The North is rising again, culturally, artistically and politically. As the country turned to London in the twentieth century there is a growing feeling that regionalism is the way forward in the twenty-first century. There is gossip again of the North/South divide, the North now has the BBC, a Media City and a growing dissent to the political icons and stereotypes the South have forced on the North. The twentieth century may have seen our industries stripped from our landscapes but in the age of the digital landscape the North is rising again.
In Versions of the North: Contemporary Yorkshire Poetry (Fives Leaves Publications 2013, edited by Ian Parks) we see a growing poetic voice of the North. An anthology that places Northern voices on the map, from the late Harold Massingham and the recently deceased Douglas Houston to the likes of Steve Ely and Gaia Holmes. Parks maps the poetic stratum of Yorkshire poets, from the gritstone and grime of established voices of the last century to the technological and social savvy new voices of the twenty-first. You can pre-order Versions of the North: Contemporary Yorkshire Poetry by following this link.
Andrew Oldham's Boneyard 