For those of you reading this who're Sheffielders, I'm assured that Matter 8 has been published and is ready for launch: the annual showcase of new writing from Sheffield Hallam's MA Writing course.
Before I joined the MA, I'd quite often spot copies of the magazine - always beautifully designed and perfect-bound - in bookshops in and around Sheffield, and having enjoyed reading the diverse range of talent on display in each of them, it's been a real pleasure this year to have been involved in editing the publication's poetry.
As well as poems by MA students including myself, then, the issue contains new work by established guest contributors and an excerpt from the late E.A. Markham's memoirs.
Matter will be launched next Wedneday, 15th October @ Waterstones, Orchard Square, Sheffield, and it would be great to see as many people as possible there (it's a big sort of shop so space shouldn't be an issue). It will be followed by the launch of the Best Of MA Writing 2008, a selection of students' work by the tutors themselves, with details to follow.