Notes from the Edge. Introducing our annual anthology
Hope is the thing with feathers, but the skies are dark and the world is heavy to hold. Right now, today, it can be a daily struggle for some of us to find lightness, especially when it is hardwired in us writers to notice, to bear witness to what’s happening in the world. At a global level, we are seeing the largest numbers of people forcibly displaced since World War II, the rise of right wing nationalism, climate breakdown, the relentless slaughter of children in Gaza and the protracted wars in Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, DRC … closer to home, many of us are struggling to cover even the most basic costs of living and are left with leaky rooves that cannot be fixed or wondering how long it is that we can go before we’re forced to use the Foodbank.
But there is light. We have seen it. Pooled in little corners of the Dialect writing community – the bright, precious kind that you hold in the cup of your hand to keep it aflame. It’s there in the people coming together to tell their stories in the hubbub of our new Meadow Membership group, the writers on our GROW mentoring scheme who’ve already gone on to get their work published and win prizes – to be heard!! Earlier in the year we saw it on our retreat in France, where writers gathered their words in the service of the wheel of the year, as if noticing all the tiny details at the turn of each season could be the kind of attention we need to express our deep love and care for the world. Our Writing Climate Hope workshop prompted participants to work through fear and turn despair into action. Our Re-Enchanting the Land correspondence course helped to reclaim a sense of wonder and connection inspired by contemporary folk and outsider artists. It was also there in our work with young people bringing their words to the page with playful games of wordsmithery or on our poetry walks which embodied the spirit of deep listening and mindful movement through landscape.It was there on our day retreats in the magical setting of The Hide or at the Forest School where children played while their parents got down to write. Through Dialect, we have met people who want to believe that prevailing narratives of doom and gloom can be pushed back and resisted, people who are here to question and decentre the locus of change, telling stories from the edge of a world that sees things a little differently.These connections that we share are at the heart of creating a better future.
You will find a spirit of hope and quiet defiance in this anthology of writing welcomed in from the community who have passed through our real and virtual doors in 2023. Whether it can be seen in a pebble held in the hand, in the pasque flowers blooming on the ashes of our bones or in the blue of the winter skies that carries us onwards, the words in this year’s offering sing from the pages of our lives with an energetic attitude of survival and celebration. Catch the words as they fall from the book, give them a warm place to perch.
We give thanks to the tutors, hosts and mentors who have made all this possible - Louisa Adjoa-Parker, Sarah Davy, Nathalie Edwards, Alun Hughes, Nick Hunt, Ronnie McGrath, Nikki Owen, Caleb Parkin, Electra Rhodes, Sarah Steele. We also offer a very deep bow and owe a special debt of gratitude to our friend, poet and fellow traveller Philip Rush, whose expert editorial and typesetting skills and good cheer helped us to bring this anthology together. We hope you enjoy it.
Juliette & Emma
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