Such was their rage...

Pro-poetry bent has local writers up in arms.

Thursday 9th September 2010

Not so long ago, we featured an article that outlined the noble and upstanding initiative that is Norwich ShopArt! The article detailed how the venture, run by Norwich Arts Centre, aimed to breathe new life into the once vibrant, now struggling retail sector of the city. By displaying the work of local artists in shop windows across the centre of Norwich, the organisers of the project hoped also to give exposure to local creative endeavours.

It seems, however, that despite the good intentions held by the ShopArt! team, the feeding hand of the venture has recently been bitten.

Unexpected upset, based on a wider discussion, has come from a group of Norwich writers posting on the www.ink-sweat-and-tears.com blog pages recently. These writers, namely non-poets, feel sidelined as a result of an alleged pro-poet bias emanating from creative projects around the city. The ShopArt! campaign has been appropriated as the unfortunate mascot for their discontent.

Charles Christian, editor/publisher of the Ink Sweat & Tears webzine, spearheaded the attack. He said:

"The current ShopArt! initiative...calls for poets to submit short poems for printing up on posters and displaying in shops in central Norwich. The organisers clearly didn't realise prose writers an actually write short pieces of work - never heard of flash fiction, presumably- and so all their promotional literature calls for submissions of poetry."

His comments stirred up a heated debate regarding whether or not the cultural schemes of the city lean heavily towards promoting the work of poets over prose writers. The inclusion of a dedicated 'Poetry Window' in the ShopArt! scheme can't have helped ease the worries of those involved.

After Grace Jackson, frontliner for the project, was contacted, it seems Mr. Christian was left unsatisfied. Having aired his troubles, he was allegedly met with the offer of a poetry submission form. He went on to say:

"So that's all right then, prose writers can participate as long as they pretend they are poets."

Ire & Bile: the blog debate.