The Rialto began life in a bar, just down the hill from Dame Julian*’s cell in the city’s red light district. It’s the same bar that the Norwich Cafe Writers now use for their meetings. John Wakeman’s kids were writing poems. How to get them published? There were not so many poetry magazines in 1983. I said ‘let’s start one’. John said we’d be mad to do so.
We invited a third poet, Jenny Roberts, to join us, had meetings to decide on a name. We might not have gone beyond this stage but a friend came by and asked ‘ What news on the Rialto?’
We had a jumble sale to raise funds. Then Jenny’s father who had co-edited the little magazine Samphire (famous in the Seventies) offered us the use of his subscription list. A loving friend, who still wishes to remain anonymous, gave us money. There was enough to write to all the people on the list and to pay the printer’s bill for the first issue.
We wrote that we intended to create a magazine for new poets who would appear alongside their successful contemporaries. Poems, and a few subscriptions, began to arrive.
The first issue came out in autumn 1984. It had poems by Margaret Atwood, George Barker, Gavin Ewart and Miroslav Holub, and four poems by a not so well known Carol Ann Duffy. There were other poems by unknown and less-known poets, and some, as is usual in first issues of poetry magazines, by our friends and relations.
The magazine was in A4 format because we wanted to give poems space in which to be seen. We also wanted the magazine to look good, to be something people would want to own: we liked the idea of illustrations and got help from professional artists and designers – notably Nick Barnham and Clare Jarrett. There were no reviews because we wanted to avoid the partisan narrowness which we thought characterised little magazines. We were determined to promote what John called ‘the republic of poetry’.
After the first issue the trickle of poems arriving became a river – we had a poem by Ted Hughes in the second issue. We went to Eastern Arts and asked for a grant. They liked what we were doing, and continue to support the magazine, though now they are called Arts Council of England, East. George MacBeth, then an advisor to EA, encouraged us to pay for the poems we published.
This vital gesture of respect has risen from five pounds to £20 per poem – we’ll pay more when we can. We wanted to send a signal that we applauded the craft of poetry, the work that goes into shaping a poem, and to acknowledge a deep belief in the importance of poetry. Poetry has to do with the health of language and the continuing ability of language to help humankind make sense of itself and of life.
Jenny Roberts left after the seventh issue, but not before she’d helped us to recognise the excellence of the new poetry being written by women. Women poets continue to be strongly represented in The Rialto.
The magazine increased in popularity – a few years ago John worked out that the editors read twelve thousand poems a year. We had a hundred subscribers to begin with, there are now over a thousand.
Both editors read all the poems submitted: we decided which ones to accept at fortnightly meetings, and wrote personally (I have tried to continue this policy) to each poet whether returning or accepting their work.
The Arts Council’s Literary Magazine Development scheme allowed us to increase the payments to poets, spend money on advertising, and to pay ourselves a token something for our many hours of work – a great help to our self respect. We felt recognised by their support: here was confirmation of the magazine’s national importance.
In 1996 John Wakeman left the magazine and the country. His wife Hilary, one of the first women to be ordained in the Church of England, became minister for three Church of Ireland parishes in West Cork. John was quiet for a bit, then started his poetry magazine The Shop: the addresss is, Skeagh, Schull, West Cork, Eire.
The Rialto continues: we have reached No.65 and are near to our 25th year: we’ve increased the number of pages and the magazine is now perfect bound: there’s more prose content, including a letters page. There’s also an annual Young Poets Competition. To the regret of some readers and the joy of others I dropped the illustrations. I continue to read all the poems that come in.
Increased support from the Arts Council means that we can pay for help from freelancers. Dean Parkin, who also works for the Poetry Trust (and is a rather good poet) has been brilliant at working on development plans, and organising readings. Helen Mitchell brings years of experience in the Arts and Heritage fields. They’ve worked with Nick from Starfish to create this website. (You can also find us on Facebook).
Before he left John edited How It Turned Out by Frank Redpath, his friend, a poet we’d published from time to time in the magazine. I decided that it made sense for The Rialto to publish books, particularly first collections, at a time when major publishers were narrowing their lists. In 2000 we published In by Andrew Waterhouse and Diverting the Sea by Emily Wills. Andrew’s book won the Forward First Collection prize.
Other books have followed – full details are on the books section of the website. Two have been winners of the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and Allan Crosbie’s book was shortlisted for that prize. We’ve also launched the Bridge Pamphlets series.
All these publications are intended to help poets develope their careers. It’s noteworthy that Josephine Dickinson is now published by Houghton Mifflin in America, Lorraine Mariner has a first full collection forthcoming from Picador, and Helena Nelson has become a poetry publisher – she runs HappenStance Press.
Michael Mackmin
*Dame Julian is Julian of Norwich, the medieval anchoress who wrote about her ‘Shewings’ and who is famous for the comfortable words ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well’. In The Rialto No.4, if you can find a copy, there’s three pages of Dame Julian poems by Denise Levertov.
From the start, The Rialto has received invaluable support from Arts Council England.
