Blinking Eye
Blinking Eye was founded by Jeanne Macdonald in 2004 to correct an imbalance in the competitive world of poetry. Young poets are offered many opportunities in the area of funding and in the field of publishing, a fact we wholeheartedly endorse for the future of British poetry. However, over the age of 50, the offers become sparse, and even established poets have difficulty finding a source to publish their collections.
The established older poets who are published, and older poets who have not been published have one common denominator - they continue writing. Their work covers a vast range of subjects through the simple fact of their experiences of life. Blinking Eye offers all people over the age of 50 the opportunity to compete against their peers in annual poetry and short story competitions. The overall winners of each competition will be given the opportunity to have their collection of poems and short stories published. Commended poems and short stories, quality permitting, may also published in separate anthologies. Further details about the competitions can be found on the competitions pages.
At the end of 2007, Jeanne Macdonald retired from Blinking Eye and the poetry competition organiser is now Marilyn Longstaff. Marilyn is an accomplished poet and a member of Vane Women, the Darlington-based writing, performing and publishing collective www.vanewomen.co.uk
In 2003 she received an Arts Council 'Northern Promise Award', and in 2005 completed her MA in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. She is published in a range of magazines, in anthologies, and on the web. Her first pamphlet, Puritan Games, was published by Vane Women Press in 2001. Her full collection, Sitting Among the Hoppers, was published by Arrowhead Press in 2004. Marilyn is in the process of finalising a new collection, around the theme of how we clothe our physical and spiritual selves, which she wants to call Raiment.
The short story competition organiser is Judy Walker. She joined Jeanne Macdonald at Blinking Eye Publishing in 2006. Judy has an MA in Creative Writing from Newcastle University. She is a short story writer and playwright. Her work has won a number of competitions, has been published in magazines and anthologies and has been read on BBC Radio Four's Front Row, BBC Southern Counties Radio and BBC Somerset Sound. Her play, Bottling It, was performed in Hexham in May 2007. Her first children's novel will be published at the end of 2008.
Blinking Eye
PO Box 175
Hexham
Northumberland
NE46 9AW
Email: judy@blinking-eye.co.uk
Our logo is based on the painting 'Blinking Eye' by Emma Holliday.
Used by permission.
