LISTENING TO THE BIRTH OF CRYSTALS

3rd June 2004

LISTENING TO THE BIRTH OF CRYSTALS

Two former Edge Hill students have produced an anthology of poetry called Listening to the Birth of Crystals, in aid of charities for the deaf.

Alan Corkish and Andrew Taylor completed the MA in Writing Studies at Edge Hill?s Ormskirk Campus, and Andrew is now studying for a PhD there.

The anthology includes poetry written by current and former Edge Hill students and staff, prize- winning poets, alongside first time published poets, with proceeds going to the National Deaf Children?s Society and the Merseyside Society for Deaf People.

The anthology came about after Alan Corkish attended a deaf awareness course in Liverpool. It was there that he met sign interpreter Sarah Hannett, who introduced him to the world of deaf people, and inspired him to embark on the poetry collection.

Together with his friend, fellow poet and co-editor, Andrew Taylor, whose sister is profoundly deaf, the pair set out to invite poets to contribute to the anthology.

Alan said: "I began trawling the web searching for poets whose work I admired, then blatantly sent each a begging letter. Poets responded from across the globe, some sharing their own experiences with deafness, indeed many of the chosen poems are written by deaf people. The unique strand that that draws all the poets together is the desire to communicate ideas and emotions."

Robert Sheppard is Writing Coordinator at Edge Hill and an established poet, whose work is included in the anthology. He is delighted with the former students' achievement in producing it:

'It's good to see poets, and particularly ex-students of Edge Hill, taking hold of the means of production. It's part of the self-reliance we promote on the MA in Writing Studies, where Andy and Alan met.'

The official launch of Listening to the Birth of Crystals is set for early July, on both sides of the Atlantic, with US publishers St Johann Press due to publish and sell the anthology in North America and Paula Brown publishing in the UK.

Alan?s current project is to complete a poem-a-day for 2004, published online at www.alancorkish.com.

"So far I haven?t missed a day and I hope to completely edit the whole collection, with the aim of publishing the 365 poems of 2004. It?s a very busy and exciting time."

ENDS

EDITOR?S NOTES:

? Listening to the Birth of Crystals will be featured on BBC Radio Merseyside on Friday 4th June, 1.30-2.00pm. Andrew and Alan, together with local poets, will be reading their contributions to the anthology ? Alan Corkish produced an anthology of 160 poems called Corrupted Memories ? He won the People?s Poet award for 2003 ? Alan and Andrew have launched a new poetry and poetic journal called erbacce ? Plans to publish Glimpses of Notes, an ambitious and experimental single 25,000 word poem by Alan Corkish, are set for the end of the year ? Further information about the poets, including the 2004 poem-a-day series can be found at www.alancorkish.com and www.andrewtaylorpoetry.com.

For further press information please contact: Roisin Rowley-Smith PR Manager Tel: 01695 584509 Fax: 01695 584355 E mail: rowlesr@edgehill.ac.uk or pressoffice@edgehill.ac.uk