Maya Angelou : The Poetry Foundation : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.

Maya Angelou : The Poetry Foundation : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.

Aesthetica Postpones Poetry Competition Results

http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm

I have been crawling a few Poetry websites of late to read some winning poems (and off course to see what publishing possibilities exist) only to find that Aesthetica has postponed the results till the 9th of November.

Offcourse a thorough job is necessary, i just wondered how the contestants (including myself) are taking!

National Poetry Competition - 4 days to go!

This is a very good opportunity to see how the quality of your poems measure against other poems from poets in different parts of the world. Might be a good opportunity to put yourself on the world stage!

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/npc/

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/npc/npcrules/

Best of Luck!

'Bola'

Isobel Dixon - A Fold In the Map

My 2009 discovery is Isobel Dixon!

I wonder where she had hidden herself all this while or how i have managed to miss her work.

With 'A fold in the map' she explored her younger years, immigration and the death of her father with eloquent poetic construct that is unparalleled.

Some of the poems contained in this collection deserve accolades and awards at the highest level.

May be the one that touched me most is 'Struggle' where she talked about the challenges of visiting her father in the hospital. Or may be it was 'I want something to show for it' ~..~ where she'd rather have a tangible gift from her lover than mere words...

I recommend you have a read, and if you like poetry like i do, then come back for a discussion by posting your comments.

Cheers,

Bola

Train 4 Publishing website

This is my first post since May 2009 having taken out time to continue my writings.

I thought this web site and the company behind it are quite good in the way they have presented their service, hence i am breaking my silence to post this.

http://www.train4publishing.co.uk/

If you are interested in a career in Publishing i think they are a good place to start from.

Cheers

Bola

Reading Culture

I have often heard people say (and i do agree to a very high degree) that the joy of a true writer is to be read!

But how is that guarnateed?

The reading culture of a country gives an indication to how books are being received in the public domain.

I think genre (especially when talking about novels) matters a lot, it appears that thrillers (action, sci-fi, horror, supernatural, crime etc) get read more at some point and then winds down for romance to take the stage, and other types as well.

If you would like an experts opinion on Reading culture, please read Random House CEO's opinion http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/About/interview_gailrebuck.html - CEO Random house on reading culture

Are You Feeding The Hungry?

Catherine Palmer wrote the novel Fatal Harvest in 2003, but the message it carries is potent and real in fact, it is stronger today!

I read Fatal Harvest only recently and i thought I'd share this great blessing with you.

Fatal Harvest presents the challenges humanitarian organisations face when they tackle world food companies and conglomerates to bring down the price of food and enable better distribution in poor countries.

A young man by the name Matthew, decides to fulfil the commission of feeding the hungry after he embarked on a research on food companies for a term paper. Things turned sour when he had to go on the run with secrete and incriminating information about a conglomerate called Agrimax.

Agrimax was at the brink of enslaving the world as the largest food provider, however there plans met with fierce opposition as Mat races against time at the risk of his life and those of his loved ones to reveal the secrets of the company to I-Feed, a global charity.

This novel ties in with the amazing illustration in Matt. 25 challenging us christian to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and support the needy.

Jesus says true religion "is to care for the needy". What are you doing about these words?

Are you making any effort to help someone around you?

See what Matt. 25:42-45 says

"I was hungry but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink; I was a stranger but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of me.'
Then they will answer him, 'When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we would not help you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.' " GNB translation.

I encourage you my dear friend to do something about this today. It's not just about reading a nice novel, what do you do about the messages these novels carry? Jesus is coming soon!

It's about time we realised that every christian story is there to teach us a life lesson, what do you do about them?

Are you feeding the hungry?

Should Books be classified?

When planning to write a book, one of the decisions you have to make is the depth of language and how graphical your descriptions will be.

There are books these days with almost every page lined with swear words and sex references. The theme clearly not meant for young people.

Should there be age classifications (very much like home videos) for books especially novels? And should publishers be compelled to indicate this on book covers?

I think this subject is very much open to debate, but yet it may be unfair to stigmatise books in this fashion.

With the recent withdrawal of Twilight books from the shelves of Deseret bookshops (http://bolalawal.blogspot.com/2009/04/deseret-bookshops-removed-stephanie.html), one wonders why bookshops reclassify books. May be if classifications were more obvious in the first instance, a lot of this surprises will be curtailed.

On the other hand, religious bookshops, Governments and local libraries will argue on their rights to refuse or to reclassify to display particular books.

What do you think about this issue? Have you had your books taken off the shelf or refused by a library or in a particular country?

Let's hear from you.

My New Novel - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 introduces the protagonist, a young CIA officer who is coming to terms with the challenges of working in Intelligence and balancing life outside his job.

The chapter is set in NY, 1975. With the noise around Watergate scandals and President Nixon's resignation still a major topic for debate, the protagonist gets mixed up in the saga.

His life gets further complicated when he was transferred to the Middle East. From that point onwards nothing ever remained the same.

There's more soon...

My New Novel - General Introduction

Hi Guys,

Eventually i get to write about my novel, I have been very busy so please pardon me.
I welcome your suggestions and opinions regarding the story line.

Hope you enjoy reading...

Thanks a lot.
Bola