Magma Poetry, better known as Magma, is a London-based poetry magazine, publishing work on and about poetry,[2] and known for appointing a different editor every issue. It was founded by Helen Nicholson and Laurie Smith in 1994, with its first issue edited by Smith, and appearing in March 1994. Since 1994, a total of 91 issues of Magma have appeared by December 2024. The team run the Magma Poetry, Pamphlet and Subscribers-only competitions.
Conceived sometime in "the summer of 1992" with 'Urban Fox' as one of the proposed names, Magma was founded by Nicholson and Smith in 1994. It is published three times a year, usually in spring, summer and autumn.[3] The original team also included Mick Delap,[4] David Boll (chairman), Peter Ashton Jones and Martin Sonenberg (illustrations), and Ronald Frank (treasurer). Nicholson, at that time, served as secretary, and Smith as editorial secretary. In 1994, Magma worked with the City Lit, being located in Stukeley Street, off Drury Lane, and called themselves The Stukeley Press.[5]
The first issue of Magma featured eleven poets, and the second, edited by Boll, included work by fourteen poets. An interview with poet Carol Ann Duffy was published in the third.[5] In their Autumn 1995 newsletter, the Suffolk Poetry Society called Magma "well presented and printed", noting their "good selection of poetry."[6] In later issues, reviews have also had an important place in the magazine.[7][8]
The subtitle in the initial issues was "New Poetry from Around the World", which they stopped using after No. 18, and the cover became similar to as it is today from Magma 27, the Autumn 2003 issue. The current subtitle for the magazine is "The poetry magazine with a different editor every issue", and the issues are now themed, with the issue editors specialising in the said kind of poetry. The first themed issue, however, was No. 19 ("New Love Poems") which was edited by Mick Delap. The current cover design pattern for Magma was first taken up in No. 56 – "The Poetry of Clothes", edited by the poets Julia Bird and Helen Mort. It was further tweaked, although only a little (perhaps to make it look more organised), in No. 65, and then in No. 68.[9]
Later years
In 2005, Magma, working with SeaBritain 2005, conducted a poll to identify the UK's "favourite sea poem". The poem 'Sea Fever', published in 1900 by John Masefield, the UK Poet Laureate between 1930 and 1967, won the vote. Some of the other poems included in the top 10 were Martin Newell's 'The Song of the Waterlily', Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', and 'Christmas At Sea' by Robert Louis Stevenson.[10]
Celebrating 25 years, the Open Pamphlet Competition was announced in 2018 by Lisa Kelly, Chair of Magma. The inaugural winner was Alice Willitts's Dear,[24][25] selected by the board members and published in 2019. The later winners of the competition have been: Alexa Winik, for Close River[26] (selected by Mary Jean Chan, judge for the Magma Open Pamphlet Competition 2020),[27] Asim Khan, for Annihilation (selected by Alycia Pirmohamed, judge for the 2022 competition), and Michael Greavy for The Man Who Made Up Trees (selected by Niall Campbell, who judged the 2024 competition).[28][29]
In 2020, the University of Central Lancashire-based poet and researcher Yvonne Reddick was awarded an AHRC grant of £92,720. A proposition was to work with Magma to inspire writing about the environment.[30][31] The said issue was published in Autumn/October 2021, as Magma 81 – "Anthropocene". Reddick was also an editor, with Adam Lowe, of the "Loss" issue, in which they commissioned "a series of poems" that would explore loss. One of the poems, 'The Little Miracles' written by Malika Booker, went on to win the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2020.[3]
Today, Magma receives well over "thousands of submissions" from the UK and abroad,[5] and a large number of poets and artists of related fields have so far worked towards editing its many issues. Some of the more popular names include Clare Pollard, Roddy Lumsden, Helen Mort, Hannah Lowe, Ilya Kaminsky, Victoria Kennefick and Ian McEwan. Below is an extensive list of people who have edited Magma since 1994.[9][33]
1994
1 (Spring): Laurie Smith
2 (Summer): David Boll
3 (Winter): Vicci Bentley
1995
4 (Spring): Helen Nicholson
5 (Summer): Mark Reid
6 (Autumn): Rick Roots
1996
7 (Spring): Mick Delap
8 (Summer): Martin Sonenberg
9 (Autumn): John Stammers
1997
10 (Summer): Sarah Brown
11 (Winter): Tim Kindberg
1998
12 (Spring): Mary MacRae
13 (Winter): Jane Ormerod
1999
14 (Spring): Gautam Naik
15 (Autumn): Laurie Smith
2000
16 (Winter): David Boll
17 (Spring): Karen Green
18 (Autumn): Mary MacRae
2001
19 (Autumn) – "New Love Poems": Mick Delap
20 (Summer): Helen Nicholson
21 (Autumn): Laurie Smith
2002
22 (Winter): David Boll
23 (Summer): Karen Green
24 (Autumn): Pat Ransford
2003
25 (Winter) – "Poetry on Foreign Lands": Tim Kindberg
26 (Summer) – "Questions of travel": Mick Delap
27 (Autumn) – "Same-sex relationships": Tim Robertson
2004
28 (Spring): Laurie Smith
29 (Summer): David Boll
2004/05
30 (Winter) – "10th Anniversary Issue": Karen Green
2005
January – "10th Anniversary Anthology": Tim Robertson
31 (Spring): John Stammers
32 (Summer) – "Measuring the Sea": Mick Delap
33 (Winter) – "The unnoticed, the ignored": Tim Kindberg
2006
34 (Spring): Mark McGuinness
35 (Summer): Tim Robertson
36 (Autumn) – "Inscapes – Charting the Interior": Anne-Marie Fyfe
2007
37 (Spring): Laurie Smith
38 (Summer): David Boll
39 (Autumn): David Morphet
2008
40 (Spring) – "Passions and Obsessions": Roddy Lumsden
94 – "REMIX", edited by Elontra Hall, Willie Lee Kinard III & Lola Oh
Magma is often applauded for a unique approach of having "different editors for each issue."[3][36] It is also known for the blog posts,[37][34] and for the interviews,[38][4] and the team organise launch events for the issues.[39]
Team
The current Chair of Magma is the poet Lisa Kelly, who also edited "The Deaf Issue" with the poet Raymond Antrobus.[40] Julia Bird, who edited two issues for the magazine, is one of the previous members on the board,[41] alongside Gboyega Odubanjo. It now also includes, among others, Susannah Hart, Paul Stephenson, and Cheryl Moskowitz,[42] who also edited the "Anthropocene" issue with Yvonne Reddick and Maya Chowdhry. As the reviews editor for the magazine, Aoife Lyall replaced Rob A. Mackenzie, who had been in the position for over ten years.[43]
Notes
1.^αAs of 1 July 2025, the 93rd and the 94th issues of Magma were not out. The submission call for Magma 94 – "REMIX" was launched on 30 June 2025, with submissions set to open on the 1st of July.
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