Support the Homeless in International Poetry Competition to Win Book Publication

The cold weather is with us so do help support the three Cold Weather Shelters assisted by the Lumen and Camden poetry project. You could also win publication of your own short collection in our annual competition. There’s less than a month to go until the closing date of February 14^th, but the sooner you enter, the sooner we can pass all money raised to the organisers of the Cold Weather Shelters.

This year’s judge is the acclaimed American poet Anne Stevenson, who has been a chair of judges for the T S Eliot prize. Andrew Motion is patron of this poetry project, which is essential to keep the Cold Weather Shelters going.

Previous winners are Bob Cooper (2012) and  Caroline Squire (2011), and their short collections An Apple Tree Spouts Philosophy  and The Ideal Overcoat are on sale, with all £3 of the cover price going to the same charity. Nobody involved in organising this competition takes any income from it.

The winner is chosen on the strength of just one poem, and as part of the prize they will be helped by a professional editor to complete a short paperback collection with 20 pages of poetry. They will also get an invitation to read in one of the popular Lumen and Camden venues, will receive 50 copies of their collection, and will be well promoted.

The entry fee has been kept deliberately low at £2.50 per poem (up to 40 lines) or £10 for six poems, so that everybody can enter. In its first two years the competition attracted around 1,000 entries each time, raising between £1,500 and £2,000 for the charity. There are also regular open mics and poetry performances in the Lumen and Camden venues where the homeless sleep during the cold weather, and where more money is raised.

These poetry events raise thousands of pounds each year, and every year we try to increase our support. The Cold Weather Shelter organisers say they couldn’t survive without the contribution made by poetry. The events and the competition are the brainchild of the poet Ruth O’Callaghan, who has been running the Lumen and Camden Poetry series of open mics and performances for six years.

The open mic events are held in the two venues where the homeless sleep in the Cold Weather Shelters. They are at 1 Buck Street, Camden, and 88 Tavistock Place, Kings Cross. A listing of events and information about the Lumen and Camden Poetry project is on http://www.camdenlumen.wordpress.com

Details (Please share these if you can):

INTERNATIONAL LUMEN/CAMDEN POETRY COMPETITION

Judge: Anne Stevenson

Prize: Publication of short collection for one winner, 50 free copies, launch event and promotion.

Closing date February 14th 2013.

Poems up to 40 lines. Proceeds go to three London Homeless Cold Weather Shelters.

Entry fee: £2.50 per poem, 6 for £10.

Details on www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk competition page.

Poetry Raises £4,000 for the Homeless in North London

Despite the past year being a tricky one for many people financially, the Camden and Lumen Poetry project has raised even more for the homeless than the year before. This is a lovely surprise and a great help to the two Cold Weather Shelters supported. Here's proof that poetry can, among other things, serve a practical purpose.

I help out every month on the wine table and organise the website on http://www.camdenlumen.wordpress.com - and Ward Wood Publishing is also helping with the fundraising Lumen/Camden Poetry Competition which you can see on http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk First prize, judged by Carol Ann Duffy, is publication of a 20-page pamphlet of poetry and 50 free copies.

But the force behind the Camden and Lumen Poetry Series is poet Ruth O'Callaghan, so here are a few New Year words from her:

"2010 proved a challenging year but we still managed to raise nearly £4000 (with gift-aid) for the two Cold Weather Shelters we fund, and one of the ministers has already written to say that without the money they would be unable to continue. SO a MEGA THANKS TO YOU for your continued support. Also a very big thank you to Chris, Lynne and Adele who consistently do the bar and door. If anyone would like to volunteer to do the rare evening as ‘holiday relief’ it would be much welcomed.

Also welcome are any suggestions you might have with regard to the evenings. They are your evenings giving you the opportunity to read in front of established publishers (and wonderful, surprising things have happened) and internationally well known poets, as well as being published alongside them in an anthology. Last Christmas, when asked for suggestions, many requested that the poets from the floor had their own evenings enabling them to have a five minute – or longer – spot to offer a wider range of their work. This we did but the evenings were poorly attended so we presume that, in general, you prefer publishers and ‘name’ poets – correct me if I’m mistaken. Meanwhile, there will always be floor spots and the opportunity for longer spots but within the publishers/named poets evenings.

And we do have good relationships with publishers – congratulations to those who have done the mentoring/workshops and have subsequently have been published, and to those who will be in the 2011 Poets-from-the-Floor anthology due out in May.

We have a fabulous line up of poets for 2011 including Anne Stevenson and, fresh from the brilliant Aldeburgh Festival, Matthew Caley, Bernard Kops and Imtiaz Dharker – her Mumbai lunch box is a must. And that is just in the first few months. The second half of the year is equally exciting and there will of course be publishers’ evenings so please make the most of the opportunities offered.

In fact, the first event of 2011 – 7th January at Camden – is that dynamic new publishing house Ward Wood presenting poets Mike Horwood and Ann Alexander. Come along, meet the publishers, find out what they are about.

We are growing. We now have a competition with the winner having a pamphlet published, the glassses of wine are a tad larger and the raffle – OH, the dear old raffle – prize is increasing from £25 to over £30 worth of goodies. The free raffle evenings were much appreciated so perhaps we should have spontaneous i.e. unannounced, ones during the year. Again, if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know."
- Ruth O'Callaghan

I Am The Webmeister for Camden and Lumen Poetry

I was pleased to be asked by Ruth O'Callaghan if I could create a website for the excellent Camden and Lumen Poetry project. We were chatting after a really fun and well attended open mic yesterday where I sloshed out the wine and I was really pleased to meet a poet friend called Peter who I have only 'met' online before. He gave a great reading of his poem Jazz Sax, which will go forward for consideration for the next anthology published by Camden and Lumen. If any of you can get to these events in London I'd love to meet you.

The website is very new as I've been building it this morning and doing all the writing for it so far plus adding photos! You can see it on http://www.camdenlumen.wordpress.com and I'd appreciate a bit of feedback in the comments on the site. Forthcoming events are listed there.

Camden and Lumen Poetry is a project organised by the poet Ruth O’Callaghan. The project not only supports poetry: all proceeds go to help the Cold Weather Shelters in Camden and Kings Cross. Regular poetry readings are held in the Camden and Lumen (Kings Cross) venues, with well-known authors appearing alongside new and unpublished poets.

Publishers and magazine editors present their writers, published poets make appearances, and the events include the opportunity for audience members to read at least one poem. Poets from the floor can submit the poems they read to be considered for an annual anthology published each Spring. This gives poets at all levels the chance to appear alongside the famous names in each anthology.

Carol Ann Duffy became a patron of Camden and Lumen Poetry in January 2010, adding extra prestige to this well-established and well attended project.

The events have a warm and friendly atmosphere, with wine and soft drinks, a raffle to win a surprise parcel of books. There are also books available to buy, including some available at discount generously provided by publishers. The price of entry, the drinks bar, the raffle and other fundraising activities all go to support the Cold Weather Shelters.

Both of the venues, Camden and Lumen, have the readings in the same place where people sleep in the Cold Weather Shelters, making it a particularly special place to attend and to support poetry.

The addresses for the venues are:

Camden Poetry – Trinity United Reform Church, 1 Buck St, Camden Town, London WC1

Tube: Camden Town

Lumen Poetry – Lumen, 88 Tavistock Place, London WC1

Tubes: Russell Square , Kings Cross, St Pancras.