Name: Melanie Penycate
Business: Forge Gallery
Location: Walberton, Near Arundel, West Sussex
Website: www.forgegallerywalberton.co.uk
Tell us about your background:
From when I could first write, I seem to have kept myself company with pen and paper, and it increased in intensity at times of crisis. Through the changing years of childhood and adolescence there is also sometimes a second commentary, from a slightly older me, embarrassed by the younger. It creates an external memory which is interesting to look back on, and also perhaps a stronger sense of identity.
I was first published in an Anthology based on an Observer competition when I was 14. When I was 29, having three children by then, I felt the need to go ‘looking for myself’ again, and found Wey Poets in Guildford, a thriving group at the time, alternating between workshops and visiting poets. From this point I began writing less privately, finding that I could succeed with sets of poems that I sent out. I trained for English teaching at this time, and also completed, bit by bit, an Open University degree in Psychology.
Tell us about what you do:
I have two poetry collections to date: Breaking the Arch from Guildford Poets Press in 1995, and Feeding Humming Birds from Oversteps Books in 2009. I enjoy giving readings and attending poetry events, and sending work off for publication. It’s best to aim for publication in the good magazines before attempting to be accepted for a collection. I was pleased to be accepted for Ambit, the North, Mslexia, Rain Dog, Iota, Orbis among others, and several anthologies.
My partner Mike and I live in what was formerly a blacksmith’s cottage, and the adjoining Forge is now a gallery for contemporary art that we run, alongside potting (Mike), teaching and writing (me). The lovely cover design on Feeding Humming Birds is by Jo Slater-Thomas, one of the artists represented by the Gallery.
Tell us about the kind of people that you meet and work with:
Chichester Stanza is a source of inspiration and debate. We are a small workshop group, linked to the National Poetry Society and we meet monthly. The group launched a collection on National Poetry Day 2010 called The Fountain, after the pub where we met. I also meet and workshop with a group of writers who were on the Chichester University MA creative writing course together. We have come to know each other very well, and I never leave their company without ideas of how to improve and develop work.
What is your greatest achievement?
Probably three grown sons, all of whom are involved in writing and performing music and words, in their different ways. Personally, of course I was pleased with the poetry collections, but still feel I have progress to make.
Who or what inspires you?
Often something I’m reading, newspaper, biography or radio or TV news. Sometimes a story I’m told. And sometimes, though less in recent years, the harrowing events of my own early life! There will often be an inconsistency or injustice that rankles, or sometimes a personal breakthrough that is inspirational. I’ve written about Helen Keller’s breakthrough into language at the water pump for example, and the former Chinese tradition of foot binding, after reading Wild Swans. Whatever the theme, it must have a resonance beyond the obvious subject matter, and that will give the poem depth.
What projects are you working on now/ have you worked on recently?
Apart from running the Gallery, which is an on-going project, I’m continuing with my writing. The Iris theatre group in London sent a request for verse to dramatise, so I’ve sent them my MA dissertation piece, a long narrative poem about a fisherman’s family who have a mermaid as a daughter. It will be exciting if something comes of that. This is a piece that I’m illustrating also, so that’s ongoing. I’ve also illustrated a group of poems which I think are suitable for children. I’d like to see these used more, perhaps in anthologies, or perhaps in these days of cautious publishers and POD it’s worth making one’s own collection! Last Summer, I was guest editor for Guildford Poets Press magazine, which was insightful, selecting instead of submitting for a change.
What do you do in your leisure time?
Grow vegetables on an allotment! We also love travel, theatre, galleries, and I’m seldom without a novel to read. As I teach Psychology for a living, it would be fair to say that I write in my leisure time. Apart from the odd competition win, poetry has not turned words into gold in any literal sense!
Finally, any words of wisdom for other creative people?
The truth of the matter is that there are always going to be more pots, paintings and poems than there are people queuing up to pay for them. This is not a reason for the potter or the painter or the poet to stop. It’s a part of life, to create, to contemplate, to elaborate. Part of one’s own development. And sometimes, it will also be public.
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