Mingled Voices

MINGLED VOICES is an anthology of thirty-one poems, selected from those which were entered in the inaugural annual international competition for the Proverse Poetry Prize (single poems) in 2016.

The Proverse Poetry Prize was jointly founded in 2016 by Dr Gillian Bickley and Dr Verner Bickley MBE, in association with the annual international Proverse Prize for unpublished book-length fiction, non-fiction or poetry, submitted in English, which they also founded in 2008.

Poems could be submitted on any subject or topic chosen by each poet or on the subject chosen for 2016 by the Administrators, “The Environment”. There was a free choice of form and style.

Included in the anthology are the poems that won the first, second, and third prizes. Selection to appear in the anthology was also awarded by the judges for the Prize.

The places of birth of the twenty writers whose work is included in the anthology range from Scandinavia to the Far East, to the southern hemisphere; and include Canada, Cap Verde, Cuba, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, New Zealand, Norway, the People’s Republic of China, Turkey, the UK and the USA. Some have strong links with other countries, including Austria, Chile, Holland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Spain and the USA.

The poets are: Aytül Akal, Joy Al-Sofi, Maria Elena Blanco, Gili Haimovich, Hei Feng, Akin Jeje, Susan Lavender, Liv Lundberg, Marta Markoska, Mathura (Margus Lattik), Glória Sofia Varela Monteiro, Keith Nunes, Sam Powney, Vaughan Rapatahana, Angelo Rizzi, Hayley Solomon, Dong Sun, Luisa Ternau, Carter Vance, Mavisel Yener. Also included is a non-entered poem on the theme, by Gillian Bickley.

“The changes in our environment, not all of them man-made, concern the inhabitants of every country on earth, and it is refreshing to see the response from writers in so many lands.”

 —Margaret Clarke, Oxfordshire

“When I read this Anthology, I felt that I took a tour in the garden of the poetry world. In that garden each flower has not only her own odour but also has her own shape and meaning. And all flowers were in harmony with each other.  I hope one day the real world will be a poetic anthology of humanity, like this.” 

—Hasan Erkek, Turkey