From JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT, poet
I am deeply shocked and disappointed to hear that Arts Council England is to discontinue funding for Arc Publications. For many years now ARC has been an original and deeply committed press whose value to contemporary poetry in this country is inestimable.
I should like to refer to two recent publications as not only representative of my experience of Arc - and two of the very best books I have read in the last twelve months - but exemplars of the work of the press.
The first is one of Arc's most recent publications, Ian Pople's latest collection Saving Spaces. Here is poetry of great composure and insight, never showy but highly sensitive to language and unafraid to take on the most substantial ideas. The second is a translation of the increasingly celebrated young French poet Valerie Rouzeau's highly original book Cold Spring in Winter. Through Susan Wicks' translation we are hearing a genuinely different voice from French, both in content and in technique. Arc has specialised in bringing foreign language verse into English, an all too rare breach of our insularity. That this in particular should no longer be supported is a very damaging loss.
These are just two recent books that spring instantly to mind when I think of Arc's output. They are I believe typical of the press's quality. Arc is not attention-grabbing and market-chasing, but the press's value and integrity is evident to all of us who truly know its work, including, it seems, ACE's own assessors as recently as 2010. I very much wish ACE can review and reverse a decision that is of great detriment to poetry in this country.