About
Please note that Read This is not currently accepting submissions, but you can visit our sister-site, OneNightStanzas.com
for literary advice, resources and other opportunities to be published!
Read This: WHAT WE DO
- accept all kinds of writing -- poetry, short fiction, articles, rants, essays and songs -- as well as artwork to make our covers beautiful -- what are you waiting for? Submit!
- accept submissions from everyone -- no matter what your age, nationality or ability.
- read every single submission we get, and respond individually to everyone.
- provide detailed feedback on the pieces we turn down, if requested.
- provide two free copies of the magazine to anyone printed in it.
- judge the submissions we receive solely on merit.
- credit everyone whose work we publish.
Read This: WHAT WE DON'T DO
- just publish our friends or people we know.
- court famous writers to raise our profile, schmooze on literary forums, or engage in any of the other snobbery so sadly prevalent in the literary world.
- alienate, insult or upset anyone who contacts us (if we do -- we didn't mean to! Tell us about it, quick!).
- insist on a zillion submission rules... just send your stuff!
Read This is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run publication based in the heart of beautiful, literary Edinburgh, Scotland. The RT eds are a quintet of young poets, and we love to see fresh, original writing from unknown and emerging writers!
Read This is a monthly print magazine, printed and stapled every month by a small team of volunteers. We don't receive any independent funding, and usually run at a loss... but you can make us happy by making a small donation!
The Read This Team:
Nomadic by nature, Editor-in-Chief Claire Askew reads all kinds of poetry and is a fangirl of Allen Ginsberg. She is passionate about providing help and encouragement to emerging writers. Her own work has featured in Poetry News, Poetry Scotland and the Edinburgh Review, and was recently selected to appear in Scottish Poetry Library's Best Scottish Poets of 2008 anthology, alongside writers like Carol Ann Duffy and Tom Leonard. In early 2008, Claire won the Sloane Prize for Short Fiction in Lowland Scots Vernacular, The Grierson Verse Prize and the Lewis Edwards Award for Poetry, and she was recently awarded the William Sharpe Hunter Memorial Scholarship.
Claire recently set up a new resource for young writers: our sister-site OneNightStanzas.com
Brand new RT editor Dave Coates is currently studying for an MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. He lived for three years in Yorkshire and has a BA from the University of York, but he's originally from Belfast. He is a fan of films, comic books and poetry, and should probably get out more often. His work appeared in RT11, and he blogs at The Not Brazilian Blog.
A recent addition to the RT team, Chris Lindores is a final-year student at the University of Edinburgh, working his way through an MA in English Literature. Chris writes short, punchy poetry with attitude, and one of his all-time poetic idols is Charles Bukowski. Chris is a keen Beat Generation enthusiast and is currently writing a dissertation about the movement. His work has featured in Gloom Cupboard, The Delinquent and Spark Bright, among others. He is currently working on a pamphlet collection... see some of his work here.
An advocate of the short poem, and a self-confessed meta-poet, editor Struan Robertson enjoys the poetry of Billy Collins and the sonnets of William Shakespeare. He is also a strong believer in freedom of expression within writing. Other members of the Read This team nag Struan to submit his work for publication, as so far he has only been published once, in Edinburgh's own Journal newspaper. Struan is from Aberdeen, Scotland, and has just begun an MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. He may continue on to a PhD-level qualification in the future.
Editor Hayley Shields is from Newcastle, England. She reads both prose and poetry, and is also keen to read unique and experimental writing. She was recently selected to read at Blackwells' 'Best of Scottish Writing' event, and she hosted the sell-out Read This is 6 reading and party. Hayley loves the Brontes and Lord of the Rings, but insists she is not a geek, and she works as a ghost-tour guide in the haunted catacombs beneath Edinburgh, which has inspired some of her own writing. She recently began an MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh, and examples of her poetry can be found here.
Webmaster Leon Crosby is from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and has been fiddling with computers for almost as long as he can remember. His current "real" job is at Telford College in Edinburgh, and he's saving his pennies for a very fancy, geeky laptop. Very occasionally, he is a closet artist.