Submissions Are Open!!! from 1st April – until 23rd April – for our third guest editor C.C. O’HANLON!!!

Burning House Press are excited to welcome C.C. O’HANLON as our third guest editor! C.C. will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of April – when he will then hand over the reins to our fourth guest editor for the month of May.

Submissions for C.C. are open from today – 1st April and will remain open until 23rd April.

C.C. will be responding and publishing your submissions on a rolling basis during the month of April – and has chosen his themes for submissions!

C.C.’s Themes are

Place: Movement, Escape, Exploration, Architecture.

C.C. has introduced the themes himself for your guidance:

“The act of journeying contributes to a sense of physical and mental well-being, while the monotony of prolonged settlement or regular work weaves patterns in the brain that engender fatigue and a sense of personal inadequacy…”

– Bruce Chatwin, from Nomad Invasions

The themes that most interest me have to do with movement and place, not just – maybe not even – travel writing but rather a kind of textual cartography: prose or poetry that map spaces, physical or emotional, words shaped by journeying or pilgrimage, or the impulse to explore or to escape (or to seek refuge, or to start again and somehow reinvent yourself). I am interested in emptiness (seas, deserts, padded cells) and architecture, especially the way we inhabit them, and record our presence within them. Naturally, I’m inclined towads the diaristic, most especially when it is visual (actual cartography, illustration, and photographs) or unconventional in form or content; like Florence Lenaers, I’ve also got a soft spot for lists.

Overall, I’m not looking to reassure, but rather, to some extent, to unsettle.

For submissions, C.C. is looking for your poetry, short stories, flash fiction, prose poems, art, collage, painting, photography – as well as non-fiction submissions: essays, reviews, commentary, features, interviews.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions should be sent as attachments to guesteditorbhp@gmail.com

Please state the theme and form of your submission in the subject of the email. For example: ARCHITECTURE/POETRY

Poetry and Fiction
For poetry submissions, submit no more than three of your best poems. Short stories should be limited to 1,500 words or (preferably) less. We encourage flash fiction submissions, no more than three at a time. Send these in as a .doc or .docx file, along with a short third-person bio, and (optional) photograph of yourself.

Art
Submit hi-res images of your works (drawings, paintings, illustrations, collages, photography, etc) with descriptions of the work (Title, Year, Medium, etc) in the body of the email. Files should be in .JPEG unless they are GIFs or videos, and should not exceed 2MB in size for each work. File names should correspond with the work titles. Video submissions can be uploaded onto Youtube or Vimeo for feature on our website. Send these submissions along with a short third-person bio, and (optional) photograph of yourself.

Non-fiction
Non-fiction submissions (essays, reviews, commentary, interviews, etc) should be no more than 1, 500 words and sent as a .doc or .docx file along with your third-person bio/and optional photograph.

Submissions are open from 1st March til 24th March – and will reopen again on 1st April for our third guest editor.

BHP online is now in the capable hands of the amazing C.C. O’HANLON – Friends, send him your best!

C.C. O’Hanlon is a relentless traveller, polymath and occasional diarist. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Ernest, Minor Literatures and The Learned Pig. It has also been included in several anthologies and ‘best of…’ collections. Born in Sydney, and raised nearly everywhere else, he has lived for the past five years in Berlin. He is now en route to somewhere else.

Night Photos of Newstead Village & a Poem by Sophie Pitchford

Tungsten

the light is

tungsten

my incandescent affiliation

street lights emit orange

tungsten lights, bless

anoint the streets with orange haze, creates vignette

turns street in to theatre

under street light is under spotlight

glow from window illuminates intricate net-curtain-call

There is life inside, electricity

rows and rows of windows glow,

currents of electricity form circuit board called estate, village

street light snoot renders unsuspecting object still-life masterpiece

catchlight from car roof becomes moon-lit-fjord

until sun rise

garish day-time, floods night-time majesty

over-exposed

until sun set Continue reading “Night Photos of Newstead Village & a Poem by Sophie Pitchford” →

March 10, 2018 1

Submissions Are Open!!! from 1st March – until 24th March – for our second guest editor Amee Nassrene Broumand!!!

Burning House Press are excited to welcome Amee Nassrene Broumand as our second guest editor! Amee will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of March – when she will then hand over the reins to our third guest editor for the month of April.

Submissions for Amee are open from today – 1st March and will remain open until 24th March.

Amee will be responding and publishing your submissions on a rolling basis during the month of March – and has chosen her themes for submissions!

Amee’s Themes are Masks // Transformations // Cosmos // Personal Myth.

Amee has introduced the themes herself for your guidance:

Wrestle with illusion, seek truth. See your various aspects as masks; consider their individual appearances & reflect upon why they’re shaped as they are. We all have masks; what are yours? Play with this idea, infuse it with mystery. Perhaps make yourself a new mask, one that taps into important yet hidden aspects of your life or mind. Create something that intrigues you, not as a product but as a catalyst for personal transformation. Make something magical; give yourself chills. Mark it with the fire that comes from grappling with your own consciousness. “We are made of star stuff.” –Carl Sagan. Create work inspired by astronomy or cosmology. Contemplate time & the universe & how it all began. Consider the origins of matter & your place in All This. Note the night sky, the turning earth, auroras, eclipses, & the solar system; contemplate nebulae where stars form over eons, contemplate supermassive black holes brooding like giant spiders in a great intergalactic web. Forge a connection to the vastness; create a personal myth that integrates your own mind / dreams / experiences / family / heritage / community / culture / local plants or animals or natural landmarks with the universe at large. Become a drop swimming in an ancient & sublime night. Astrophotography welcome!

GENERAL SUBMISSIONS: If you have work that doesn’t fall into any of these categories, submit it anyway! Hybrid, experimental, & highly imaginative work encouraged. My taste in all media is eclectic but tends towards the strange (in both subject & style). I love clarity, complexity, intelligence, genuineness, introspection, mystery, risk, & symbolism. If it’s too weird for the average literary journal, send it my way; if you walk to the beat of your own drum, I want to hear from you.

NOTE: I especially encourage submissions from women, POC, immigrants, members of the LGBTQ community, the neurodiverse, and other traditionally marginalized groups.

* * *

For submissions, Amee is looking for your poetry, short stories, flash fiction, prose poems, art, collage, painting, photography – as well as non-fiction submissions: essays, reviews, commentary, features, interviews.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions should be sent as attachments to guesteditorbhp@gmail.com

Please state the theme and form of your submission in the subject of the email. For example: MASKS/POETRY

Submissions are open from 1st March til 24th March – and will reopen again on 1st April for our third guest editor.

BHP online is now in the capable hands of the amazing Amee Nassrene Broumand– friends, send her your best!

March 1, 2018 0

Serres Chaudes, a series of visual poetry by hiromi suzuki

author’s description

“Je l’élève sur mes pensées,
Et je vois éclore au milieu
De la fuite du cristal bleu,
Les feuilles des douleurs passées.”
― Maurice Maeterlinck “Verre Ardent” from ‘Serres Chaudes’, 1889

“I hold the glass to my thoughts
and see in that crystal labyrinth
the petals of old pain bloom
as if they were not things of the past…”
― Maurice Maeterlinck ‘Serres Chaudes’, 1889 / “Burning-Glass” from ‘Hothouses’ translated by Richard Howard

Continue reading “Serres Chaudes, a series of visual poetry by hiromi suzuki” →

February 13, 2018 0

Submissions Are Open!!! from 1st Feb – until 21st Feb – for our first guest editor Florence Lenaers!!!

Burning House Press are excited to welcome Florence Lenaers as our first guest editor! Florence will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of February – when she will then hand over the reins to our second guest editor for the month of March.

Submissions for Florence are open from today – 1st February and will remain open until 21st February.

Florence will be responding and publishing your submissions on a rolling basis during the month of February – and has chosen her three themes for submissions!

Her Themes are Languages, Letters, Lists. Continue reading “Submissions Are Open!!! from 1st Feb – until 21st Feb – for our first guest editor Florence Lenaers!!!” →

February 1, 2018 0

Storytelling: Interview with Rayji de Guia

How long have you been writing and drawing?

I’ve been drawing since even before I could remember. A funny story my mother told me was how she’d gone to the market when I was around four. An older cousin was babysitting me and my sisters. While she was away, my sisters, rambunctious as they were, accidentally toppled a cabinet over the bed. When my mother arrived home, I ran up to her with a drawing on a sheet of paper that clearly depicted the situation – she dropped her huge bags from her hands and was ready to bolt into the house until my cousin came out to assure her everything had been arranged back. I don’t remember this at all, but I never doubted it, given that I’ve always had the memory of drawing with me.

Continue reading “Storytelling: Interview with Rayji de Guia” →

December 28, 2017 0

Winter Crow: A Photographic Sequence

by Amee Nassrene Broumand

Snow doesn’t look like the idea of snow, not during a snowstorm. During a snowstorm the sky becomes a void churning with insensate bees, bees that sting & bite. Snowstorms are neither pretty pictures nor charming holiday romps—snowstorms are winter.

Winter unvarnished by the domesticating tendencies of sheltered human eyes.

Continue reading “Winter Crow: A Photographic Sequence” →

December 15, 2017 0

The grammar of silence

The silence of grammar. The silence of morning fog. The silence of a tiger’s paw. Wandering silence. The I told you so silence. The silence of violence. The silence of the catacombs contained in a sheet of paper. The shimmer of summer night stillness silence. The ruins of love silence. The silence of God.

Continue reading “The grammar of silence” →

November 27, 2017 0

‘Boredom’ by Liz Zumin

Boredom

I find myself thinking about boredom. Boredom, is a feeling that seems to be prevalent amongst the modern world’s most dominant social experiences of fatigue, depression and various neuroses which are effected in today’s society. It is an inevitable consequence of modern technological advancement where the borders between work and life have become blurred, the world made smaller by the internet, and the news broadcast continuously twenty four hours a day, extending even further into our subjective experience.

Continue reading “‘Boredom’ by Liz Zumin” →

November 14, 2017 0

Collage Logbooks: hiromi suzuki

“I make collages in small sketchbooks every night before I sleep.
I call them ‘collage logbooks.’
They are diaries and also the place of creation for
my art and visual poetry.” Continue reading “Collage Logbooks: hiromi suzuki” →

November 14, 2017 0

‘Our survival deserves a dirty prayer praising our divine faults and everlasting selves.’ – Rachel McKibbens Interview for Burning House Press

On the release of her latest poetry collection – blud – Adrianna Robertson interviewed Rachel McKibbens for Burning House Press.

I first contacted Rachel McKibbens because I had been—as I often am—considering what it means to write about mental illness. I wanted to have more conversation about why it matters to write poems about mental health, how it factors into one’s identity as a human and a writer, and what it is to attempt to put the experience of it into words. At the same time, I was reading more and more of Rachel’s work (I picked up Pink Elephant and couldn’t put it down) and I felt like I had to tell someone—or as many people as possible, that these poems were opening a door. The new poems in blud left me with that same breathless feeling. Again, I found myself reading them aloud, handing them to friends and my students. Yet, when I sat down to type my questions for this interview, I knew it was impossible to say all I wanted to say—how to describe all that these poems bring forth in me: sorrow, heartbreak, awe, kinship…and always surprise. Finally, I settled on some questions and what follows are Rachel’s eloquent and evocative answers, though they would have been this regardless of what I had asked. And, perhaps more important than any perfect word I could come up with to describe this collection, is this: we need these poems and I am so grateful to Rachel for writing them.

All we misfits, weirdos, black sheep, outcasts and witches who have managed to crawl out of the mud and hold our faces up to the light are family.

Continue reading “‘Our survival deserves a dirty prayer praising our divine faults and everlasting selves.’ – Rachel McKibbens Interview for Burning House Press” →

November 5, 2017 0

Liz Zumin Interview

“Liz Zumin is an artist whose practice stems from an interest in contagion, suggestion and imitation. Through visual metaphor and physical experience she explores the duel between the isolated individual and the shared awareness of the group, the forming of relations, and how affect is transmitted between bodies and becomes enacted at a neurological, chemical and anatomical level.”

Earlier this year Liz Zumin answered some questions for BHP, an edited version of her interview was featured in The Arsonist magazine, which was published by Burning House Press a few months ago. We now make the full transcript of the interview available for BHP online.

Firstly, why make art?

I find it difficult to define and delineate what is art, perhaps because what art expresses and evokes is in part ineffable. I suppose that for me there has always been a fascination with the way that artists have the capacity to transform and alter things, to reverse the meaning of a sign, an object or a cultural form. For my part, I find that I am constantly collecting things; texts, fragments, images, ideas from all around, so in that sense, going back to the question why make art? It’s about sharing the way I experience the world and a way that I have of trying to make sense of it all. Continue reading “Liz Zumin Interview” →

October 22, 2017 1

‘Night Bus’ – by Miggy Angel (a photo-series shot through upstairs/front window of night bus)

Continue reading “‘Night Bus’ – by Miggy Angel (a photo-series shot through upstairs/front window of night bus)” →

October 21, 2017 0

‘Strange Light’ – London 16th October 2017 – photo-essay by Miggy Angel

“London was cloaked in a strange orange glow after Storm Ophelia caused a dust phenomenon and turned the sun red.”

* * *

“Keep a red heart of memories
Under the great gray rain sheds of the sky,
Under the open sun and the yellow gloaming embers.
Remember all paydays of lilacs and songbirds;
All starlights of cool memories on storm paths.Out of this prairie rise the faces of dead men.
They speak to me. I can not tell you what they say.” – from ‘Haze’ by Carl Sandburg

Continue reading “‘Strange Light’ – London 16th October 2017 – photo-essay by Miggy Angel” →

October 17, 2017 0

Hi-Vis Press Podcast – Interview With Miggy Angel

Hi-Vis Press interviewed Burning House Press’ chief Arsonist Miggy Angel – Covering the subjects of art, recovery, class, mental health and addiction, and his journey from South London to become a writer and poet – check it out here! Xx

October 12, 2017 0

Visions Of Morandi

By Fredric Nord

I realize how this obsession has gone too far. I’m on a bus cutting through Stockholm, it’s a smug city but easy on the eyes. I’ve dressed up for this. I’m on my way to see Morandi at Artipelag, beautifully situated in the archipelago. My expectations are high, feeling a bit too happy for paintings, a bit nervous. I’ve seen so few of his works in real life, only once before, and they affected me so profoundly that the big painting next door, some ceiling job by some dude named Michelangelo, left me cold and meh. I seem to have something at stake here.
And for this text, I will be Don Quixote de la Costanza.

Continue reading “Visions Of Morandi” →

August 23, 2017 0

‘Short Stories’ – Gabriel Feld

Continue reading “‘Short Stories’ – Gabriel Feld” →

June 30, 2017 0

A Conversation in Photographs with Narayan St. Jude

by Amee Nassrene Broumand

The city was Boise, Idaho. The year was 1995. I was 17 and taking photography classes at Boise State University. While hovering over trays of chemicals in the darkroom one afternoon, I wound up having a three-hour-long conversation with one of my classmates, a gifted artist named Ronny Joe Grooms. Flash forward to 2017. I message my friend Ronny Joe – who goes professionally by the name of Narayan St. Jude – and ask him to join me in photographic conversation for Burning House Press.

He agrees. Continue reading “A Conversation in Photographs with Narayan St. Jude” →