The Emma Press launches book of snail poems and calls for poems on ‘slow things’
The Emma Press has announced a new call for poems about ‘slow things’ to coincide with their latest publication, The Dead Snail Diaries by Jamie McGarry. The Dead Snail Diaries is the posthumous debut from a Scarborough snail who met an untimely end one night in 2009 under the foot of human poet Jamie McGarry.
McGarry’s discovery of a tiny journal at the scene of the snail’s demise suggested a means by which he could atone for his carelessness. In McGarry’s own words, ‘I knew what I had to do: write up the contents of the diary in English, maintaining the snail’s original form (usually poetic) wherever possible, and distribute it as widely as I could, so that humanity might better understand our slimy, shell-dwelling neighbours.’
Publisher Emma Wright acquired The Dead Snail Diaries for the Emma Press in summer 2013 and has since worked closely with McGarry on creating a fitting tribute to the snail. She said: ‘We plan to launch The Dead Snail Diaries slowly, over the course of a year, with a series of low-key readings at festivals and allotments. We’re also encouraging other poets to engage with the snail’s pace of life, with a new call for submissions for Slow Things.’ 
The publisher has released details of Slow Things on their submissions page, inviting poems about ‘slow creatures, slow humans, slow activities, slow processes, slow moments in time, slow cookers, slow art. The slow march of history. Anything as long as it’s slow.’ Poets can send in up to three poems and must be members of the Emma Press Club, whereby they must have bought a book from the publisher’s website within this calendar year. The deadline for submissions is 26th October 2014 and the anthology is scheduled for release in spring 2016.
* Read more about The Dead Snail Diaries.
* Read more about the call for submissions to Slow Things.
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