Poetry Wales is delighted to announce the appointment of three contributing editors. Following a huge number of strong applications, we are excited to welcome Vicky Morris, Marvin Thompson and Taylor Edmonds to the Poetry Wales team in 2021.
Vicky Morris will be the first of our three editors, taking her position as Contributing Editor in the new year.
“As a Welsh poet from a working-class background, I’m thrilled and honoured to take on the first of three Contributing Editor roles with Poetry Wales.
I think in part because of my background, and having several neurodiverse conditions, I’ve always been aware of the ways in which I haven’t ‘fit’. This not fitting consequently contributed to realising my potential as a poet later than I could have.
I’m really keen to see more diversity and representation at editorial level in poetry, and I’m very thankful to Poetry Wales for the opportunity to be part of this. I’m looking forward to reaching out to beckon in new voices, and to be an advocate for continuing the movement towards positive change that I’ve both seen, and been part of, in poetry over the last few years.“
Vicky Morris is a poet, mentor and creative educator raised in north Wales and based in Sheffield. She has been widely published in places like The Rialto, Poetry Wales, Under the Radar, and The Interpreters House. She was awarded first place in the Aurora Prize for Poetry 2020 and the Prole Laureate Competition 2019, and was recently shortlisted in the Magma Poetry Pamphlet Competition 2020 judged by Mary Jean Chan. Vicky is a mentor of emerging young writers and the editor of four anthologies of poetry and fiction by younger writers. She founded Hive Young Writers Network in 2016 and was awarded a Northern Writers Award in 2014. In 2019 she was awarded The Sarah Nulty Award for Creativity for her impact in the region. Vicky is a recent Arvon/Jerwood mentee.
You can follow and find out more about Vicky Morris on social media and her website: @VickyMWriter | www.vickymorris.co.uk
Marvin Thompson will join the Poetry Wales team in the summer.
Marvin Thompson was born in London to Jamaican parents and now lives in mountainous south Wales. He is a writer, teacher and filmmaker. His debut poetry collection, Road Trip (Peepal Tree Press, 2020), is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. In June 2020, the Poetry Society selected Road Trip as one of five Black Lives Matter Inspiration books.
Road Trip was one of 40 officially recommended collections and anthologies for National Poetry Day, 2020. The Guardian described Road Trip as an ‘invigorating journey through the complexities of black British family life.’ The Telegraph selected Road Trip as one of the Poetry Books of the Year for 2020.
Marvin comments “I am thrilled to be one of three new contributing editors that will be working with Poetry Wales in a developmental capacity. It is important to me that these opportunities were specifically design[ed] for people of colour. Wales is the home of my dual-heritage children (step-children and biological children). As such, I have a stake in Wales being a welcoming nation that celebrates difference – a stake, moreover, in helping its literary culture to become more inclusive and to thrive.”
In Autumn 2021 we will be joined by Taylor Edmonds, a writer, poet and performer from Barry. Her work has been published by Poetry Wales, Black Ballad, Parthian, The National Literacy Trust, BBC Wales Sesh, Jacar Press, Butcher’s Dog and more. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Cardiff University and is currently working on her debut poetry collection which explores womanhood, empowerment and storytelling. Taylor is also a team member of Where I’m Coming From, a collective and platform for underrepresented writers in Wales.
On her appointment, Taylor told us: “I’m excited to be working with Poetry Wales as a contributing editor. Being published in the magazine was a great achievement for me, so to have the opportunity to work on the other side of the submission process and gain insight into the editorial process is something I’m really looking forward to!”
We are also pleased to share that Hilary Watson and Carl Griffin have agreed to join the new Editorial Advisory Group at Poetry Wales who will serve as advisors to the editor and ambassadors of the magazine.