Not just a new look

Welcome to our new look website. We hope you like it and find it easy to navigate. Among the changes you'll find some new features. There are more (and quicker) ways into the catalogue, biographies, and book extracts; you can submit your own review if you've read the book; and we've caught up with many of the critics' reviews. Look out for much more frequent news and listings of readings and events, for podcasts and for a regular blog from Tony. Do let us know what you think. If you'd like to suggest any improvements, we'd be pleased to hear your ideas.

We'd like to encourage you to buy direct from Arc by offering you a 10% DISCOUNT on all books purchased from this website (EXCLUDING Collectors' Corner titles). Don't forget that POSTAGE is FREE to any address within the UK (and see overseas postage rates).

[John Clarke]

John Clarke

New Editor for Arc's UK & Ireland list

We are delighted to announce that John Clarke, the Director of the Beverley Literature Fesitval, has agreed to become Arc's new UK & Ireland Editor. John began working as Associate Editor with Arc in 2006 while Jo Shapcott was still Arc's UK Editor, and after she stepped down in 2007 proved to be such an asset to Arc in the interregnum that, in June this year, it was decided to offer him the Editorship.

John was born in Cornwall in 1969 and trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He then went on to study at the University of York and completed his doctoral research on 'Objectivist' poetry in 1999. While teaching American Literature part-time at York, he began to work in museums and galleries as an education officer and workshop leader. He then researched and directed a multi-disciplinary play that toured the UK through the Arts Council touring programme. In 2001 he became the first reader in residence at the Ilkley Literature Festival and subsequently took over the directorship of Wordquake, the East Riding of Yorkshire's literature development organisation. In 2002 he established the Beverley Literature Festival and in recognition of the importance of work done by Wordquake, the organisation was granted Regularly Funded Status by Art Council, England. John now works part-time for Wordquake and tutors in poetry on the part-time creative writing degree course at the University of Hull.

John Clarke is also a poet, widely published in magazines and winner of the First Prize in the City of Nottingham Poetry Competition in 2007 and a runner-up in 2006 and 2008 in the Wigtown Poetry Competition. A selection of his poems will be included in the forthcoming Oxford Poets anthology.

[Jean Boase-Beier]

Jean Boase-Beier

Congratulations to Professor Jean Boase-Beier

The outstanding contribution that Jean Boase-Beier, Arc's Translation Editor, has made to the field of literary translation world-wide has been recognized by the University of East Anglia where she has just been awarded a personal Chair in the School of Literature and Creative Writing.

Jean was the instigator of Arc Visible Poets, arguably one of Arc's flagship series, the first three titles of which (Bartolo Cattafi's Anthracite, Miklos Radnoti's Camp Notebook and Michael Strunge's A Virgin from a Chilly Decade) were published some eight years ago. With the publication of the twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth titles in the series now imminent and with a new 'Classic' translations series about to be launched - watch this website! - Arc has a great deal to thank its Translation Editor for, and looks forward to working with her on many more ground-breaking projects.