Join the crowdfunded drive at chuffed.org to get a copy of Project Boast and teaching notes into as many secondary schools as possible - to start changing the way girls and young women see themselves and are seen by others.
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Publication: 8th March 2018
List Price: £9.00 Format: ~ Paperback - 124 pages Size: 15.2 x 22.9 cm ISBN: 978-1-911193-41-8 Buy the Book:Project Boast is available now (£9+p&p)
"From Sappho's alchemy of silence to Penelope Shuttle's wild, unrepentant roses of Katherine of Aragon, these poems are a cabal, a coven, a community, a choir of women's voices at once brave, painful and subtle. Together, they stand their ground and disturb the peace with a loudness hard won from centuries of humility. If Sarah Guppy could have raised her famous suspension bridge on the tensile strength of words, it would look something like this. "
Professor Sandeep Parmar Department of English, Liverpool University; Co-Director, Centre for New and International Writing Buy the eBook:The ePub & Kindle versions are available in April
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From The Introduction
We began this project because of Sarah Guppy, a Victorian engineer and inventor who lived in Bristol. One of the things she is best known for is devising a bridge without arches or sterlings that was less at risk of being washed away... Sarah Guppy also designed a samovar that made tea and cooked eggs; a method for preventing barnacles from clinging to a ship’s hull... and an exercise bed for women to use at home as it was considered inappropriate for women to exercise in public. There are no statues of Sarah Guppy, no plaques that recount her inventions. In our culture, it has often been deemed acceptable for women and their achievements to be buried, covered over, dismissed. Sarah Guppy herself once said: it is unpleasant to speak of oneself – it may seem boastful particularly in a woman. Mary Beard’s fantastic book, Women & Power, A Manifesto, traces the history of women being discouraged from speaking in public spaces all the way back to Homer. Speaking is a gendered issue, and we wanted to ask if this was still the case. Are women still finding that it’s unpleasant to speak of themselves? Are we still self-censoring for fear of being judged as boastful? How much has really changed in a hundred years? It became our dream to put together an anthology of poems by a wide range of women poets responding to these questions. We wanted to create an anthology whose platform is generous and far-reaching, a space where poets could approach the idea of speaking in whatever way appealed to them. Thus Project Boast was born... Some poets remarked how hard it was to speak of themselves. Some let rip with a formidable self. Some take an inventive approach, while some speak through their poems with a direct, quiet authority. We wanted to provoke all these voices, to seek them out and encourage them. We wanted to suggest that confidence can come from speaking out. We wanted to update Sarah Guppy’s assertion to: It is good for women to speak of themselves - it is life-changing and vital for a healthy society and culture. If we can do this, we might see statues and plaques of all the forgotten women starting to appear in our cities. We might begin to address the things that need to be addressed and take another step along the long, long road to equality. |
Contents and Contributors
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self-puff – Caroline Carver
If Hestia had Designed a Backbone for Atlas – Fiona Hamilton Mrs Guppy – Alyson Hallett Turning Fifty – Anne Caldwell Journey with my Jewish Friend – Nazand Begikhani Pewley Down – Jean Hathaway Home – Dikra Ridha Sergei Kuriokhin Wasn’t My Lover – Victoria Field Blooded – Deborah Harvey The trouble with you is you won’t be told – Rachel Bentham The Remove – Judy Brown Masks – Penelope Shuttle Nancy’s Star Turn – Alwyn Marriage The wood and the trees – Rachel Bentham A Girl Like Do’a – Nazand Begikhani Brush Strokes – Daisy Proctor My Field – Sally Evans Don’t say you love me, Daddy – Janet Paisley Hurricane Mama – Caroline Carver Greenham Common, 1985 – Julie-ann Rowell RP RIP – Alwyn Marriage Do Nothing – Lucy English Premature – Anne Caldwell Self-Portrait as Katharine of Aragon – Penelope Shuttle I am a work of art – Cara Squires My father was no ordinary man – Clare Shaw Dawn Chorus – Janet Paisley Unforgiven – Dikra Ridha Spared – Katrina Naomi Miss Ballantine’s Salmon – Alyson Hallett Staying Power – Sally Evans Crossing – Jenny Wong Lineage – Lynne Davidson |
Confession – Arundhathi Subramaniam
Objets Sacrés de Jeanne d’Arc – Julie-ann Rowell Hipster Central – Lucy English Boasting Sonnet – Katrina Naomi I often think – Penelope Shuttle Dr Bentham is out of the office – Rachel Bentham Terms and Conditions – Tania Hershman What My Grandmother Tells Me in Dreams – Fiona Hamilton The tears come easy to Kate – Gill Hague and ‘Kate’ My mother was a verified miracle – Clare Shaw Bathurst Pool – Claire Williamson she – Cara Squires Wildwood – Deborah Harvey We Prayed for a Man Without a Beard – Judy Brown Rome – Penelope Shuttle Here’s the Thing – Alyson Hallett The Time It Takes To Set – Tania Hershman Words for my Daughter – Janet Paisley Speaking to the Otter – Lynne Davidson The Wildlife We Found – Daisy Proctor My mother pictured amongst tobacco leaves – Nazand Begikhani Jazz – Fiona Hamilton The Mad Cow Talks Back – Jo Shapcott ode to cellulite – Khairani Barokka The Apostle, Mary Magdelene – Julie-ann Rowell A True Story – Gill Hague Hats – Jean Hathaway No, I Do Not Tango – Tania Hershman The Confessions – Judy Brown Learning to Sound – Lynne Davidson The Walk – Claire Williamson Song for Catabolic Women – Arundhathi Subramaniam |
