Here we go again…
As we in the UK re-enter lockdown and continue to face a difficult situation, Margate Bookie is trying our very best to support and stay connected with our community and the literary world. We also strive towards bringing, and including, writers and creatives of all abilities and experiences together in the current state of affairs. The last few months have shown as that we have a lot to offer, both to our local Thanet community, and to the wider world, with people attending our events from as far afield as the USA, Israel, and even Leicester.
At the start of the year, we launched our first Margate Bookie ‘zine, The Great Indoors, which focused on that theme of self-isolation, social distancing, and lockdown.
We think the time has come to reflect on COVID-19 and its implications, but in a way that is uplifting and energising.
To that end, we would like to announce our second Margate Bookie zine, Reset.
Reset will be a collection of short stories, poems, articles, images and much more, based on the concept of resetting our lives and the world back to a better time, resetting to a world after this crisis, or anything to do with going forward or back to a new or different way of life!
We would like to openly invite anyone and everyone to submit to our new zine with pieces that reflect and encompass this theme. We will be looking for creative pieces (short stories (3000-word max), poems (eq.), letters, pictures (photographs/creative images), diary entries, articles, etc.) that describe and illustrate the theme of resetting The pieces that we are looking for will not necessarily have to be based around the current COVID-19 situation in the world. We are looking for a greater breadth of creativity that expands beyond this single issue, and welcome and encourage a greater and diverse range of subjects and ideas that follow the theme of the zine. This could be fiction, non-fiction, made up or real, the choice is up to you.
Suggestions are
- What it would be like to get things back to normal after COVID-19 or making things back to how they were before COVID-19.
- Starting again, and imagining a ‘new normal.’
- Refreshing and resetting, making things better for the future.
- Travelling back to a time when things were better for the person/people/world – how are memories helping you navigate the current challenges.
Looking back at the success of our first Margate Bookie Zine, The Great Indoors, we had a fantastic response from creative writers and artists across the UK, as well as receiving contributors from the US and Pakistan. In total, we had 34 contributions for the zine, which, given that this was our first attempt, was an astounding achievement. With Reset, we are also hope for a diverse response.
The deadline for all submissions will be February 28th 2021 and we are hoping to release the zine at the end of May 2021. This will definitely be online, and we hope to be able to print as well.
Any feedback and comments would be greatly appreciated! Please e-mail Justin Brown, ‘Zine editor at justin@margatebookie.com to submit your work and for more information.