Voice Catcher 4, a must read for writers

[Alex Birkett]

October 2006 was the birth of Voice Catcher, an anthology of poetry, prose, and stories submitted by women from the surrounding Portland area and south west Washington. Now four years later, Voice Catcher delivers more pieces from local female writers with all the power and beauty that readers have come to expect. I was privileged to interview one of the members of the editorial collective, my dear friend and Vancouver based poet Toni Partington who acknowledges Ann Sexton, Audre Lorde, Joy Harjo, and Dorriane Laux as mothers in her poetic lineage.

You may have heard Toni reading her infamous “Ode to Red Wine” at the Dada’09 art festival along with Christopher Luna, author of Ghost Town USA and host of the open mike at Cover To Cover Books on 1817 Main St., and Eileen Elliot, a multi-media artist and author of Prodigal Cowgirl.

Toni was kind enough to share the rigorous process that goes into each installment of Voice Catcher. As a community project the first step involves collecting submissions from interested writers in the area, these are accepted from February 1st to March 30th yearly at the Voice Catcher homepage provided below. The next step of composing the anthology involves volunteer editors who break themselves into teams (I was saddened to hear that these teams had no mascots) and review the submitted work. Toni’s team consisted of four active writers.

Toni and her teammates were responsible for the review of one hundred and fifty submissions, a fraction of the impressive four hundred works submitted for this year’s edition. Each of the teams brings forward potential candidates to be published. Finally, the works to be published are chosen from among these and another generation of Voice Catcher is conceived. Some of the works come from authors who are already established, but most come from women who make their debut on the pages of Voice Catcher.

Unlike other anthologies, the editorial collective of Voice Catcher promises feedback to every author whose work is not accepted; this is a very rare and considerate service that they provide, and I cannot express how proud I am to have such loyal writers supporting each other in our community so thoroughly; most publishers do not return anything aside from a “thanks try again” letter. The staff of Voice Catcher is very aware of the community, because its members are actually part of the community. This sense of intimacy is practically palpable, as I sat across from Toni, who gestured with exciting flourishes, I couldn’t help but notice the glimmer in her eyes, the trademark of passion.

Virginia Woolf once said that “A woman needs money and a room of her own if she is to write”. The women of Voice Catcher provide the room, but do not require you to have money. There is no fee to submit work, and the entire organization is volunteer based, with profits from book sales going towards printing fees, local charities, and Scholarships for women who wish to take writing oriented classes at one of the academic centers here in the Northwest. It is with this in mind that I am pleased to announce the first Vancouver reading from the fourth edition of Voice Catcher. The event will be held in the wonderfully mad throes of Vancouver’s First Friday event this December 4th at 7PM in the Angst Gallery, located at 1015 Main St. Some of the proceeds from book sales at this event will be given to the Vancouver YMCA along with The Women’s Empowerment Coalition of Washington State University Vancouver who will be simultaneously holding a silent auction for the same cause. Toni Partington will be reading at this event with other authors who appear in this year’s anthology; Nancy Flynn, Christi Krug, M, Carolyn Martin, and Darlene Pagan.

I feel that I should again illuminate how amazing this series is. Submissions are open to all the Women of the Portland and south west Washington area, the submissions are free, the guaranteed feedback is free, and the book sales go to the production of more books, local charities, and scholarships for women. All this under the loving hand of a volunteer staff, many of whom have been published in one of the four editions of Voice Catcher. If you are a female writer, then Voice Catcher should be your next stop in the journey of publishing your work. And if you are a avid lover of the written word regardless of gender, then Voice Catcher is a wonderful read you won’t soon forget, but don’t take my word for it, see for yourself. I have requested this poem from Toni who was happy to allow me to post it for your reading pleasure. Don't forget to take a look at the links to Voice Catcher and more.

Reunion – 8, A Poem By Toni Partington
this place, so changed
left home before I
grew permanent teeth
sought freedom and
a new climate

today, I return
unencumbered
quotes from my uncensored
life will appear on
the billboard
across the street
from the Dairy Queen

Photograph By Anni Becker, find her at http://www.guerrilla-media.com/profile/anni

Shoot Toni a friend request at her new Guerilla-media account
http://www.guerrilla-media.com/profile/ToniPartington?xg_source=act...

And swing by her personal blog
http://www.poettone.blogspot.com/

Check out these websites for Voice Catcher, Angst Gallery, and Cover to Cover Books for curiosities sake
http://www.voicecatcher.org/
http://www.angstgallery.com/
http://www.covertocoverbooks.net/

[Toni Partington]

Alex - thanks for the shout-out to VoiceCatcher. I hope to see my Vancouver friends, writers and artists on December. 4th.

[Anni]

Looks great, Alex! I can't wait to read about other artists in our amazing community. :-)