Lapwing Publications

31/01/2025

Mum has been in hospital since Wednesday, the hospital says it looks like mum has Haemochromatosis and Pernicious Anaemia, they are keeping her in for a few more days, her dad and her brother have been treated for Pernicious Anaemia in the past.

27/01/2025

Lapwing Bytesize January.

I've three books at various stages of completion, just a few more tweaks to get them ready for printing.

Outside of that I've six manuscripts that I'm reading with the possibility of publishing, this for me is the hard part.

Finally an answer to how Dennis managed to keep Lapwing going for so many years without funding. Dad used his Private workplace pension and in some cases loans to keep Lapwing going, he even refused payment from some people because he knew they were struggling financially and yet he saw something in their work so he used those loans to publish them.

That was Dennis always trying to help others

23/01/2025

I am deeply saddened to learn that Michael Longley has passed away at the age of 85 he and Micheál Crawford were the two who approached my father Dennis about the possibility of opening or running a poetry press in Northern Ireland those talks several of which I was brought along to by dad led to the creation of Lapwing and it was Michael who got Lapwing its first ACNI grant all those years ago. His own poetry is some of the best that Northern Ireland has produced.

We offer our condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vmg9nmm33o?at_campaign_type=owned&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_format=link&at_medium=social&at_link_type=web_link&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_origin=BBC_News_NI&at_link_id=0CECE734-D984-11EF-BA78-9E284CCCB583&at_ptr_name=facebook_page&fbclid=IwY2xjawH_Hi1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVEIWu3yKopSDoC1gRxCR7nXuCPRdAA-Ha9vuJ6OnS4sjyx1pd4qNaXEvQ_aem_HMRH1sLeWLr70stQ2fgDXA

Belfast-born poet Michael Longley dies aged 85, his family says.

20/01/2025

A New Ulster January 2025 will feature Catherine Briel, Estelle Price, Daniel Murphy, Conor McClouskey, Celine Rose Mariotti, Gary Beck, Catherine O'Donoghue, Jeff Gallagher, Philip Davison and Gerard Devine

19/01/2025

I will be applying for SIAP this year I've found out that Microsoft is ending support for WIndows 10 this year and also ending compatibility support for Office at the same time. if I am to keep A New Ulster and Lapwing going I'll need to upgrade computers, the machine I'm using is over five years old and isn't upgradable to Windows 11 because of the security standards they insist on. Still that doesn't come into effect until October. In the meantime I've several books at various stages of completion.

There's another issue that affects A New Ulster and that is the changes that Calamaeo is introducing, they are changing the basic and standard pricing rates features meaning either upgrade to a higher premium package or switch platform for the "free online edition" that's a more pressing matter and one I haven't sorted out yet, I'm trying a few different options and will update once I've settled on one.

07/01/2025

Our financial situation won't be sorted until the end of February and the house is still being repaired, we can cook, we have some power and we're able to work on Lapwing and ANU but we're broke any help would be appreciated. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/amosgreig?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB&fbclid=IwY2xjawHqEkdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHfvWE64_FMwt-7XpfxgW-bvO_Fo2zEJ2THEh85AebPi45ucyeo6U_teJ4g_aem_IHDmZfFWH5sTwTcg2dqxSw

Go to PayPal.Me/amosgreig and enter the amount. It's safer and more secure. Don't have a PayPal account? No problem.

01/01/2025

Happy New Year everyone Lapwing and A New Ulster will both be closed until the 7th of January after which we'll be back to work, we've three books of poetry nearly ready to send to the printers and of course the monthly edition of A New Ulster to complete and publish. Here's to a better tomorrow and let us not be weighed down by political tyrants or doomsday cultists let words spill out across pages and sang from street corners so those who need to hear them know that there is some good in this world.

25/12/2024

Dear Friends,

I would like to take this time to thank you all for your support over the past year and for trusting me with your work both via A New Ulster and now Lapwing Publications.

This can be a difficult time of year for many and yet we persevere, my father always saw Lapwing as a family not just a business and to him each and every single poet he worked with was treated as such, families console each other and provide comfort where possible.

I like to think I can live up to his standards. Time will tell for now, may you have a happy and restive period there are dozens of religious periods occurring right now so I won't select one above any other as each is worthy in my opinion.

Here is to the new year and if any of you ever need to talk to someone my inbox is always open.

Yours

Amos

13/12/2024

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/9awHg30MlL

13/12/2024

It is nearly Christmas time, this will be a difficult year for us considering who we lost last year. Still there are four poetry and short fiction books out and available right now as well as a slew of PDFS from our back catalogue, I've three books of poetry at various development stages, we suffered some storm damage but only lost £200 of equipment which is replaceable at some point. We've limited access to the internet at least until next week after which I can return to my usual workload.

10/12/2024

Good grief the public wifi is laggy, a quick update, we have partial power, the kitchen is working, we have lights but the storm saw water get into the main wiring for the rest of the house the plugs have been disconnected by the electrician but it will be some time before we have working wall sockets, basically the wiring needs to dry out, still I should be able to get the December issue of A New Ulster out. There's a few days of emails to read through, thankfully nothing very expensive was destroyed, still not something I've ever had to deal with before.

04/12/2024

This may be my last post for a few weeks I am afraid the weather has damaged the electrics in the house and we are currently left with lights only, no heating, electricity for anything except lights. I suspect it will be a costly repair if anyone can help please use either of my Kofi or paypal links

29/11/2024

I've done some more work on the website you can now find and purchase this years books from it there's still a lot to do but baby steps https://sites.google.com/d/1k30fObGN_J8qMn3_KQyib0PfnDTnHVd3/p/1dcmhSjk1IejNzQRXWgPSVCl4NTMP2OF7/edit?fbclid=IwY2xjawG2wPVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRFgYk5ijg0ufavPeqPffuMBA9p9RkHCVaZwE-EwhpdewyZ11sXvuq8fGw_aem_iYgvqBOGGxwNytapZq9D2A

Access Google Drive with a Google account (for personal use) or Google Workspace account (for business use).

26/11/2024

November Lapwing Bites:

My father used to do a monthly round up of everything so here is my attempt

Lapwing has nominated Three Red Hats by Richard W Halperin for the Griffin Poetry Prize,

We're currently working on two books of poetry which we aim to have finished for December one by Sarah Lawson and another by Ed Lyons, we're also working on one for next year

Finally we've had inquiries about four other poetry books

26/11/2024

This is the problem facing both publishers and authors going forwards more and more companies and publishers are switching to AI tools or just AI especially "tech Bros" the types who keep reinventing what was already there but worse all driven by profit. This is what dad always worried about https://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-publisher-spines-aims-to-disrupt-industry-by-using-ai-to-publish-8000-books-in-2025-alone?fbclid=IwY2xjawGykUNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeAi94eO6BF1-N5SeIA_AJ5jGapkurYAVHjYQiRqZ5lvbDTHhm-Y-IW4iw_aem_fh3KhepQ1o1VKrwezZkduw

A new publisher has claimed it aims to “disrupt” the books industry by publishing 8,000 books in 2025 alone using artificial intelligence.

25/11/2024

I need to raise some funds to keep both A New Ulster and Lapwing operational, I hate this but it turns out one of the reasons dad was able to keep running for so long was due to his private work pension, I'm not in a position to do that and there are no funding options (and no guarantee of getting support) until next year.

24/11/2024

Rebuilding the website is going to take time, there's so much needing done not just with it but with A New Ulster and a few other legal details that right now it feels like I'm drowning, it is almost overwhelming I wish dad was here for advice right now.

07/11/2024

Available now from Lapwing is In A Quiet Land by Sean Body https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DL2GC4KF