Prole

15/07/2024

Prole's latest call out for submissions:

Hedley Lamarr's Army

11/07/2024

Many thanks to Dave Wakely and the Milton Keynes Literature Festival for the opportunity to have a Q&A this evening. Phil and Brett very much enjoyed it.
Much appreciated.

10/07/2024

Tomorrow evening!
(or this evening if you are reading this on Thursday).

Poets and short story writers who want to understand more about literary magazines and competitions, and about submitting their work to them - we have an online masterclass for you!

Join us on 11 July as the poetry and prose editors of long-running magazine Prole explain how literary journals and competitions operate, tell writers how to can put their best foot forward when they submit their work, and answer your questions.

Tickets: https://www.mklitfest.org/lit-mag-masterclass

Prole

09/07/2024

This Thursday - we are looking forward to it.

Poets and short story writers who want to understand more about literary magazines and competitions, and about submitting their work to them - we have an online masterclass for you!

Join us on 11 July as the poetry and prose editors of long-running magazine Prole explain how literary journals and competitions operate, tell writers how to can put their best foot forward when they submit their work, and answer your questions.

Tickets: https://www.mklitfest.org/lit-mag-masterclass

Prole

03/07/2024

Phew! We will start editing and compiling Issue 35 of Prole this weekend. Huge thanks to all who have submitted, all who were selected, all who support us as readers.

01/07/2024

We are looking forward to this.

For this exclusive masterclass, we're joined by Brett Evans and Phil Robertson, poetry and prose editors respectively of Prole, to explain the work of literary magazine editors, offer advice to writers wanting to submit their work, and to answer your questions about writing and publishing.

19/06/2024

Today our poetry ed learned that two of his poems are to appear in issue 42 of Poetry Salzburg - huge thanks to Dr. Gortschacher.
Issue 41 is available now:

12/06/2024

We are very excited to have been offered this opportunity to give a Zoom talk at the Milton Keynes Literature Festival.
'If major publishers are the mighty rivers of fiction, literary magazines are their vitally important tributaries. Places where new writers - of short stories and of poems - can find their first platform, they are also places where more established voices can explore new approaches. Their range of published voices is often more diverse and inclusive than can be found in book publishing, and they act as the talent scouts of literature: the earliest flowerings of many major names can be found amongst their pages.

Their editors are also stalwarts, handling every aspect of their journals' continuing existence, yet their role and workload is probably little understood by those submitting work to them - or by those summoning the courage to do so.

​

For this exclusive masterclass, we're joined by Brett Evans and Phil Robertson, poetry and prose editors respectively of Prole, to explain the work of literary magazine editors, offer advice to writers wanting to submit their work, and to answer your questions about writing and publishing.'

Tickets can be booked here:
https://www.mklitfest.org/lit-mag-masterclass?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0pJwLcM8A1M0j1bEkC2UYyiyZeFJCFP8zLr6eHi6nz2vsNbe8NPd6OaTU_aem_AcYHX5N_LPOaG1KdR8uDv-hZI7xOUUZHX_FY5ngMLQoblXP58ijVxL2OvO1V-6mUYdQWe2CBDYYm-gPr9gkN9P2V

FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/954530979696194

09/06/2024

Those lovely ladies at Atrium have had to open a new account on X. Do give them a follow, I think they are open to submissions until the end of this month.

Here we go then! For reasons that are a complete mystery, the account on X has disappeared into the cosmos, apparently never to be seen again.

After extensive investigations and furtling about to retrieve it, we have had no alternative than to start a new X account.

Please do follow the new X page - - and if you are able to help us spread the word we will be eternally grateful.

Claire & Holly x

31/05/2024

Sad news.

Poet was the winner of several awards, including the TS Eliot Prize, the Forward Poetry Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award

21/05/2024

The winners of The Prolitzer Prize for Prose have finally been announced.
Huge congratulations to Duncan Gould, Tim Wardle, and Richard Hough.
You can read tasters here:
https://prolebooks.co.uk/competitions.html
(scroll past the poetry comp results)

Full pieces and judge's comments will appear in Issue 35 soon.
Many thanks to all who entered, and to our judge Dave Wakely.

Fishing Down by the brown rusty reeds with daylight fading through the sky, late swallows sweep the low grasses, insects drowse over peaty ground. In the meadow, long lines of tossed  hay lead the evening into twilight,a hare moves like a shadow.Our boots tread the gravelly shallows,damp fin...

08/05/2024

Prole editors meeting up tomorrow. We have much to catch up on, much to discuss as editors and friends. It has been too long.

30/04/2024

This offer is still on and remember back issues free to prisons, cafés, schools, libraries, addiction centres and the like.
Back Issue sale and also offer.
The following back issues are now for sale at a mere £2 each (£3.40 inc. p&p) do not try ordering through our shop as we have not had the time to alter prices. If interested please just pay via paypal to [email protected] you may choose a particular issue or just go for a lucky dip.
However if you know of a library, café, prison, anywhere that may appreciate a couple of these we will gladly post out gratis.
So the issues available are:
Issue 1: Sure a collector's item one day! Read how humble we were when we first set out back in 2010. A very modest 106 pages.
The opening short story, 'Shoes' by Dave Barrett, I remember we were very excited about. We were excited about any as we were unsure anyone would submit to us! Randy Lowen's touching creative non-fiction 'Fanfare to a Soldier' I remember with fondness too. Poets include DA Prince, Judi Sutherland, Alison Brackenbury, Gill McEvoy, Ilse Pedlar, Wendy Pratt, and Adrian Brown's seven page Byronic tale, Yana.
Issue 2: The surrealism of Nick Mott's short story 'Chasing Polar Bears with Spatulas' still brings a smile to my face (I hope these pieces still stand up after all these years).
Poets include: Emma Simon, Robert Nisbet, and David Cooke.
Issue 7: Craig Gibson's short story 'Garcia Lorca at the Movies' puts the Spanish poet and dramatist among his friends Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, and Ernest Hemingway at the start of the Spanish Civil War. This issue also includes Joe Urso's short play 'Giuseppe, Get Your Gun.'
Poets include Cathy Bryant, and Kevin Hanson.
Issue 24: The prose of this issue kicks off with the late Richard Hillesley and his 'Bad News from Houston' inspired by the legendary singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. We were pleased to publish Richard's rich prose on several occasions and were pleased he saw his collection of short stories published before his passing.
Poets in this issue include Gareth Writer-Davies, Marc Woodward, Jenna Plewes, Chris Hemingway, and Rachael Clyne.
Issue 26: One of my favourite covers. The prose in this issue starts with our recent prose competition judge, Dave Walkley, and his 'First to Leave,' Dave is always a joy to read, though he can break your heart too. Other prose writers featured include the above mentioned and much missed Richard Hillesley and long time Prole contributor, and dare I say friend, Sue Pace.
Poets featured include Jennifer A McGowan, Abegail Morley, Paul Waring, and Michael Carrino.
Issue 28: We have more back issues of this than any other (apart from Issue 1, still convinced I'm sitting on a fortune there) but don't let that put you off! The first piece of prose is from a writer already mentioned, Washington state's Sue Pace's Six Inches of Separation featuring regular characters from some of her stories we have published: Ralph, Sharon, Danny (Sharon's schizophrenic younger brother) and Earl the as***le.
Poets include Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Kitty Coles, Vicky Morris, and Steve Pottinger.
Issue 29: Mike Fox's short story 'My Friend the Oktavist' may be up there with one of a handful of favourites we have published: 'The day his balls dropped, like anchors seeking a mooring in adulthood, he realised he was different... From that moment on his speech had an entirely gratuitous resonance, like the fart of an elephant.' That is just the beginning, stick with it, I promise it pays off and your life will be better for it.
Poets in this issue include Angela France, Ruth Aylett, Kate Noakes, Kevin Reid, and Sharon Black.
Issue 31: You want something? We got something. The prose in this issue kicks off with Sunyi Dean's unsettling but entirely addictive 'The Long, Slow Courtship of Mr. Death & Famishista.'
Poets here include Angela Readman, John McCullough, Wendy Klein, and Neil Fulwood.
Issue 32: This issue features our longest poetry competition winner to date in Kate Hale's 'Snapshot of My Great Great Great Grandmother, Missouri, 1863' as chosen by Carrie Etter. Other poets include Charles G Lauder Jnr., and Oz Hardwick.
Issue 33: Two Prole prose regulars in Dave Walkley and Sue Pace amongst new names to us and fresh writing.
Poets include Matt Broomfield, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Claire Booker, Bob Beagrie, Richie McCaffery, and Emma Purshouse.
Thank you for reading.

29/04/2024

Must be National Take The P**s Out Of Prole Day.
Next submission I open:

Dear Robin...

29/04/2024

Only the most fastidious readers out there may be able to spot what's wrong here in the copied and pasted pieces, one from our submission guidelines and one from a submission received nine days ago:

A) We are open to all forms of poetry whether it be structured or free, rhymed or blank, light or serious; we consider content and quality over form. Submit up to five poems. If you wish to submit longer poems, please limit yourself to a maximum of three pieces.

B) I would like to submit a poetry manuscript (225 poems for your consideration.)

What it says on the tin.

29/04/2024

Apparently Cymru does not have and has never had any writers or poets. Brought to you by The Usual Bo****ks.

26/04/2024

This month, and this morning again, marks 14 years of 'READ THE FU***NG SUBMISSION GUIDELINES!'
Jesus Christ. Writers who don't read waste their time as much as ours.

06/04/2024

An x-ray on Wednesday should confirm that our poetry ed could be off his feet for a possible 3 months so between now and then poetry responses may be quite rapid. If it a rejection please don't take it personally - each poem will have been read and considered.
Huge thanks to all who support us and submit - no journal is anything without its submitters.

06/04/2024

Interesting opportunities here for poets and artists (deadline is midnight Monday though):

The

28/03/2024

An essay collection written in tribute to Texas literary giant Larry McMurtry begins with a foreword by lauded author Stephen Graham Jones.

24/03/2024

The results of the Prole Laureate Poetry Competition are announced.
Congratulations to Charlotte Murray for coming first prize with her poem 'Reclaim the Night (A Fox in King George's Field)'
Well done Patrick Lodge and Eithne Lannon on being placed runners up.
A big thank you to this year's judge Maurice Devitt and to all who entered - these competitions go a long way to ensuring Prole continues as a print journal that pays its contributors.
The winning poems, our judge's comments and a list of highly commended entries can be read here:
https://prolebooks.co.uk/competitions.html
Good to see erstwhile The Interpreter's House boys Martin Malone and Charles Lauder Jnr amongst the commended.

Born in Dublin, Maurice Devitt completed an MA in Poetry Studies at Mater Dei following a 30-year career in Insurance & Banking. His debut collection ‘Growing Up in Colour’ was published by Doire Press in 2018, and his second collection ‘Some of These Stories are True’ came out in May 2023.

20/03/2024

How poets see poetry editors receiving submissions and the process to accepting or rejecting.

19/03/2024

Poetry readings...

16/03/2024

We are so glad to see this going ahead again this year.
Our poetry ed and partner attended The Wee Gaitherin in 2023 and it really was the best few days of poetry, food, and drink that could be imagined: engaging poetry and performances by down to earth, welcoming people.
If you can get there, do.

Dust off your hat and brush the mothballs off that writer’s jacket – we’re delighted to announce the fourth Wee Gaitherin poetry festival will take place in Stonehaven on August 1, 2 &3 (Thursday-Saturday inclusive). There’ll be a big broth of poets taking part, workshops, stalls, publishers...

02/03/2024

Back Issue sale and also offer.
The following back issues are now for sale at a mere £2 each (£3.40 inc. p&p) do not try ordering through our shop as we have not had the time to alter prices. If interested please just pay via paypal to [email protected] you may choose a particular issue or just go for a lucky dip.
However if you know of a library, café, prison, anywhere that may appreciate a couple of these we will gladly post out gratis.

So the issues available are:
Issue 1: Sure a collector's item one day! Read how humble we were when we first set out back in 2010. A very modest 106 pages.
The opening short story, 'Shoes' by Dave Barrett, I remember we were very excited about. We were excited about any as we were unsure anyone would submit to us! Randy Lowen's touching creative non-fiction 'Fanfare to a Soldier' I remember with fondness too. Poets include DA Prince, Judi Sutherland, Alison Brackenbury, Gill McEvoy, Ilse Pedlar, Wendy Pratt, and Adrian Brown's seven page Byronic tale, Yana.

Issue 2: The surrealism of Nick Mott's short story 'Chasing Polar Bears with Spatulas' still brings a smile to my face (I hope these pieces still stand up after all these years).
Poets include: Emma Simon, Robert Nisbet, and David Cooke.

Issue 7: Craig Gibson's short story 'Garcia Lorca at the Movies' puts the Spanish poet and dramatist among his friends Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, and Ernest Hemingway at the start of the Spanish Civil War. This issue also includes Joe Urso's short play 'Giuseppe, Get Your Gun.'
Poets include Cathy Bryant, and Kevin Hanson.

Issue 24: The prose of this issue kicks off with the late Richard Hillesley and his 'Bad News from Houston' inspired by the legendary singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. We were pleased to publish Richard's rich prose on several occasions and were pleased he saw his collection of short stories published before his passing.
Poets in this issue include Gareth Writer-Davies, Marc Woodward, Jenna Plewes, Chris Hemingway, and Rachael Clyne.

Issue 26: One of my favourite covers. The prose in this issue starts with our recent prose competition judge, Dave Walkley, and his 'First to Leave,' Dave is always a joy to read, though he can break your heart too. Other prose writers featured include the above mentioned and much missed Richard Hillesley and long time Prole contributor, and dare I say friend, Sue Pace.
Poets featured include Jennifer A McGowan, Abegail Morley, Paul Waring, and Michael Carrino.

Issue 28: We have more back issues of this than any other (apart from Issue 1, still convinced I'm sitting on a fortune there) but don't let that put you off! The first piece of prose is from a writer already mentioned, Washington state's Sue Pace's Six Inches of Separation featuring regular characters from some of her stories we have published: Ralph, Sharon, Danny (Sharon's schizophrenic younger brother) and Earl the as***le.
Poets include Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Kitty Coles, Vicky Morris, and Steve Pottinger.

Issue 29: Mike Fox's short story 'My Friend the Oktavist' may be up there with one of a handful of favourites we have published: 'The day his balls dropped, like anchors seeking a mooring in adulthood, he realised he was different... From that moment on his speech had an entirely gratuitous resonance, like the fart of an elephant.' That is just the beginning, stick with it, I promise it pays off and your life will be better for it.
Poets in this issue include Angela France, Ruth Aylett, Kate Noakes, Kevin Reid, and Sharon Black.

Issue 31: You want something? We got something. The prose in this issue kicks off with Sunyi Dean's unsettling but entirely addictive 'The Long, Slow Courtship of Mr. Death & Famishista.'
Poets here include Angela Readman, John McCullough, Wendy Klein, and Neil Fulwood.

Issue 32: This issue features our longest poetry competition winner to date in Kate Hale's 'Snapshot of My Great Great Great Grandmother, Missouri, 1863' as chosen by Carrie Etter. Other poets include Charles G Lauder Jnr., and Oz Hardwick.

Issue 33: Two Prole prose regulars in Dave Walkley and Sue Pace amongst new names to us and fresh writing.
Poets include Matt Broomfield, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Claire Booker, Bob Beagrie, Richie McCaffery, and Emma Purshouse.

Thank you for reading.