News
bits and bobs
Dear Friends
There’s lots going on at Dialect and we have news to share, so please… read on!
Nottingham Poetry Festival this weekend
We are very excited to be bringing Dialect Press and our DIRT imprint up to Nottingham *this Saturday* for readings from Elvire Roberts & Rachel Goodman, JLM Morton and Charlie Sanderson with conversation about the art of collaboration. How do you begin a shared piece? What do you do when your approaches diverge and how do you navigate this? What can you learn about your own practice through collaboration? Perhaps you'd like to hear more about our DIRT ecopoetry competition that's currently open to submissions. These questions and more are all up for discussion. Come along, get involved - we'd love to see you there. Nottingham Central Library, 11am - 12.30pm. At £5, tickets are an absolute bargain! Available via this button »>
Page to Performance
Are you a writer who wants to take your readings and performances to the next level? Or are you someone who hates talking in public, but needs to deliver a speech or presentation? Also at Nottingham this weekend, Charlie Sanderson will be sharing a range of professional tips and exercises, carefully tailored for anyone who wants to take to the stage and read to an audience. In 90 minutes, she’ll give you the tools to bring your words alive, and help you to discover the joy of performing!
Nottingham Central Library 1pm - 230pm.
The Long Light: a summer solstice writing workshop
High summer is a season rich with possibility. It is a time of abundant growth and harvest, the peak of nature’s bounty. Fields are full, the warm woodland floor darkens with the leaf cover in the canopy above, fruits and vegetables are ripening – everyone, it seems, is out and about enjoying the fullness of the year. The sun itself – and the solstice - is a powerful symbol of vitality and sustenance. In this seasonal online workshop, which is becoming a tradition in itself, JLM Morton will guide you to create new work and check in with your creative practice.
Tuesday 16th June, 6pm - 8pm online.
Michael Marks Award
We are thrilled to have been shortlisted by the Michael Marks Awards for Pamphlet Publisher in recognition of our DIRT ecopoetry imprint. The awards ceremony is taking place at the British Library next Tuesday - whatever the outcome we feel like winners already to have our work platformed in this way. The judges had this to say:
“DIRT, the ecologically focussed imprint of Dialect Press, makes plantable pamphlets that treat publishing as something living rather than fixed and forces us to confront the realities of our environment and the impact of consumption on the planet. We loved how the publisher brings this into practice, in a genuine, actionable and collaborative way, while still pushing at the boundaries of what poetry means and what is has the potential to be.”
DIRT Competition
Submissions to our DIRT ecopoetry competition are now OPEN! We’re inviting poets who care deeply about our living planet and want to experience writing in collaboration with another poet to submit work for our first DIRT plantable poetry competition pamphlet. DIRT commissions pairs of poets to write collaborative poems in response to climate science. Our project models Earth-positive publishing. Previous commissions include poets Clare Pollard paired with Anglia Ruskin student Freya Sacksen, and Alycia Pirmohamed paired with Hannah Copley. The deadline for entries is midnight on 14th June.
“ The whole collaboration experience was so lovely that we carried on writing and talking about it afterwards. Honestly, DIRT’s one of the most magical things to be a part of, just do it! Being involved in a DIRT collaboration and getting to work with Alycia and Alice really has changed how I think about writing and my creative practice.” ~ Hannah Copley
Weight of Light
We were very pleased to be acknowledged by our local district council for the work we’ve been doing building an artist-led model for climate storytelling through our project Weight of Light.
You can find out more about the project on our website, listen to the stories on our podcast and we now have all of the stories available as a digital download for a small donation of £2, which goes towards supporting our writer network. Click the button below to purchase.
Summer Poetry Walks
Poetry walks with Philip Rush are back! Enjoy a short and friendly ramble, around 3 miles in about 90 minutes, punctuated by pauses for poems which reflect in different ways the environment and scenery through which we are walking. Food for thought and prompts perhaps for writing of your own. The morning walks will also provide opportunities for you to buy coffee and refreshments, beforehand or once we’ve returned. Come for one or all four - starting 24th June at 10.30am.
Dialect Membership
Are you looking to join a community of like-minded writers for encouragement, support and feedback? Joining the Dialect community through our membership scheme is a great way for you to connect with other rural writers, gain confidence and carve out regular space and development time for getting your words into the world. Prices start at £10 per month, with free access to the scheme for those who are carers or on a small income.
Midlife Magic!
From 24th - 29th June 2026 Juliette is leading a holistic writing retreat in southern France for women at midlife - we'll have daily writing workshops, a morning yoga practice with Netty Chapman, a ceramics and ritual workshop with our host, sculptor Nathalie Edwards, and a Q&A on functional menopause meds with Sandra Ishkanes. With wild swimming and access to miles of walks in the extraordinary landscape of the Gorges du Tarn, right on the doorstep, it's going to be a transformative few days. The Mill are offering a 50% discount to two friends who would like to come along and share the 2 bedroom canal apartment - essentially two places for the price of one! The cost covers full board (home cooked meals, all dietary requirements catered for) - travel / flights and airport transfers are the only thing not covered. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please hit reply to this email for more info. We hope to see you there!
All for now folks! x
