New Lit on the Block :: Northern Wanderer

Northern Wanderer is a new online quarterly edited by Dr. Darren Richard Carlaw and Elena Kharlamova.

The inspiration for Nothern Wanderer, write the editors, was the poem “After Breakfast (With Peter) Costing 5/6d” which appeared in Newcastle upon Tyne poet Barry MacSweeney’s first collection, The Boy from the Green Cabaret Tells of his Mother (1968):

“After Breakfast…” is a pastiche of Frank O’Hara’s “A Step Away from Them,” the walking poem from which Northern Wanderer‘s sister publication, StepAway Magazine, takes its name. Mr. MacSweeney’s after breakfast wander, however, takes place in his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, beginning outside the Cloth Market Café and ending outside the Green Market

Northern Wanderer is a way of encouraging contemporary northern writers to follow in Barry MacSweeney’s footsteps, to explore and observe the North East of England on foot.

Which is precisely, then, what readers can expect to find in Northern Wanderer: A series of poetic walking narratives which celebrate street life in northern towns and cities.

Contributors to the first issue include Barry MacSweeney, Stevie Ronnie, Ira Lightman, Bob Beagrie, Ian Davidson, Lizzie Whyman, and Keith Parker.

In upcoming issues, editors expect that Northern Wanderer “will grow to become a repository of poetry and prose devoted to walking in the North East of England.”

Writers are encouraged to submit one story or poem at a time via e-mail (no attachments). Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Response time is within 14 days with acceptance/rejection on a rolling basis. For more information, visit Northern Wanderer.