After the popularity of the poetry that gets sent in, we decided to ask one of our artists if they wished to be a resident poet, creating work and recommending other poets and text for our zine. Thankfully Peter said yes, and so here we have the start of a very exciting residency…
PETER DEVONALD BIO
Peter Devonald is haus-a-rest poet in residence and won Heart Of The Heatons best poem 2021. 45 poems appeared/ forthcoming in 2022: Artist's Responding to..., Forget-Me-Not Press, Dear Politicians: Ecopoetry Anthology, haus-a-rest from dada to surrealism/ Tiny/ Deconstruction/ Environment, Dwell Time Press, RIVISTA, Suburban Witchcraft, Sixpence Society Literary Journal, Art_Love_02, The Dirigible Balloon, Shallot Journal, The Spoonie, Bolton Breakdown anthology, Substantially Unlimited: Stigma, Wishbone Words. He runs monthly 8-word tales and published poetry in Heaton Post, Cheadle Post, and Didsbury Post.
Previously winner of The Times Newspaper/National Academy of Writing Award and published poetry in Rubicon, ISEA, Ellipses, First Verse, Krax, Understanding, Eastern Rainbow and Cracked Mirror. Prose third in Tales of the Underbanks and published in an anthology. His poetry has appeared in 4 group shows including the Layered Onion gallery at Hodge Podge, Tender Stems exhibition run by PaintingWriting, and Chronically Online x Culturable x Layered Onion group show. He was featured in The Poetic Map of Reading online and Southwark Festival Of Words.
Children’s Bafta-nominated, 50+ film awards, and former senior judge/mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys). Now lives in Heaton Moor, Manchester, UK. www.scriptfirst.com
IG: @peterdevonald
PETER DEVONALD STATEMENT RE: POET IN RESIDENCE
I am honoured to be a poet in residence at haus-a-rest. The quality of the work chosen is so exceptional - especially the artwork which is jaw-dropping. I am always so in awe of the submissions here, they show such talent and imagination. So many new ways of seeing the world - opening up alternative ways of thinking and exploring.
I have been very lucky to have always been a writer, though mainly screenwriting where I have films shown in over 150 film festivals, placed in 50 awards, and worked with some of the best talents in the industry. One series I was the main writer of was a children’s Bafta-nominated. I have run film festivals and been the senior judge/mentor for the Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys).
In the early part of my life, I wrote so much poetry - and had so much published. I won a few awards and set up two literary magazines - first at college and then at Lancaster University. It was a very different time - 1992 - it seems ridiculous to say that there was barely the internet, certainly not in everyone's homes. Long queues at University to use PC's - then massive lag when America came online. To make a literary journal back then was literally to print the pages and cut them out with scissors, using Tippex to avoid any printing lines.
Now of course magazines can be printed cheaply and perfectly – and online - the ease of freedom is enormous. This creates a whole world of opportunities for writers - all available with a click of a mouse. Back then it was buying The Writers Handbook and sending scripts off to random places: I remember talking to my first agent from a phone box! Such bizarre different times. We are so lucky now - in so many ways - and unlucky in others. The whole world is available with complete access - but the whole world knows it, the level of noise changes everything.
I see haus-a-rest as an oasis of calm in all the noise. A space to write and explore writing, poetry, and creativity. A place to take risks whilst also bringing one's work to an audience. You are amongst friends: an adventure into what you really want to say. The best writing and art always involve risk -- if we are forever safe we never learn and grow. There are still safety nets but write and explore - and find your true voice.
I look forward to being on this journey with haus-a-rest.
