A collection of poems from professional and non-professional contributors put together from the winners of our charity homeland/motherland poetry competition.
The collection will donate 10% of its sales to the WWO, the WorldWide Orphans foundation (wwo.org).
The WWO is an international charity and as such is perfectly suited to benefit from this, an international poetry collection.
Fantastic Books Publishing is very proud to be involved with such a worthy and dedicated charity and thanks each and every one of our talented contributors.
A special thanks to Maureen Duffy who gave up her time to not only contribute to the competition but also to help judge the prize winners.
Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is a contemporary British novelist, poet, playwright, nonfiction author and activist.
Duffy's work often uses Freudian ideas and Greek mythology as frameworks.[1] Her writing is distinctive for its use of contrasting voices, or streams of consciousness, often including the perspectives of outsiders. Her novels have been linked to a European tradition of literature which explores reality through the use of language and questioning, rather than through traditional linear narrative.[2] James Joyce in particular, and Modernism in general, are significant influences on her fiction, as is Joyce Cary.[3] "Duffy has inspired many other writers and proved that the English novel need not be realistic and domestic, but can be fantastical, experimental and political."[1] Her writing in all forms is noted for her 'eye for detail and ear for language'[4] and "powerful intense imagery".[5]
I love Maureen Duffy's poetry - it's down to earth, solid, and is about real people and real things. There is only one of her poems in Ours because this is mainly a book of the winners and shortlisted entries to a competition that she judged. The fact that she was the judge ensures the quality of the end product, and there are a handful of other poets who were invited to contribute to the final collection. The book contains two other names that I know, Robert Jaggs-Fowler and Sue Knight - neither of whom are a well known as poets as they should be but maybe that will change with time.