Rachel Belward. Rachel grew up in northern Italy, and she now lives in London. She is a regular contributor to Visual Verse, and her short stories have been published by Dear Damsels. She works for a mental health charity, and is working on a novel about love, music and climate disaster. She loves to read, and her Instagram book reviews are my go-to for reading recommendations. Follow her on Instagram at @rach_is_reading.
Now it's your turn, dear writers. The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.
Enjoy!
Kristen
with the VV team, Preti, Lucie, Isabel and Luke.
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@visual_verse
@VictoriaGosling
@aliceash_
@RBel2
@serpentstail
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