[Julie Steiner]

Just passing this along, in case someone finds it of interest:

Poems with a strong, recognisable link to Leicester, UK, are being sought for a new poetry anthology from Dahlia Press to be published in October 2016. Poems should be 40 lines or less, in English and submitted by 15 July 2016 either by email to poetry@leicesterwrites.co.uk or by post to Welcome to Leicester, 36 Leybury Way, Scraptoft, Leicester LE7 9UB. Poets themselves do not have to have a connection with Leicester.

The only two things I know about Leicester are 1) that it is pronounced Lester and 2) that when Idi Amin was kicking Asians out of Uganda in the 1970s, the Leicester town council placed an ad in the main Ugandan newspaper, telling the refugees-to-be not to come to Leicester; this had the delightful result of bringing Leicester to the attention of the refugees-to-be, many of whom moved there and formed a thriving multicultural community. (See the Streisand Effect.) The Dahlia Press website suggests that it has strong ties to those formerly-displaced Asians.

Anyway, perhaps someone here will feel inspired.

[Roger Slater]

Thanks. Perfect chance to try to find a stand-alone piece from my epic poem, "Leicester Unbound."

[Susan McLean]

Julie, I'm charmed by your example of how the attempt to keep outsiders out backfired so spectacularly. The Donald should take note.

Susan

[Alan Rain]

Leicester City are quite likely to be the English Premier league champions this season, which is a remarkable achievement for a low-spending club amongst millionaires. They are already well-known around Europe and the Far East (their owner is Thai).
Leicestershire (the county) is well-known as being the home of fox-hunting.
I also spent my student days there.
So, thanks, I am interested.

[Jayne Osborn]

Thanks for letting us know about this, Julie.

Like Alan, I'm interested, as I live about thirty miles from Leicester; I ought to be able to come up with something.

Jayne