Second Light is an informal network for women poets, aged around 40 and upwards who are published/beginning to get published/serious about developing their work. It aims to promote the work of all women poets and also to develop and promote the work of its members.

The organiser is Dilys Wood and I am consultant to the Network. We have a committee which supports the work of the organisation. Membership is open to women aged over 40 at a minumum fee of £20.00 per year (donations welcome). There is a concessionary charge of £13.00 for those with limited financial means. Associate membership is open to women under 40 at a fee of £13.00 per year. The 400 members include very wellknown poets such as U A Fanthorpe, Penelope Shuttle and Mimi Khalvati. If you you would like to join please e-mail Dilys Wood for a leaflet with a form which includes special offers for publications.

The network keeps in touch with its members through a twice yearly newsletter which includes reviews of books by women poets including books and pamphlets by members, articles, information about workshops, courses and readings. The newsletter also includes the winning and commended poems from the Second Light competition which is held annually. The editor features member poets by invitation in most issues.

Second Light has now published two anthologies in conjunction with poetry publishers: Parents and Making Worlds. It has also itself published as Second Light Publications (SLP) an anthology of fourteen members: Four Caves of the Heart. In 2006 it published Images of Women in conjunction with Arrowhead Press. Each book is described in greater detail below.

Every year Second Light holds a 3 day conference at Launde Abbey near Oakham in Leicestershire. This includes workshops, readings, discussions, a booksale and opportunities for members from different parts of the country to meet one another.

N E W S

The Second Light Live website is now live and on it you can see members' pages, full details about Second Light with all up-to-date news and information about ARTEMISpoetry: www.secondlightlive.co.uk.

See also: http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/secondlight.html.

Launde Abbey Residential Workshop: TUESDAY 26 AUGUST TO FRIDAY 29 AUGUST 2008. Contact Dilys Wood to register your interest.

IMAGES OF WOMEN: AN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY by Contemporary Women Poets 'Images of Women' is now available. Please see details about it on the Images of Women page of this website. Its twin book, 'My Mother Threw Knives' has already been reprinted and is available from Dilys Wood. More details about the two books and a list of contributors to each book are on the Images of Women page of this website. For more information about this book please use this link.

Second Light is particularly interested in creating opportunities for publication. Its first venture in this area: Parents was published in 2000 in conjunction with Enitharmon. It includes poems by 114 poets living in Britain about their own parents and has work both by established writers and exciting newcomers.

This very popular book is nearly sold out but a few copies are still available from Dilys Wood or Enitharmon Press.

Making Worlds was published in 2005. It is a major anthology of poetry by women writers in Britain. It is the first such anthology produced in this century and it demonstrates the strength of women's writing today and its increasing contribution to the poetry of the last thirty years. The editors have aimed to show the imaginative power, depth of thought and range of content in women's work.

Copies are available from Dilys Wood.

Many well-known women poets belong to the Network, which has published anthologies in co-operation with established publishers. Four Caves of the Heart, the first independent publication celebrates the work of members with exceptional talent but are not yet widely known. We think you will find these voices interesting, distinctive and compelling.

The fourteen authors are:

• Anne Ryland
• Maggie Sawkins
• Mary MacRae
• Lyn Moir
• Barbara Marsh
• Daphne Gloag
• Lucy Hamilton
• Wendy French
• Angela Dove
• Christine Coleman
• Elizabeth Rapp
• Margaret Speak
• Lynne Rees
• Lynne Wycherley

From Summer by the Swale

The leaf I press,
the bright film spooling
in a black recess,
I store for us under ling and moor,

under Tan Hill and Oxnop Scar,
where water dives
through limestone
bone by bone
into the heart's four caves.

Lynne Wycherly