POTB Christmas 2024 Newsletter

From a snowy Aberdeen (yes, November is too early for winter and icy pavements) welcome to Pushing Out the Boat’s seasonal newsletter keeping all our friends and followers in touch with what we’ve been up to this year and looking forward to next year.

Let’s start on a practical note. It’s that time of year when many people’s minds turn to gifts for their loved ones. A thoughtful gift needn’t break the bank, and as always we’d urge you to consider our latest issue as your gift of choice, a snip at £9 per copy. We always describe it as a stocking filler but it will of course bring hours of pleasurable reading and viewing. You can buy copies online or at any of our vendors spread across the country from Dundee to Shetland  (courtesy of Northlink Ferries – ‘Buy a Boat on a boat’) and in between.

Limited numbers of back issues at only £5 each are also available through the online link above if you’d like to share a lovingly remembered piece – maybe even your own work – with family or friends.

So, to our last year.

As you probably know, we work on a two-yearly cycle and 2024 has been an ‘in between’ year, with Issue 17 published in 2023 and Issue 18 due next year – more on this below. That doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. In March we ventured South (well, South for us) for an evening of readings by Central Belt based contributors to Issue 17, hosted by the Forth Friday poetry group at Stirling’s Book Nook..Our thanks to Stirling makar Laura Fyfe for arranging the event, which you can read about here. In July we were lucky enough to make two contributions to Aberdeen’s Festival of the Sea, a Power of the Sea reading showcase at Footdee’s community hall, and a writing workshop, marine-themed of course, facilitated by Aberdeen Uni lecturer in creative writing Shane Strachan.

With planning now underway for our next issue, we were pleased to welcome our new editor, publisher Peter Burnett of Leamington Books. Submissions were open over the summer and yielded a record number of entries for consideration by our selection panels. We posted a blog giving a behind-the-scenes insight into how our panellists work in assessing the hundreds of poems, prose pieces and works of art received.  Selection of work for the next issue is almost complete and,  If you’re one of those writers or artists, our thanks to you, and you will receive notice of whether you’ve been successful by the New Year.

Looking forward to 2025, we intend to launch our new issue in Aberdeen on Sunday 27 April, a diary date for contributors and friends to note. We’ll be in touch about that, as well as about the chance to pre-order a copy of Issue 18 online. Until then, Season’s Greetings to everyone, in the traditional words, a very Merry Christmas, and a prosperous New Year.