Important Notice
Publication of Vol 55 Nos.3-4 ‘Stepping Stones‘ marks a major change in the editorship and admin of Agenda.
It will be run henceforth from the University of St Andrews under the new editorship of John Burnside.
John Burnside, Editor: [email protected]
Administration enquiries: [email protected]
Submissions window is now open and submissions to be sent on word docs via email with a brief biography to: [email protected]
Mailing address:
c/o School of English, Castle House, The Scores, St Andrews, KY16 9AL
Patricia McCarthy and Marcus Frederick (Fred) can contacted at their new email addresses:
Patricia: [email protected]
Fred: [email protected]
Last Newsletter from Patricia McCarthy and Marcus Frederick
Just to say (especially to those who haven’t received the Stepping Stones issue of Agenda) this is a sad/happy farewell to running Agenda, and to welcome Agenda’s wonderful new permanent home.
Highly acclaimed poet/Professor John Burnside is taking over as editor of Agenda which will be run henceforth from the University of St Andrews. Fred and I wish John and his team all the very best, and thank them heartily for enabling Agenda to live on both now and down future centuries when we are no longer here.
From Patricia:
I have made so many lovely friends during my 24 years on Agenda, some even just by email but they still feel very close, so I do hope you will all keep in touch. I want to thank you for your support over the years and I hope you will continue to enjoy Agenda both by subscribing and also by submitting your very best work.
I also want to pay especial tribute to Fred (Marcus Frederick) without whom Agenda wouldn’t have existed all these years. He has worked, unseen, most efficiently and with wonderful organisational skills on the ever-increasing task of admin and its many sections in this world of social media. He has also designed and put up everything on the website. His perfectionism and conscientiousness have been exemplary.
I am hoping to have more space and time for my poetry, for reading novels and other works unrelated to poetry, for playing the piano and, most importantly, for my horse – and pussy cat.
I hope to keep in touch with Agenda and will soon have my own personal website – so don’t forget to visit it soon when it is up.
My facebook remains the same, under my name.Bless you all and again much gratitude.
From Fred:
The latest Stepping Stones issue of Agenda was mailed as a free issue to all our current individual subscribers and those subscribers whose subscription might have lapsed since Volume 50 No.1. Current subscriber subscription details have been updated to take account of this. It was mailed as a free issue to highlight the change in editorship and management but mainly to thank as many subscribers old and new for supporting Agenda over the years.
We are aware that deliveries of the issue to Europe, Ireland and further afield may be taking longer than usual but are hoping these will be delivered shortly. A brief email to confirm receipt would be appreciated. I will for a while continue to manage subscriptions so if you are concerned, do contact me (see bottom of newsletter below).
This then will be my final newsletter. Until I came together with Patricia I had never known Agenda and it is only over the years working on the magazine that I have discovered its history and the depths of its rich literary connections past and present. It has been a privilege to work alongside Patricia with her energy and enthusiasm and astonishing to witness such a wonderful level of consistency in the level of her editorial output to maintain the Agenda legacy. I feel very proud to have been a part of this output and to now be a small part of Agenda’s history.
I would like to echo Patricia with my own thanks for your support over the past twenty years and also for all the positive facebook comments and emails of appreciation we have received since breaking the news of the move to St Andrews. Hopefully through Patricia and her own work I will stay in touch with a few of the more close personal contacts I have made over the years.
For one last time from me personally, whether your subscription is still in credit or recently lapsed, do give a vote of support to the new editorship and management by renewing or taking out a new subscription at the Agenda website subscription page.
Last but not least, let me take this opportunity to send my best wishes not only to all our Agenda readers, contributors and supporters but of course to John Burnside and St Andrews as they take Agenda forward to add another chapter in its growing history.
Patricia McCarthy: Introduction / Editorial
Agenda Vol 55 Nos. 3 & 4 ‘Stepping Stones’ published 22nd March 2023
John Burnside: Introduction / Editorial
Supplementary Stepping Stones web collection of poetry, in tandem with the printed issue of Agenda, Vol 55 Nos 3-4
Featured artist: Sarah Longley
Poems by: David Harsent, Paul O’Prey, Peter Weltner, Rory Waterman, Carol Rumens, David Cooke, George Szirtes, Claire Booker, Arthur Broomfield, Jane Lovell, Dylan Willoughby, Stephen Romer, Will Stone, Jessica Mookherjee, Pat Boran, Shanta Acharya, Omar Sabbagh, Oisin Breen, Bibhu Padhi, John Kinsella and Merryn MacCarthy
