A Letter from the Editor
June 21st 2013
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Issue Ten.
During the months that followed the publication of our previous issue, StepAway Magazine collaborated with the Hearing the Voice research team at Durham University to launch a new project entitled Voicewalks.
StepAway‘s special Voicewalks issue will be published online and in print in October, and will be dedicated to the creative exploration of inner speech and voice hearing experiences within the context of walking in the city.
We have worked closely with the team at New Writing North to commission a keynote piece which will be written by one of my favourite authors, Iain Sinclair. We are currently seeking poetry, prose and non-fiction to accompany this piece. Please feel free to examine our submission criteria and send us your work. The submission deadline for Voicewalks is August 1st.
We will launch our special issue at the Durham Book Festival where all authors included in the issue will have the option of reading their work.
Voicewalks provides us with an opportunity to challenge the itinerary of the classic literary flâneur. It is a way of examining and recording our inner and outer worlds when moving through urban space, and the manner in which those worlds collide. By reconfiguring the ludic act of flânerie, our aim is to better understand the deeply personal and private experience of voice hearing and inner speech whilst in public.
The October launch of Voicewalks will replace our autumn edition. Issue eleven of StepAway will be published on December 21st 2013.
Turning our attention back to this, our tenth issue, we have yet another engaging lineup of writers to offer.
Our cover art is courtesy of Brooklyn based artist Rebecca Riley. Rebecca paints in oil and acrylic on canvas and is interested in systematic process and growth. Her recent work uses maps as a structure from which to build patterns. Her art represents the city as a living organism with all of its directed and misdirected growth. The piece which Rebecca kindly donated for our cover is entitled: “New York Metro”. Her portfolio can be viewed here.
Issue Ten opens with “Chinatown” by Elvis Alves, a sensory exploration of one of the city’s key enclaves. Elvis, a past contributor to StepAway Magazine has recently published an outstanding collection of poetry entitled Bitter Melon.
Next up is Barbara Julian’s “Coastal City Night Walk” where some unexpected visitors appear in the nocturnal urban forest.
“Compressed Sensations in Upper Manhattan” follows – a sharp snapshot of New York street life by Pippa Anais Gaubert.
Trina Gaynon’s “Crowd as Reservoir” is an airy San Francisco based wander, while Robert Boucheron’s “Acheron” is one man’s walk toward an inevitable fate.
“Predatory Nature” is Jon Barrows’s take on the intense pace of Washington DC traffic and “Still Life with Stars” by Jonathan Stone captures the stillness of abandoned Pacific Rail Road cars.
Sno Flo’s “Oldest Hipster on the Block” recalls one vibrant moment on a street corner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, while Maureen Oliphant’s “A Resident Writer in every Irish Georgian B&B” whisks us away to the streets of Cork on September 11th 2001.
The issue closes with Deborah Kelly’s “Soles”, a profound meditation on walking.
I hope that you enjoy our tenth issue, and I look forward to catching up with you all in October with the publication of our Voicewalks project.
Yours faithfully,
Darren Richard Carlaw
