Rolling with the Riptide: submissions for 10th volume open…

Image credit: Riptide Journal

Tucked away at the top of Queen’s building is an office that is home to a little known creative gem. Riptide Journal was founded in 2006 by Dr Sally Flint and Dr Ginny Baily who were, at the time, completing their MA degrees. Originally created to fill a gap in the publishing opportunities for short story writers, Riptide is now accepting submissions for its tenth volume, and has also become increasingly involved in collaborations with other local creative ventures.

As a student looking to gain entry into the elusive world of publishing, however, what Riptide offers is that all important industry experience. After a second year creative writing lecture last year given by Dr Flint, I took a chance and stopped behind afterwards to ask her about volunteering with the journal. A couple of weeks and one informal meeting later, and I was officially a volunteer intern, although I still didn’t really know what to expect.

I was thrown in at the deep end, as the Riptide team were in the midst of publishing the eighth and ninth volumes of the journal, for the first time publishing short stories and poetry simultaneously. Luckily, the existing interns were lovely and I was able to learn from their guidance and experiences whilst finding my feet. One of my first tasks was to assist with the planning and running of an activity at the Children in Need event at the university last year, and I quickly discovered just how much work goes into such an event.

I’ve been volunteering with Riptide for just over a year now, and I have had the opportunity to get involved with all sorts of tasks; from proofreading to ebook conversion, creating publicity materials to playing welcome committee for guest authors and speakers at numerous events. I have had the unique experience of seeing what goes on behind the scenes of a small independent publication from both an editorial and marketing perspective. By the time I leave I will have seen every stage of the publication process, an insight that I would never have gained from a couple of weeks work experience.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience that stands above all else, however, it’s that it’s always worth asking for what you want, because sometimes people might just say yes.

Teresa Gale

Leave a comment below or write to Books at the Facebook Group or on Twitter! For those interested in getting involved in Riptide, find information on an exciting new opportunity below:

Canto Poetry Online Launch: 

Canto is an online poetry sister journal of Riptide being launched next term at 19:30 on 31st of January. We are having a Google Hangout with a panel of professional writers as well as the editors of Canto. We want as many people as possible to tune in because we believe this is what the future of publishing looks like (I know – just go with it). There will also be an opportunity to win a 1:1 workshop with either Sally Flint or Ginny Bailey, both published authors which is an invaluable resource for any budding writer/poet.

Spirited production rekindles childhood memories

If you can find the elusive New Theatre, tucked in a hidey-hole of little streets by the quay, then you are in for a treat. Home to the Cygnet Training Theatre (which I can happily declare doesn’t steal the babies of swans at the quay and teach them to act, despite the name), this is a cosy place with the lively buzz of a creative working space.

“Memories of Childhood” is an exquisitely acted and imaginatively devised piece of non-linear theatre. It was created in response to the poetry collection of the same name recently published by Riptide, so Cygnet Theatre Company had some fantastic writing to use as a starting point.

Photo by rcvnl on flickr

It was their dramatic use and interpretation of the poems, though, which made the piece so inspired. The poems were embellished with backstory and transformed creatively into dialogue, dance, movement and song. This was so carefully crafted that if you didn’t know the piece was based on poems, you probably wouldn’t realise.

Although the storytelling was non-linear, the piece revisited some characters several times and told families’ stories through various points of view. Gradually we became familiar with the fears, habits, tempers and secrets of the very real people on stage. This slow unfolding of character, not unlike how characterisation unfolds in a novel, was one of the show’s charms.

The varied use of sound, costume, movement, dance and props was continually a delight. The sound ranged from folk songs to fuzzy old-fashioned recordings to a live cellist and flautist to the actors singing children’s clapping songs.

The costume, lighting and sound was always carefully coordinated to the mood of each segment – quite a feat considering that the piece was so varied in tone and mood. It was tense, comforting, surprising, frightening and warmly nostalgic, and it took such wild changes of atmosphere in its stride. After all, this is how our memories of childhood are – a jumble of mixed emotions, disparate events, absurd games and nightmares.

Photo by Enrico Strocchi

This wasn’t just about childhood memories, though. The piece explored the relationships between the old and the young and the intense emotions which entwine and entangle families. We saw a young girl’s damaging relationship with her strict father, a man’s attempts to keep his senile father in his wheelchair, girls and mothers bewildered by grief.

My favourite thing about the piece by far was the sense of childlike play which clearly showed that there were some great imaginations behind this show. There were skipping songs, shadow-puppets, shadow-dances, a masked nightmare-monster, imaginary friends, a movement piece which explored the way we play with the sea, and much more.

In short, this show was a joy to watch. It avoided being too cringingly or sweetly nostalgic, delving into the darker sides of childhood and also the difficulties of parenthood. At the same time, though, I think it’s safe to say most audience members left with a glow, partly through the fact that the show’s childhood memories resonated with all of us – I personally was shamelessly thrilled once I heard the Popeye song for the first time in years – and partly through seeing such imaginative, capable actors at work.

by Katie Wilkinson