::mslexia magazine issues::


	SELIMA HILL • CANDIA MCWILLIAM • GILLIAN ALLNUTT • LESLEY GLAISTER • JENNI MURRAY

	EDITORIAL IN this issue we are travelling from the sublime to the ridiculous - and all points in between. To start with, we’ve been looking at poetry. Not why there are so few noted woman poets (analysing that obstacle course is a job for another day). Nor why there are any male poets at all (which, you must admit, is an interesting question). No, the question we’ve been asking is why so few people want to buy those thrill-packed slim volumes of the stuff. How many poetry books did you buy last year? See what I mean? If you turn to page 9, you’ll discover how we could transform the poetry market. Talking of markets, we’ve been dabbling in the toy world too. We have commissioned award-winning fashion designer Rebecca Nixon to create outfits for a new theme doll, modelled on the typical woman writer (see page 42). The doll has hennaed hair, two contrasting outfits (one for home, one for receiving literary prizes) and a range of writing accessories. We’ve sent the designs to Mattel UK, who manufacture Barbie, requesting that they consider adding a ‘Booker Barbie’ to their range of career dolls. Debbie Taylor Editor			Contents: Issue 6 Summer/Autumn 2000 Special features AGENDA: POETRY The problem with poetry Poetry makes up only two per cent of the book market, but it gets fifty per cent of the public subsidy available to literature. Debbie Taylor asks why so few people buy contemporary poetry. THE MSLEXIA INTERVIEW Poet Selima Hill talks to Debbie Taylor › Read from the interview › Read the Author's Method › Browse interviews OTHER FEATURES Pressing on Mel Ashby and Jo Littler explore the role of the feminist presses in today’s ‘post-feminist’ world Written in the stars Is your sun rising in Jupiter? Is your moon setting in Saturn? Astrologer Bee Smith on how the celestial bodies can affect your writing success. Best buddies Every wished you had personal trainer - for your writing? A guide for getting the help you need, by Jennifer Bryce and Sheila Bolsover Dolly girls Research suggests that girls would rather be nurses than writers. Maggie Black asks why. MIND AND BODY: Ideas from the id An introduction to the rules governing unconscious thought by Freudian psychoanalyst Rosine Perelberg New Writing FIRE Poetry and prose selected by Candia McWilliam › Read new writing 6 › Browse new writing REGULARS • Letters • First Person Singular Anne Philbrow comes out as a biblioholic • News • Getting Started… reviewing books • Nuts & bolts non-sexist writing, starting a group, e-bbreviations - and saying ‘no’ • The Blank Page: FIRST PERSON with Margaret Wilkinson › Try this workshop › Browse workshops • Guide to guides: Romantic fiction • Poetic forms: Linda France's regular tutorial on the main poetic forms: Rhyming couplets with a specially-commissioned example by Gillian Allnutt • The Slush Pile at Black Lace • Word Surgeon: Dr Ingrid K tackles a case of clutter • Icon Gallery: 10 things you need to know about Angela Carter BOOKS Reviews: Poetry, Chick lit, War memoirs, Faction, Publishing phenomena Small press fiction: Carol Clewlow dips into our box of small-press and self-published novels Best ever books by women Lesley Glaister chooses Angel by Elizabeth Taylor Bedside Table Jenni Murray DIRECTORY Competitions, submissions requests, grants, courses, events, contacts, venues › Add me to the Mslexia listings

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