August 2020 Update

Hello there,

Thank you for subscribing to PERVERSE. The last mailout went out in June, and I hope to start publishing issue 4 imminently - please watch this space.

The world has moved on since I last sent out a mail. I want to clearly express PERVERSE’s solidarity with both the Black Lives Matter movement and Trans rights (as well as LGBTQ rights in general). I hope this magazine already feels like a safe space for people to write unusual poems, but I want to do more to make it as open and inclusive as possible.

I aim to do a proper demographic survey of PERVERSE writers and readers at some point. Going (crudely) through the biographical information supplied by poets I’ve published so far though, it looks like the first three issues of PERVERSE were made up of around 15-17% writers of colour. I’d like that to be better, and will make more of an effort to get submissions callouts out to more diverse communities.

I also have to keep on scrutinising my own choices and unconscious biases, which is tough when it’s just me editing on my own, but I want to be as conscientious as possible, and bring everyone in that I can.

I’ve read a lot of articles that suggest everyone should figure out where their sphere of influence might lie, however small, and try and effect positive change there, even if just talking to friends or family members. PERVERSE hit 1,000 subscribers last month. For a UK-based poetry magazine, that’s huge, especially given that this magazine started with one small tweet asking for poems that were “deliberate, obstinate, unreasonable or unacceptable, contrary to the expected practice”. I hope I can keep pushing things forwards, and do more to publish and promote curious and thought-provoking work by poets from as many different backgrounds as possible.

With warmest wishes,

Chrissy

Chrissy Williams
PERVERSE Editor
perversepoetry.tumblr.com