editorial

 The summer was all too brief and now October has shuffled in with its chill winds, increasingly bare trees and issue 78 of The Interpreter’s House, and oh my, I’m so grateful for issue 78. There are poems and stories aplenty here that will warm your bones and spark in your brains as the days shorten.

Issue 78 is the tenth issue since Andrew Wells and I assumed editorial roles at the House (and I realised today that it also marks twenty issues since former editor, Martin Malone, published a couple of my poems in issue 59). I’m deeply grateful that Martin chose me to take up this Editorship. As you might have guessed, gratitude is very much on my mind at the moment, which is odd, because, although I’m a polite sort who always says please and thank you, I’m not one for gratitude lists and bullet journals. However, as I reflect on the changes that have taken place between issues 69 to 78, there are a number of people to whom I want to say thank you.

So in not-necessarily-chronological order…

Heartfelt thanks to Annie Rutherford who has been a fantastic fiction editor since coming on board for issue 72. I have a vague recollection of persuading (wheedling? begging? bribing?) Annie to join the magazine on a temporary basis to select and edit fiction submissions while Andrew and I focused on poetry. Under Annie’s stewardship, the House fiction selections have grown and diversified to include translations and more experimental pieces. Fiction round here got all grown up and now holds its head up proudly alongside its bigger poetry sibling. Even when Annie started with us, she was very busy working in literary festival management, translation and on her own writing, but now the time has come for her to move on. She has a new role as Head of Library and Information Services at the Goethe-Institut Glasgow, where she does all things bookish, heading up the team running their library, doing comms and also organising literary events. Plus she has a new book out. The Trilogy of Surfaces and Invisibilities features translations of Nora Gomringer’s poetry. The collection explores ideas around our concept of 'normal' (or abnormal) and gendered bodies. For interested readers in Edinburgh, Nora will be performing at Push the Boat Out in November. Annie, I’m mostly grateful that we were able to keep you here for seven issues! I’ve appreciated your commitment to publishing ambitious writing, exacting proofreading, wry sense of humour and kindness. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew, for the site design. Contributors and readers alike comment on the simple, clean look of the House which shows the poems and stories to their best advantage. And thank you also for your work creating the podcast - a whole new venture for us. Catch up with the first four episodes here.

Thanks also to Louise Peterkin who joined the team in issue 73 to edit poetry alongside me. Lou brings a wealth of knowledge about poetry and engages deeply with every submission that finds its way into her folder. Our mammoth shortlist Zoom meeting for each issue is one of life’s genuine pleasures.

And thank you to Lizzie Fowler, the newest member of the team who pitched up at the House in issue 75, editing fiction with Annie. Lizzie fitted in straight away with her deft eye for the excellent and eclectic. I look forward to the ways, Lizzie, in which you will continue to shape and develop our fiction selections.

Finally - and this is a constant thank you, like breathing. Every time I read a comment on Twitter or check the analytics for site traffic data, thank you. Thank you, dear readers, for spending time with each poem, each story. As an editorial team, we literally couldn’t do this without you. I notice now for the first time that dear is nearly read spelled backwards. A fitting almost semordnilap if ever there was one. You’re an insightful and smart readership who don’t need me to point out the many jewels in issue 78. It’s much more satisfying, isn’t it, to discover them fresh for yourself? So, I’ll close now and leave you to explore, read and enjoy.

Till next time.

Georgi