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Chapter 1: Who are the editors and contributors of Far Off Places?
We prowl the jukebox jungle, eyes reflective as a moon-chromed hubcap, two-tone roundels for our ears.
You're listening to a Scottish Poetry Library podcast.
Hello, my name is Jennifer Williams and I'm the program manager at the Scottish Poetry Library. I have a special treat for you today because rather than me conducting this podcast interview, I have a guest interviewer here with me.
who is my friend Jessica Johannesson Gaetan, my colleague at the library and a wonderful writer herself, also expert in translation, the art of translation, and has been helping me out here at the library by putting together one of our events in the autumn program. And it's a very special event.
And I think actually I'm going to let her tell you all about it and tell you why we've got these marvelous people here with us today.
Thank you, Jennifer. My name is Jessica, as Jennifer said, and welcome to the SPL podcast. Today, we've got the magazine Far Off Places with us. This is an Edinburgh-based magazine, you could say, but it's also very international, and I think we'll hear just how come in the coming few minutes. We've got editors Keris Astin and Annie Rutherford with us. Hi, Carys. Hi, Addie. Hi.
And we've also got one of the magazine's contributors, or many contributors with us, Niall Foley.
Hi.
Hi, Niall. So, I believe Niall has actually had both prose and poetry published in the magazine, is that correct?
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Chapter 2: What makes Far Off Places a unique literary magazine?
So the point was that it was partly...
well that actually it wasn't the point but it was a lovely serendipitous thing it was between the leaves and that it was between autumn and summer that's the thing with the themes as well like between the leaves I mean leaves as in as you said autumn, fall, summer and all that but leave as in leaving as in departures as in you know shifted identities and immigration so it's all the themes of the magazine are all kind of somebody's contributing it's quite playful speaking of someone who's a contributor to the magazine
not involved in the production at all. I remember coming across far places from the first edition. Although, while it wasn't, you know, it's entirely organic and these guys give up their time and it's very homegrown, it had a very kind of polished sort of brand. to it in terms of the way it looked, the tone and everything.
And as somebody who contributes to a wide variety of things, it's just if you're in somewhere where you respect the quality of people's work and it's something that looks nice, then you get a greater buzz out of that than perhaps you would. getting something accepted elsewhere.
Yeah, definitely.
I was going to ask you guys about sort of online magazines versus printed magazines but actually this might be a good point to just go back a little bit in time and could you tell us a little bit about how the magazine started? How did it come about initially and when?
Beth and I spent a wonderful summer effectively living in Charlotte Square during the book festival, and we were sitting on these literary deck chairs, and I said that I'd love to make a zine, I thought that would be really cool, and promptly forgot about the idea as one, you know, sort of a, oh, that would be a nice thing.
And Beth is now one of the editors as well.
Yeah, well, Beth was a designer, I forgot when I said that, I was talking to someone who studied design, for whom the idea of making a zine had a very... particular sort of attraction.
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Chapter 3: How do the editors select submissions for the magazine?
And it does seem like, I mean, you are sort of moving in some way towards a print form or doing some print, but it remains very much handmade, very much hand-bound and in very limited editions. Right. So you are both and it started up as an online magazine. What are your thoughts on that kind of relationship or hierarchy even between online magazines and print?
It's quite good for the time that we're in because so much is online now and I think that it helps with us being inclusive not only to our writers but to our readers. Which was a big point when we started up. Which is why as well we have the app. Most of our readers are on the app. We can introduce readers to the work, but in a variety of different ways.
I think that notion of inclusivity is one of the reasons why online. Another reason, of course, is you don't have to pay for print runs. I should say we're really lucky actually. If we were paying for someone to build us an app, we would not have an app.
Whereas we work with a wonderfully talented, I said web designer earlier, but sort of our digital publisher, Trevor, who used to make games for mobile phone. We pretend to understand what he does. He does things with technology. We do a lot of nodding and smiling. Yeah. Anyway, so he makes our app, which is wonderful. And he sent me statistics today.
And I think sort of most of our readers are on our app. Actually, most people who access us, it's on the podcast. So we have audio and digital and app and very limited print. And I think the thing with print, it's the symbolic value in a way. I think a lot of writers say they'd love to have a physical copy. I had an email from...
one of our writers published in Sartorial saying she loves digital, but her granny and aunties don't quite get it. So there's that. I'm a sucker for print. I love proper books that you can open.
I also love my Kindle. Very, very handy. But I mean, it's just wonderful that you do have both and that you operate in so many different forms.
Yeah.
Tell us a little bit about the podcast. How does that work?
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Chapter 4: What themes do the contributors explore in their works?
I think, I mean it's partly we do put a lot of time into considerably editing and but we also like we like our writers they're just they're lovely people and I mean I know I met Jess three bar of places in a rather bizarre moment when I handed over my library card and she recognised my name and We have other writers who I've never met, but who I have a wonderful email correspondence with.
And I think that that's part of it. You very rarely, and if this ever happens, it's an accident, send something off to us and it goes into the ethos. We will always reply and say, thank you, we've got this, we look forward to reading it. And we mean that and we will always reply with honest feedback and friendly feedback.
And if you don't get feedback, it's normally because we can't put our finger on what doesn't quite click for the magazine.
I just don't see a future in publishing for you guys. You're nice, you're kind, you care about the work. Sorry. Cynical views of the public world. Cynical gentlemen on the corner.
We're rapidly going to become more cynical.
I give it a couple of years. Maybe you could revolutionise publishing. You could change the world of publishing to the better. Did I say no future? I said the future. Groundbreaking.
Groundbreaking future. Groundbreaking, heartbreaking.
I think it's fair to say the guys do nurture writers, and they do nurture talent, and they nurture that relationship.
We buy you drinks. The platform payment is... We also try to put on events when we can.
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Chapter 5: How does the magazine balance poetry and prose?
We are the modified.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
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