1<!DOCTYPE HTML> 2<html> 3<head> 4<title>Poetry from Smokestack Books – Radical, Unconventional, Socialist, Far Left, Independent</title> 5<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> 6<meta name="google-site-verification" content="EnWy8SBOPSzXwtXFa2nRjJZT2VA2OO0GuyDJOgVJI-w" /> 7<META name="y_key" content="713fcbbccec58330" /> 8<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/main-ugly.css" />
9<script type="text/javascript"> 10 11 var _gaq = _gaq || []; 12 _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-32870880-1']); 13 _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); 14 15 (function() { 16 var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; 17 ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; 18 var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); 19 })(); 20 21</script>
21 22</head> 23 24<body id="home"> 25 26 <noscript> 27 <p class="noscript">For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. 28 Here are the <a href="http://www.enable-javascript.com/" target="_blank"> 29 instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser</a>. 30 </p> 31</noscript> 32<div id="header-bar"> 33 <div id="header"> 34 <a href="./"><img id="logo" src="/images/logo.png" alt="" /> 35 <img id="title" src="/images/smokestack-poetry.png" alt="Smokestack Books" /></a> 36 <div id="basket"> 37 <h2>Basket</h2> 38 <p>Items: <span class="simpleCart_quantity"></span></p> 39 <p>Total: <span class="simpleCart_total"></span></p> 40 <br /><a href="basket.php">View Basket<img src="/images/cart.png" alt="" /></a> 41 </div> 42 <form id="search-bar" action="catalogue.php" method="get"> 43 <input type="text" name="search" value="Search.." onfocus="if(this.value == 'Search..') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Search..';}" /> 44 <input type="submit" value="" id="search-image" /> 45 46 </form> 47 <div id="nav"> 48 <ul> 49 <li><a id="homenav" href="/">Home</a></li> 50 <li><a id="catnav" href="/catalogue.php">Catalogue</a></li> 51 <!-- <li><a id="publishnav" href="/publish.php">Getting Published</a></li> --> 52 <li><a id="aboutnav" href="/about.php">About</a></li> 53 <!-- <li><a id="newsnav" href="/newsletter.php">Newsletter</a></li> --> 54 <!-- <li><a id="clubnav" href="/book-club.php">Book Club</a></li> --> 55 </ul> 56 </div><!-- END NAV --> 57 </div><!-- END HEADER --> 58</div> <!-- END HEADER-BAR --> 59 60 <div class="container"> 61 62 <div id="slideshow"> 63 <div class="slides"> 64 <ul> 65 <li id="slide-one"> 66 <a href="book.php?book=110"> 67 <img src="images/scrollers/children.jpg" alt="" /></a> 68 </li> 69 <li id="slide-two"> 70 <a href="book.php?book=93"> 71 <img src="images/scrollers/john-berger.jpg" alt="" /></a> 72 </li> 73 <li id="slide-three"> 74 <a href="book.php?book=61"> 75 <img src="images/scrollers/hands.jpg" alt="" /></a> 76 </li> 77 </ul> 78 </div> 79 <ul class="slides-nav"> 80 <li class="on"><a href="#slide-one">1</a></li> 81 <li><a href="#slide-two">2</a></li> 82 <li><a href="#slide-three">3</a></li> 83 </ul> 84 </div> 85 86 <div class="grid_8"> 87 88 <div class="content-top"></div> 89 <div class="content"> 90 91 <h1>Smokestack Books</h1> 92 <div class="divide"></div> 93 94 <h3 style="font-size: 17px;margin-bottom: 1em;">Short-listed for the British Book Awards Small Press of the Year 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2024.</h3> 95 96 <p> 97 The aim of Smokestack Books (2004-2024) was to keep open a space for what is left of the radical poetic tradition in the twenty-first century. Smokestack championed unfashionable, socialist and left-field poets working a long way from the metropolitan centres of cultural authority. Smokestack was interested in the World as well as the Word; believed that poetry is a part of and not apart from society; argued that if poetry does not belong to everyone it is not poetry. 98 </p> 99 <p> 100 Although Smokestack has no plans to publish any new titles, most of the back-catalogue are still available to order. 101 </p> 102 <p> 103 Smokestack's list includes books by John Berger, Linda France, Michael Rosen, Katrina Porteous, Ian McMillan, Kate Fox, Martin Rowson, Pnina Shinebourne, Sebastian Barker, Gerda Stevenson, Martin Hayes and Steve Ely. 104 </p> 105 <p> 106 Smokestack’s international list includes books by Vladimir Mayakovsky (Soviet Union), Bertolt Brecht (Germany), Gustavo Pereira (Venezuela), Guus Luijters (Netherlands), Francis Combes (France), Tawfiq Zayyad (Palestine), Olga Berggolts (Soviet Union), Winé
106tt de Rokha (Chile), Rocco Scotellaro (Italy), Heinrich Heine (Germany), Nikola Vaptsarov (Bulgaria), Andras Mezei (Hungary), Justyna Bargielska (Poland), Louis Aragon (France), Reja-e Busailah (Palestine), Jan Carew (Guyana), Ghassan Zaqtan (Palestine), Jack Lindsay (Australia), Alexandr Tvardovsky (Soviet Union), Amir Darwish (Syria), Martín Espada (Puerto Rico/US), Goran Simic (Bosnia), Paul van Ostaijen (Belgium), Konstantin Simonov (Soviet Union), Eduardo Embry (Chile), Tasos Leivaditis (Greece), Laura Fusco (Italy), Anna Gréki (Algeria), Andrei Sen-Senko (Russia), Marcos Ana (Spain) Chawki Abdelamir (Iraq), Nicolas Calas (Greece), Farid Bitar (Palestine), İlhan Çomak (Turkey), Volker Braun (Germany), Ilya Ehrenburg (Soviet Union) and Roque Dalton (El Salvador), as well as anthologies of poetry from Palestine, Siberia, the USA, France, Algeria, the Soviet Union, Scotland, Greece, Russia, Kurdistan and Cuba. 107 </p> 108 <p> 109 Smokestack was also a protest at the terminal dullness of so much of the contemporary UK poetry scene, its self-importance, excitability, lack of seriousness and self-imposed isolation from the rest of society. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a positive intervention soon became a line of retreat, defeated by PR and lazy arts journalism. 110 </p> 111 <p> 112 During the last two decades, large sections of British economic life have been moved out of common ownership into private hands, rationed by price or simply closed down. The democratic process is blocked by inequality, authoritarianism, deceit and a narrow ideological consensus. British cultural life is blocked by the values of big business and show business. 113 </p> 114 <p> 115 The result is an atomised, unwelcoming and unfriendly poetry scene whose inaccessibility is hardly disguised by ritual declarations about diversity and inclusion. Conversations about poetry have been replaced by conversations about poets, discussions of tradition by accusations of plagiarism, and the language of literary criticism by the hyperbolic language of press-releases promoting corporate prizes and celebrity book-festivals. 116 </p> 117 <p> 118 After twenty years of running Smokestack unfunded, unpaid and single-handed, I finally ran out of good reasons to remain even on the margins of the uncomradely, uncongenial and frankly embarrassing world of contemporary British poetry. 119 </p> 120 <p> 121 <strong>Andy Croft</strong> 122 </p> 123 124 </div><!-- END CONTENT --> 125 <div class="content-bottom"></div> 126 127 <div class="content-top"></div> 128 <div class="content"> 129 130 <p class="review">'Smokestack are to be congratulated on recognising and maintaining such a wide and varied portfolio of excellent poets. Long may it continue.'</p> 131 <p class="magazine">The North</p> 132 133 <p class="review">'a welcome addition to the poetry world.' </p> 134 <p class="magazine">Critical Survey</p> 135 136 <p class="review">'one of the most courageous little presses in Britain.' </p> 137 <p class="magazine">Penniless Press</p> 138 139 <p class="review">'Smokestack has a well-deserved reputation as a pioneer in publishing progressive poetry from around the globe.' </p> 140 <p class="magazine">Morning Star</p> 141 142 <p class="review">'Smokestack has a great squad of radical poets lined up for its first season. I predict that the team will roll like thunder, strike like lightning and electrify British poetry.' </p> 143 <p class="reviewer">Adrian Mitchell</p> 144 145 <p class="review">'a press with formidable integrity and international reach.' </p> 146 <p class="magazine">Other Poetry</p> 147 148 <p class="review">'robustly resistant to the easy and the fashionable.'</p> 149 <p class="magazine">Stride</p> 150 151 <p class="review">'Smokestack have created a virtual place where you know you will find a certain signal and where you can play out a certain role. They have enriched the cultural offer.'</p> 152 <p class="magazine">tears in the fence</p> 153 154 <p class="review">'Smokestack have been quietly putting out a roster of writers for some time now which can easily face those of more well-known poetry publishers... Smokestack Books deserve our interest and support.'</p> 155 <p class="magazine">Manchester Review of Books</p> 156 157 <p class="review">'Where there’s Smokestack, there’s fire... unflinchingly committed to providing a platform for some of the most thought-provoking nonconformist voices in twenty-first century verse.'</p> 158 <p class="magazine">Socialist History</p> 159 160 </div><!-- END CONTENT --> 161 <div class="content-bottom"></div> 162 163 </div><!-- END GRID_8 --> 164 165 <div class="grid_4"> 166 167 <div class="sidebar-top"> 168 <p>"Ah-oh, smokestack lightning<br /> 169 Shinin', just like gold<br /> 170 Why don't ya hear me cryin'?"</p> 171 <p class="reviewer">Howling Wolf</p> 172 173 </div><!-- END SIDEBAR-TOP --> 174 <div class="sidebar"> 175 <div class="hr"></div> 176 <p>"and on every side<br /> 177 smokestacks were dancing on rooftops."</p> 178 <p class="reviewer">Vladimir Mayakovsky</p> 179 <div class="hr"></div> 180 181 <p>"I think times are much harder than the government tells us. The government owes their balls to the banks and the banks have over-lent to businessmen who can't pay it back because the people can't buy what business sells because an egg costs a dollar and they've only got 50 cents. The whole thing can go overnight and you'll find red flags in the smokestacks and Mao t-shirts walking through Disneyland..."</p> 182 <p class="reviewer">Charles Bukowski</p> 183 <div class="hr"></div> 184 185 <p>"The dense and murky clouds out-belching from thy smokestack."</p> 186 <p class="reviewer">Walt Whitman</p> 187 <div class="hr"></div> 188 189 <p>"Smokestacks sprang up in the forest"</p> 190 <p class="reviewer">Nikola Vaptsarov</p> 191 <div class="hr"></div> 192 193 <p>"so many petals buried<br /> 194 beneath the smokestacks,<br /> 195 the smog, and the pavement."</p> 196 <p class="reviewer">Pablo Neruda</p> 197 <div class="hr"></div> 198 199 <p>"Blizzards boom in gutted smokestacks<br /> 200 Down along the empty road."</p> 201 <p class="reviewer">Aleksandr Tvardovsky</p> 202 <div class="hr"></div> 203 204 <p>"Oh, the smokestack is black<br /> 205 And the bell it shine like gold"</p> 206 <p class="reviewer">Charley Patton</p> 207 <div class="hr"></div> 208 209 <p>"Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smokestack."</p> 210 <p class="reviewer">John Masefield</p> 211 <div class="hr"></div> 212 213 <p>"And now the smokestack smokes no more, no whistle blows at dawn.<br /> 214 They've taken all they wanted from us, packed up their cotton and gone."</p> 215 <p class="reviewer">Joyce Brookshire</p> 216 <div class="hr"></div> 217 218 <p>"The dust blows forward 'n dust blows back<br /> 219 And the wind blows black thru the sky<br /> 220 And the smokestack blows up in the sun's eye."</p> 221 <p class="reviewer">Captain Beefheart</p> 222 <div class="hr"></div> 223 224 <p>"In the dark times<br /> 225 Will there also be singing?<br /> 226 Yes, there will also be singing<br /> 227 About the dark times."</p> 228 <p class="reviewer">Bertolt Brecht</p> 229 230 </div><!-- END SIDEBAR --> 231 <div class="sidebar-bottom"></div> 232 233 </div> 234 235 236 </div><!-- END CONTAINER --> 237 238 <div id="footer-bar"> 239 <div id="footer"> 240 241 <a class="first" href="index.php">Home</a> 242 <a href="catalogue.php">Catalogue</a> 243 <!-- <a href="publish.php">Get Published</a> --> 244 <a href="about.php">About</a> 245 <!-- <a href="newsletter.php">Newsletter</a> --> 246 <a href="sitemap.php">Sitemap</a> 247 <a href="http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/">Inpress</a> 248 <a href="basket.php">View Basket</a> 249 <!--<a href="privacy.php">Privacy</a>--> 250 251 <div> 252 <p> Website designed, built and maintained by <a href="http://www.kdwebdesign.co.uk">KDWebDesign.co.uk</a></p> 253 <p>
253Copyright © 2014 Smokestack Books</p> 254 </div> 255 </div> 256</div> 257
258<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery.js"></script>
258
259<script type="text/javascript" src="js/cart-purr-min4.js"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 259
259
260<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
260 261
262<script> 263 $(document).ready(function(){ 264 $('pre#steps .step').each(function(){ 265 266 var right = $(this).prev().width(); 267 var marginLeft = parseFloat($(this).prev().css('margin-left')); 268 var total = right + marginLeft; 269 $(this).css('margin-left', total + 'px'); 270 }); 271 }); 272</script>
272 273 274<!--[if IE 6]>
275<script src="js/DD_belatedPNG.js"></script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 275
275
276<script> 277 DD_belatedPNG.fix('*'); 278</script>
278 279<![endif]--> 280
280<script type="text/javascript" src="js/cycle-slideshow.js"></script>
280 281</body> 282</html>
Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.