About us Programmes Publishing and Events Publishing Verbal Arts publishing and events activities aim to: Support writers to showcase their work and develop new audiences Commission new work for circulation through Reading Rooms Commission critical responses to reading Promote literature initiatives and success stories in Northern Ireland Audience development opportunities Our programme provides accessible, entry-free audience development opportunities for artists to write and perform through a range of formats and channels, including: Online publishing Festivals Readings Thematic mini-tours Verbal publishing The Honest Ulsterman is the name of a long running Northern Ireland literary magazine created in 1968 by the Derry born poet James Simmons. It was also edited by the Belfast poet Frank Ormsby and lasted around 30 years in a print edition. It was recreated in 2014 by Verbal as a digital magazine with a new editor Gregory McCartney. He has maintained the founding spirit of the HU as a place where Northern Irish writers are profiled alongside poets, prose-writers and critics from around the world. Online it has continued to offer a platform to writers, prioritising hearing from writers themselves rather than second-hand through reviews and offering an eclectic mix of articles, interviews, visual art and an open submission call. We're also aware of how popular the original Honest Ulsterman was, and we've made the original printed edition available free to read online at www.huarchive.co in pdf format. It's the centre of HUMAN (Honest Ulsterman Magazine Archive Network,) an archive of mostly defunct small Irish literary magazines which editor Greg adds to regularly. ABRIDGED The concept of Abridged as a vehicle for poetry, art and exhibitions began in 2004, so we’re approaching our 20th anniversary. In terms of who Abridged personnel are, for the last ten years it’s been Gregory McCartney and Susanna Galbraith. We never had a plan to last this long, but then again, we never had a plan not to. The original concept was that we’d riff off the word ‘Abridged’, i.e. something foreshortened, something missing, something incomplete. It would be a ‘curated space’ where poetry, art and design would exist as something more than one illustrating the other. We were influenced more by music than we were by the publishing world. Each issue we wanted to be the equivalent of a gig where sweaty bodies collide amidst the smoke and lights. Or a forest in which you could lose and find yourself. We created our own over-exaggerated gloomy little world two steps away from reality. Little did we know that the ‘real’ world would soon be virtually indistinguishable from ours. We also stray into the exhibition format producing contemporary, innovative, and challenging work. If you are in and around the City do call in and check out the walls of the Verbal Foyer for regular, rotating exhibitions curated by Greg. Verbal hosts and provides support for Abridged and is not responsible for the content which may be aimed at an adult audience