Stand Magazine
The literary magazine Stand' was established in 1952. It moved to Leeds in 1960 before moving again to Newcastle and eventually returning again to Leeds. Now based in the University of Leeds English Department, it welcomes short fiction submissions from around the world.
History
London-born Jon Silkin founded Stand in 1952 using redundancy money from a previous job as a caretaker. Silkin was awarded a two-year Gregory Fellowship with the University of Leeds in 1958. Stand moved with him to Leeds, and the archives of Stand are now housed with the University’s Special Collections. The largest section of the Stand archive consists of business records and materials relating to the magazine production like typescripts and proofs. There is also some correspondence between editors, contributors and readers.
The magazine’s aim, as first stated in its editorial was “to encourage more and more people to read and enjoy poetry… and … persuade the poet into more contact with its readers”.[1] In 1957 the magazine briefly stopped publication due to a lack of funds. After encouragement from G Wilson Knight and A Norman Jeffares from the Department of English Literature, Silkin relaunched the magazine. He wrote to local industrialists asking for financial backing.[2] He also contacted University benefactors Stanley Burton and Bernard Gillinson.
The first issue of Stand was published in February 1960 and included contributions from Tony Harrison, Vernon Watkins and others. Harrison was also named as an editorial advisor. It continued to be published from Leeds with support from the English Literature department until 1965 wherein it reached international reputation. It continued to be published from Newcastle until the late 1990s before returning to Leeds.
In its fifty years of publication, Stand has featured the works of many notable poets like Jeffrey Wainwright, Ken Smith, George Macbeth, Tony Harrison and Douglas Dunn. Stand is currently produced from the University of Leeds Poetry Centre. All editions published since March 1999 are available via the Stand Magazine archive.
Editors
Jon Silkin was the first editor and the creator of Stand. Ken Smith became a co-editor in 1963. Jon Glover later became heavily involved with the production and distribution of the magazine. Tony Harrison edited the magazine in the late 1960s when Silkin undertook a year’s residency at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop.
It has been co-edited by John Whale, Director of the Leeds University Poetry Centre, since 2001. Jon Glover is the managing editor.
Stand Issues
There have been a number of special issues celebrating the writers who had a particularly close relationship with Stand. One issue in 2017 celebrated the recently deceased Geoffrey Hill, including some of his unpublished poems. Another issue celebrated the 80th birthday of Tony Harrison. A 2018 issue commemorated the 80th anniversary of Ken Smith's birth.
References
This article "Stand Magazine" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Stand Magazine. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
