{"id":87,"date":"2012-02-24T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=87"},"modified":"2012-03-31T12:16:46","modified_gmt":"2012-03-31T12:16:46","slug":"andrea-holland-wins-the-cafe-writers-norfolk-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/andrea-holland-wins-the-cafe-writers-norfolk-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrea Holland wins the Cafe Writers Norfolk Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2012 Caf\u00e9 Writers<\/a> Norfolk Commission, in collaboration with IS&T<\/span>

Poet and UEA tutor <\/span>Andrea Holland<\/a> is \u00a33,000 better off after being announced the winner of the fifth Caf\u00e9 Writers Norfolk Commission.\u00a0 Also included in the award is publication of a poetry pamphlet by Gatehouse Press and the opportunity to read at Caf\u00e9 Writers and the Poetry- Next-the-Sea festival.<\/span>

The prize established by the Norwich-based writers network Caf\u00e9 Writers, and in collaboration with the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears, is to encourage an emerging Norfolk-based poet in the difficult early stages of their writing career.\u00a0 Every year, Norfolk poets are invited to submit a proposal for a new pamphlet of work that responds to Norfolk in some way.\u00a0 Andrea Holland\u2019s winning proposal this year is focussed around the war effort in Breckland, when in 1942 the residents of four villages and nine parishes were given little more than a week to leave their lands and homes to make way for military training. She will looking at the effects of dislocation on local residents, and in particular at Lucilla Reeve, a remarkable woman who refused to leave her home until the tanks forced her out. [full synopsis below] Andrea comments \u2018It is wonderful to be selected as winner of the Cafe Writers Norfolk Commission and have the opportunity to give voice to the forgotten villages North of Thetford and the thousand or so inhabitants compulsorily evicted from their homes, with no official relief or relocation for villagers, some of whom could trace their families back 500 years in the community\u2019.<\/span>

The standard of entries for the award, which was this year opened out to all Norfolk residents was outstanding. Judges George Szirtes, Helen Ivory, Kate Birch and Chris Gribble also shortlisted Tom Warner (Faber new poet), Heidi Williamson (Bloodaxe author), Julia Webb (winner of Stanza Poetry Comp.), Caroline Gilfillan (Winner of East Anglian Book Award), Richard Lambert (Rialto author) and Laura Helyer (Winner of George Crabbe Memorial Prize).\u00a0 Helen Ivory commented: \u2018The judging process was physically painful once we\u2019d selected a shortlist.\u00a0 In then end we focused on the strength of the Commission proposal, and then looked at the sophistication of the writing.\u00a0 Andrea Holland\u2019s idea and her poetry ultimately sang out.\u2019<\/span>

Caf\u00e9 Writers supports writers at all stages of their development from beginners right through to well established names. The Norfolk Commission Patrons are Dominic Christian and Kate Birch.\u00a0 Kate who is also one of the judges and part of IS&T\u00a0 said: \u201cThe Commission has proved to be an ideal way to celebrate the richness and variety of Norfolk, while at the same time promoting and supporting at least some of the many talented poets who are inspired by it.\u201d<\/span>

\n

Synopsis of Andrea Holland\u2019s winning proposal<\/span>

In June 1942 the British military decided they needed somewhere to train for D-Day, consequently six Breckland villages were requisitioned by the armed forces and residents were given seven days to leave their land and homes. As one village\u2019s school mistress put it, \u2018The war had taken our husbands and now our homes and way of life was to go\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>

Real and imaginary villagers who gave up their homes and their land, for what would have been described as \u2018the war effort\u2019,\u00a0 will appear in this sequence of poems and in particular, Lucilla Reeve; a complex character within the community who refused to leave her home until tanks forced her out. East Anglian journalist Keith Skipper has written of her tenacity and \u2018eccentricity\u2019 as well as the book Reeve published, The Earth No Longer Bare, written under the plain label of “A Norfolk Woman” (she donated all profits St. Dunstan’s Institution for the Blind). <\/span>

With this collection I hope to engage Norfolk readers who might not usually read much poetry via a significant episode in regional history which has nevertheless been almost entirely forgotten by the subsequent two generations. <\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n



Consolidation<\/span>

Because of their origin, carrs are treacherous and uninviting…with dense wet undergrowth<\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 R Jones, Birds of the Norfolk Broads<\/span>

I thought it boatable, our Broad.\u00a0 We came<\/span>
prepared to row.\u00a0 Ancient cuttings<\/span>
have made things uncertain; bounded<\/span>

by unstable banks as we are.\u00a0 I thought<\/span>
I was sinking.\u00a0 I thought you would<\/span>
take my hand.\u00a0 Green light of Reedswamp<\/span>

to cling to and I watch the water receding:<\/span>
A consolidation into fen.\u00a0 Still, I am not sure.<\/span>
You climb through Purple-loosestrife, beat back<\/span>

the flowering Rush.\u00a0 Denser plants are establishing themselves,<\/span>
my boots thick with alder, while wet woodland becomes carr.<\/span>
Now you\u2019re gone: a grey heron fished out and tree-bound.<\/span>

I\u2019m pulling the boat of us behind me, to solid ground.<\/span>
I hear only water: it sloshes in my boots like wake,<\/span>
so loud I wouldn\u2019t recognize your call.<\/span>



*Andrea Holland<\/span>


(‘Consolidation’ is not part of the Commission, but formed part of Andrea’s original submission)<\/span>


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2012 Caf\u00e9 Writers Norfolk Commission, in collaboration with IS&TPoet and UEA tutor Andrea Holland is \u00a33,000 better off after being announced the winner of the fifth Caf\u00e9 Writers Norfolk Commission.\u00a0 Also included in the award is publication of a poetry pamphlet by Gatehouse Press and the opportunity to read at Caf\u00e9 Writers and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1838,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}