Always on
This project successfully funded on 1st July 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Poet Town: The Poetry of Hastings & Thereabouts
Hastings, United Kingdom
Aim
To promote our anthology celebrating 200 years of Hastings poetry
Shining a light on Hastings Talent
We need your help to promote Poet Town: The Poetry of Hastings & Thereabouts.
The book celebrates 200 years of Hastings poetry. It brings together, for the first time, poems and poets connected to the town, past and present.
The Poet Town project was created to promote the poets and poetry of Hastings UK. We need to raise £2,500 to do this - please help by pledging today.
An electric & eclectic collection
In her wonderful introduction to Poet Town: The Poetry of Hastings & Thereabouts, Salena Godden writes:
"Poet Town is a book where some truth is shared, some magical inspiration is found and all the weather is weathered. These poems are from here, they are deep and salty, they are lurking in the crash of sea water around the legs of the Pier, as much as they are wafting in the salt and vinegar on your fish and chips."
Some of the biggest names in British poetry, past and present, are linked to Hastings. Now is our chance to celebrate this incredible poetic legacy, but as a community-funded project, we need everyone to get behind it for our voices to be heard.
The Project so far...
Poet Town began as a dream of Hastings-born poet Richard Newham-Sullivan. But almost from the start, a flurry of poets and creative people jumped on board, sharing their skills, time and talents. Thanks to them, there have been interviews with poets, serialised books, live events, as well as photos for an exhibition and special edition of the book. All fuelled by our passion and shared dream to create a beautiful anthology to celebrate the remarkable poetic story of this town. Can you help too?
“Hastings is the most poetic place I know. A celebration of poems it's inspired seems overdue. Richard and his team have worked tirelessly, without outside funding, to make this happen. Photographer Maxine Silver's arresting portraits (for the exhibition book) will be a further bonus. I'm proud to be a supporter.”
- Anne Rouse
Maxine Silver's photograph of Tara Valentine at Rock-a-Nore
What's next for Poet Town?
The book is now close to completion and will be published on September 1st by Moth Light Press.
But without effective promotion we are painfully aware it will remain almost invisible. We need everyone's help in order to get the word out.
WE NEED YOUR PLEDGES!
So we can:
- Run events in Hastings to promote the collection, including a launch at the Hastings Book Festival
- Have a simple website
- Effectively promote the book through advertising
- Print advanced copies of the book in order to gain reviews
- Create and distribute promotional materials about the book and events
- We would also like to have budget available in case of educational opportunities, such as running events or workshops in schools or for the general public
The Rewards
We are so grateful to the poets for offering a range of incredible, exclusive rewards for pledges, including:
- signed books
- limited edition artworks
- one to one mentorship
- poems for a pet
- graphic novels
- membership for the Alliance of Independent Authors
- places for an online feature writing workshop
and much more...
You also have the opportunity to own the very first copy of the anthology in hardback, and the very first copy of exhibition book and the Deluxe Edition Exhibition book.
So please explore the amazing rewards available!
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made