The emergence of Poetry Spotlight is one of the most interesting recent developments in U.K. poetry on the internet. The site itself
explains one key reason why it's different:
What hopefully sets Poetry Spotlight apart a little from other
poetry sites is that all poems featured are accompanied by a short interview
with the author. A poem doesn’t appear out of thin air and it’s nice sometimes
to learn a bit more about the person who penned it. Turns out they are often as
interesting as the writing they produce.
However, there's also a second factor that makes
Poetry Spotlight stand out: the quality of the questions. Each interview is
underpinned by a knowledge of the featured poet, thus leading to fascinating
replies from the interviewees. I especially recommend the piece on
Richie McCaffery (see here). Terrific stuff!
Dear Matthew
ReplyDeleteThanks once again for drawing my attention to something that I knew nothing about. I'm not totally surprised that the poets are often more interesting than the poetry.
Best wishes from Simon R. Gladdish
Yes, thank you, Matthew, for drawing our attention to this. It seems an excellent and fascinating resource. Do you know if there is a reason (well, presumably what the reason might be) as to why the site owners do not seem to make themselves known?
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's to avoid an avalanche of submissions...?! I do know who is behind it, and I can confirm they're poetry lovers, but it's up to them to decide whether or not they want publicity!
DeleteBest wishes,
Matthew