The Kindling is a brand new journal dedicated to supporting and publishing the best poetry written in universities across the UK and Ireland, complementing the work of college poetry and literary organizations with the support of established poets.
We publish original poetry, reviews, and interviews in each issue, as well as updates on poetry happenings across our universities on the News page.
Why?
It’s easy for us to write poetry with our friends and immediate communities in mind: many universities have thriving page and performance scenes, and strong institutions which support young poets. Yet – we believe poetry truly takes off when it is shared.
The Kindling is designed as a space where we can publish, present, and promote the best writing across geographical and other lines, bringing together the words and experiences of poets our age from Galway to Gloucester, Dover to Dundee. In the process, we hope that resources, opportunities, and moments of genuine wonder can be accessed from wherever we are, or call home.
Our Title
There are a dozen quotes we could choose to explain why: from Coleridge describing Shakespeare writing as ‘kindling like a meteor through the dark atmosphere’ to Auden’s quip that ‘money cannot buy the fuel of love, but is excellent kindling’.
Instead, we’ve landed on The Kindling because it sums up our hopes for this site, and also how we’ve both experienced poetry: rarely as a spark of individual brilliance, more often as the shared, careful labour that goes into keeping things alight. Whether by reading and supporting our poets, sending us your work, or joining in the discussion with reviews and interviews, we hope you’ll gather round the fire with us.
Masthead
Co-Editor: Tash Keary
Tash Keary was commended in the Foyle, National Student and Cape Farewell competitions, and most recently published in Cadaverine and PBS anthologies. She was a Young Producer for National Poetry Day Live 2015, and the Foyle Young Poets of the Year intern in 2016.
Co-Editor: Theophilus Kwek
Born in Singapore, Theophilus Kwek won the Martin Starkie Prize in 2014, the Jane Martin Prize in 2015 and the New Poets Prize in 2016. He was President of the Oxford University Poetry Society, and his most recent collection is Giving Ground (Ethos Books).
The Kindling 