A twice-yearly poetry magazine with a method of selecting poems for publication that gives new poets an even chance of being published is getting ready to celebrate its 50th issue.  South, which was launched in 1990, and has been self-supporting since 2003, is holding a launch in London for the first time, at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, on Wednesday 15 October at 7.30pm. 

South chooses its poems via a selection panel, which changes for each issue. The poets' names are withheld from the panel, to give all poets, new or well-known, a fair chance of being published. Peter Keeble, a member of South’s management team, said: “Some of what were South’s unique selling points have been taken up by other small press poetry magazines. It’s published twice a year and features a profiled poet in each edition whose 10 or so pages of poetry are introduced by an assessment of their work, generally by a friend. The remaining 60 or so poems continue to be chosen blind and entirely on merit by two, or sometimes three, selectors. There are different selectors for each issue. And each issue continues to be launched at a venue in the south where the profiled poet, the selectors and as many other poets who appear in that edition as can be fitted in read for five minutes each. Venues have included Winchester, Southampton, Reading, Dorchester, Portsmouth, Maidenhead and now, for the 50th edition, London’s Poetry Café.

“The magazine has striking black and white covers which until recently were supplied by the photographer Brent Jones and are intended to provide a link with the launch venue and the home of the selectors or profiled poet. As with many magazines, South has reluctantly had to increase its price in the last year. However, we think that at £12 for two issues and £22 for four it still represents excellent value. Each poet selected receives a free copy of the magazine and videos of recently profiled poets’ launch readings are now available on the magazine’s website." More details and Map