From ANDREW FORSTER, Literature Officer, Wordsworth Trust
I was both shocked and saddened to see that, in the list of the Arts Council's National Portfolio organizations, a number of smaller presses have had their support withdrawn.
Smaller presses are the lifeblood of poetry, having more flexibility than the larger more commercial publishers, and, after this funding round, opportunities for new poets, and for poetry readers, are now very thin on the ground. As Literature Officer at the Wordsworth Trust, I often feature poets from these presses in our nationally renowned series of poetry readings, and we recently, in partnership with Inpress, ran a series of events aimed at promoting smaller presses, which featured both Arc and Flambard.
In its 40 year history, Arc has gained particular renown for bringing the work of many overseas poets to British readers, including Australian and Canadian poets as well as its unique series of poetry in translation, and they have been instrumental in bringing many of these poets to read at British poetry festivals. I have had conversations with Tony Ward and Angela Jarman about featuring some of these poets at the Trust. Arc has also had consistent relationships over a number of years with poets from all over Britain and Ireland.
I understand that Arc will find it difficult to continue without the support of the Arts Council and I very much hope that solutions can be found as the poetry scene in Britain will be very much poorer if they are unable to continue their groundbreaking work.