A north-east literary magazine has announced its return, complete with cover artwork by a globally-renowned artist.
Pushing Out the Boat’s 14th edition will be available across Aberdeen city and shire as of May 1, following a massive effort from the team behind the publication.
The magazine is volunteer-run and is committed to promoting local culture, including the Doric dialect, whilst having international appeal.
Pushing Out the Boat, which is also a registered charity, features prose, poetry and artwork from emerging and established talents.
The group narrowed down hundreds of submissions to 55 contributions for this year’s publication.
And a prize-winning image by artist, Tom Hammick, will appear on the journal’s front cover, after he donated the use of his print, Violetta and Alfredo’s Escape – which was awarded the 2016 V&A award – to the Pushing Out the Boat team.
The work was inspired by his time as artist in residence at English National Opera.
Last night, the magazine’s coordinator, Freda Hasler, said: “He said he would be very pleased for us to have it. It is such a lovely image.
“This edition was started in June last year. We had several hundred submissions. We are quite popular and get submissions from around the world. We have quite an international outlook.
“We like the magazine to look attractive and have a good mixture of poetry, prose and the visual arts.
“We are not for profit, everything goes back into the next edition.
“Local culture is incredibly important to us. We have got Doric and Scots, and we like it to be good quality.
“Although we take submissions from around the world, no one knows when they are viewing submissions. We do blind submissions. We have had them from a Doric speaker in Canada. It is amazing how much comes out of the woodwork.”
Mrs Hasler’s husband, Martin, is chairman of the Pushing Out the Boat Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) and its head of finance and sales.
The new edition will be launched at the Phoenix Community Hall, Newton Dee, on Sunday, April 30.
The journal will then be released on May 1 and available in a number of venues in the north-east including shops, libraries and even Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Tickets for the launch and pre-order copies of the magazine can be ordered at:
