And there we have it, folks! It’s the end of another publishing year for Verity La – and what a year it’s been! We’ve published close to one hundred poems, stories, artworks, interviews, editorials and reviews. We’ve established some important and innovative projects such as Discoursing Diaspora, Clozapine Clinic, and of course, our beloved Poetry Podcast. We’ve seen reader numbers soar, submission numbers treble, and welcomed new editors Laura MacPhee-Browne, Michelle McLaren, Ramon Loyola, Tim Heffernan and Alise Blayney. Plus, as a result of your generous donations, we’ve raised enough money to pay our writers (and buy our hardworking volunteer editors a Christmas tipple!) in 2017.
Phew!!!
In light of this growth, our team need some time to catch their breath and prepare for the year ahead. So we’re signing off for 2016 a little earlier than usual, and will be closing our submissions portal on Monday December 19 through to 1 Feb, so we can get on top of all the brilliant work awaiting our attention and start 2017 afresh.
To help us in our endeavours, Alice Allan has bravely agreed to step into the role of Associate Editor. Alice’s writing can be found here on Verity La and in journals including Rabbit, Cordite, Plumwood Mountain, Westerly and Australian Book Review. She records the weekly podcast Poetry Says as well as our very own Verity La Poetry Podcast, while supporting her poetry habit as a freelance copywriter, editor and proofreader. We know she will be an AMAZING addition to our team and are over the moon she’s agreed to help out!
So that’s it from us. We’re proud of what Verity La has achieved this year and so grateful to YOU, our readers, for your heartfelt support, to our volunteer editors, and to our contributing writers for the gift of their words. Together, in 2017, we hope to continue making great things happen. Onwards!
Michele Seminara
On behalf of the editorial team
PS We’ve left you something under the Christmas tree (aka the Big Red Button). We hope it might help you negotiate this strange post-Trump world while we’re gone…