Have you ever had the experience where something you were expecting didn’t happen, then something even better came along? Well that’s been my year. From the utter low of a devastating rejection to finding new purpose with a group of ground breaking and inspiring women; launching a magazine with them and collaborating on a new book which is coming out in March next year.
The group of women are the poets Alice Willitts and Hilary Watson and novelists Katherine Stansfield and Laura Baggaley and together we have been on a journey of discovery As you will see from previous posts we have been exploring the idea of thrutopia and writing about the future and our place in it in a different way. In April we launched a Substack magazine Bending The Ark https://bendingthearcmagazine.substack.com/ and Alice, Hilary and I have been working on a collection of thrutopian poems which I’m completely delighted to announce will be published by Dialect Press in March 2026. Huge thanks to editor Juliette Morton for having faith in the project. Dialect is a unique organisation that specialises in collaborative works and offers teaching and mentoring, as well as being involved in many other interesting initiatives.
One of the most important thing for me however, has been finding joy in my writing again through the process of collaboration. Working with a group of supportive and inspiring women has been transformative. We got together originally through a shared interest in wanting to write differently about the future but found our ideas grew and grew and crystallised into wanting to make a bigger difference and so the magazine was launched. This collaboration as well as being joyous was also a careful and well thought out process. When we first had the idea of a magazine we had several meetings exploring what form it would take, what our shared vision actually was and what our individual and joint responsibilities would be. We even had a session with a facilitator who guided us in this process, resulting in an agreement setting out our intentions and the ways in which we would work. I’m not suggesting that every collaboration needs to go to these lengths but what it has done is given us really strong foundations and a weather resistant framework that feels safe and supportive.
Working with Alice and Hilary on the new collection also feels similarly nurturing. To be able to trust another writer’s instincts offered without judgement, does so much to take your own work forward, to be dealt with compassionately yet rigorously allows you to grow as a writer and a person.
Writing can be a solitary experience at times; hard to keep motivated, hard to keep feeling inspired but working in a true collaboration is a special thing. It feels like someone is there to stop you falling and your hands are ready to stop them from falling too. I can’t recommend it enough. I hope you are able to take a look at the magazine and there’ll be more news on the book soon, including a final title!
Ilse Pedler Poet 