From CHRISSIE GITTINS, poet & short story writer
I am shocked and very saddened that Arc should have had it's funding cut. They have been in the forefront of poetry publishing for 40 years, and have been especially instrumental in bringing translated poetry to the attention of this country.
I was lucky enough to have my first collection published by Arc in 2003. Armature received nine reviews - all appreciative, including a particularly positive one in Poetry Review. Tony Ward and Angela Jarman have always been supremely supportive; they organized readings for me, helped me to negotiate the poetry world, and still send books out to my events. The success of this first collection, which is still selling, was instrumental in me being included in the British Council Contemporary Writers database of the 600 writers regarded as the best UK and Commonwealth writers; and in being offered a Hawthornden Fellowship, two Arts Council Grants for the Arts, and awards from the Royal Literary Fund and the Author's Foundation. It has enabled me to become an Arvon tutor, to work in schools, prisons and libraries; to read in New York, Bangkok, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh; and to work as a freelance poet for the last 13 years.
I abhor this decision and I most strongly request that the Arts Council reconsider it.