The latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast saw the editors of three of Scotland’s finest literary magazines climb the stairs to talk to Ali and Ian about the how, whys and what next’s along with their hopes and aspirations, for their respective publications. They are Helen Sedgwick from Gutter Magazine, Gabriella Bennett from Valve Journal and Samuel Best from Octavius, and the talk ranged from influences and inspirations, themes (or the lack of them), writers and readers, how to balance poetry and prose, the need for eye-catching design, how editorial decisions are reached, the best way to host live events, and the importance of a mutually supportive literary community.
If you are a regular reader of any, or all, of these magazines (and you should be) you’ll be interested to know the ethos behind them. If you have never read them then I trust this chat will inspire you to seek them out. This is a great time for Scottish writing, no matter what others may say, and as I have said from day one of this blog, the great thing is you can make up your own mind as to just what Scottish writing means. No one else should do it for you. If there is one thing to take from this discussion, and in my opinion there are many things, it is that all of these magazines look to include rather than exclude, and if you’re good enough you will find yourself published.
The reason for having this literary magazine pow wow was that these are three publications which share a lot in common, but which also have distinct identities that make them stand apart, and we wanted to understand what makes them tick. They are all at different stages of life, with Gutter approaching a 10th anniversary, Valve about to launch issue three, and Octavius recently publishing their second issue. If you’ve ever considered getting involved with a literary magazine, whether starting your own, submitting to one, or if you just love literature then this podcast will be of interest to you.
You can find the podcast at iTunes or by RSS, and if you’re new round these parts you will find all our previous recordings waiting for you. This was our 35th so you’ve got lots of interesting listening in store. Subscribe and you’ll never miss it.
We have a lot of Robert Louis Stevenson action to bring you in the autumn, but we are going to try and squeeze another podcast in before that all kicks off. What will it be like? You’re guess is as good as ours at the moment but quality is guaranteed, or your money back.
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