The London-Atlanta connection: poets set up a poetry and art journal



Poets Christine Swint of Atlanta, Georgia and Jo Hemmant of London, England have joined forces to set up a new poetry and art journal, ouroboros review.



The pair met while blogging. 'We are part of an online community of poets,' Christine explains. 'As we have similar attitudes to poetry, we teamed up and became writing partners. We read each other's poems and offer feedback before they are sent off to publishers. It has worked really well for us.'



A couple of months into the partnership, they decided to set up their own magazine. Ouroboros will appear online quarterly and in print biannually (a combination of winter/spring and summer/autumn issues respectively) -- using a print-on-demand service to keep costs down and save paper. Jo says, 'Ouroboros wants to be one of the first fully hybrid poetry and art magazines -- most are either in print or online. We feel this model offers the best of both worlds.'



Jo worked as a managing editor for many years, for a variety of publishers, and is

excited by the prospect of combining her two loves: poetry and publishing. Christine is a former high school Spanish teacher who studied English and Spanish literature. She has written poems and stories all her life, loves to read, and is excited about discovering new authors to share with others.



The editors say that ouroboros will showcase new, emerging and established poets who are passionate about art and craft. They believe that a strong poem speaks for itself. 'Poets shouldn't need a cv with a long list of publishing credits,' says Christine. 'We are happy to work with writers who are not widely published, if at all.' Jo agrees, 'It's about use of language. We want to read vivid, modern poems with impact, poems that change our perceptions.'

The submission call for the maiden issue reads: 'Poets — got rhythm, does your work sing, play the piano, dance? Do you paint amazing visuals with words? Experimental, concrete, satirical, lyrical, narrative, prose poem, if it's different and really speaks out, send it in, we'd love to publish you.'

Ouroboros is also keen to publish art works – digital art, photography, paintings. They are interested in work that reflects the poetry of visual images -- representational, narrative, mythic or abstract expressionism.

The deadline for submissions is November 10th. The first issue will be online in early December. For further information and detailed guidelines, visit the journal's blog at ouroborosreview.