from the editor's desk
Welcome to the team Paul Munden!
Westerly Magazine is excited to announce the introduction of Paul Munden as our new Poetry Editor! Paul is a published poet in both the UK and Australia and brings an incredible wealth of creativity and experience to our team.
We are looking forward to seeing how Paul lends his expertise and guidance to our talented poets as he dives into work on our upcoming November issue
As a poet, Paul has published five poetry collections, including Analogue/Digital: New & Selected Poems (Smith|Doorstop, 2015) and Chromatic (UWA Publishing, 2017), and five prose poetry chapbooks. Paul is a co-editor of various journals and anthologies, including Metamorphic: 21st century poets respond to Ovid (RWP, 2017) and Giant Steps (RWP, 2019). Praise for his work is easily found and Chromatic has been described by Judy Johnson as “… vivid, well realised poems [ranging] across hemispheres and centuries, embracing music, art, film, historical events, and the potent catalysts of love, illness and death.”
For the British Council, Paul has acted as conference poet and edited the anthology, Feeling the Pressure: Poetry and science of climate change (British Council, 2008). Paul was also the director of the UK’s National Association of Writers in Education from 1994-2018 and is now a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Leeds. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia, where he established the Poetry on the Move festival.
We are looking forward to seeing how Paul lends his expertise and guidance to our talented poets as he dives into work on our upcoming November issue, Westerly 64.2.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Poetry Editor Cassandra Atherton for her wonderful work throughout the years, she has been instrumental to Westerly’s expansion into prose poetry and a valued member of our team. We are thrilled to have Cassandra continue as a member of the Westerly editorial team and look forward to our ongoing relationship with her as a Commissioning Editor.
We feel honoured to introduce Paul as Westerly’s new Poetry Editor; we know that he will be an invaluable addition to the magazine.
Dear Paul Munden,
I don’t know if you remember me from our time as AWP Conference bookfair neighbors a few years ago, when I was there with my partner John Yewell, representing our writing workshops, Writeaways. I came across your name today, as I was writing to people abroad on behalf of AWP, of which I am now a board member, and was reminded what a pleasure it was to spend time with you in those busy bookfair days. This note is for no further purpose than to let you know how lovely it was to meet you and that I hope you’re doing well.
best,
Mimi Herman