1 . Indeed loneliness is now widely recognized as a major public health problem. What is perhaps less obvious is one answer to the problem: the healing power of poetry to make us feel more connected to others.

Here things get personal. I first got involved in how poetry can support our emotional wellbeing after I wrole a memoir, Black Rainbow: Hone Words Healed Me—My Journey Through Depression, in 2014 about how poetry helped me through two serious periods of depression. Since then, I’ve been running Healing Words poetry sessions for mental health charities and prisons, and have discovered first-hand the lovely feeling of companionship which poetry can bring.

Poetry lets us connect with other people who have experienced similar emotions. We’re not alone in our despair or delight. When we have a poem by our side, whether tucked into a bag or on a bedside table, it feels like we’re being accompanied by a friend: an authorial arm is wrapped around our shoulders.

I remember one woman starting to cry as she read Derek Walcott’s poem “Love After Love” during a workshop held at my local hospital in West London. Fighting through tears, she eventually said, “I feel understood.” Everyone in the room knew exactly what she meant.

She had, in Walcott’s phrase, struggled to “love again the stranger who was yourself”. The poet’s invitation to “Sit. Feast on your life” was the comfort she needed, in a language which spoke to her, to imagine loving herself in a way she had always found hard. Poetry had worked its magic, unlocking a feeling of inner connection, and in turn a connection to all of us sitting in the workshop.

Given my own experience, I think having a poem to keep us company can help us all feel a greater sense of belonging.

2 . Poetry Writing Contest

Deadline: November 30th

Results: Announced on December 31st

Prizes: Win $ 1,600 in prize money

Guest judges: Ken Liu, Brian Evenson, and Faylita Hicks

Your poetry can be laid out as you wish, as we understand that form often relates to the effect of a poem. However, please be sure to stick to a maximum of 3 pages per poem.

We accept works, written in English, from anywhere in the world. But we don’t accept works previously published elsewhere.

Writers over the age of thirteen are welcome to participate. Please note that if you’re aged 13-16 and your work is selected for publication, we’ll require a signature from a parent or a guardian.

Please include your name and contact information in your cover letter only and remove any identifying information from both the submitted work and the file name.

We edit every piece accepted for publication whether your work is selected for publication through our online blog or in our print magazine. For this cooperative process we’ll pair you with one of our senior editors. All our editors have been trained to help guide the development of each piece to reach its fullest potential in keeping with the author’s vision. This doesn’t mean we’ll take on a wild jumble of words and half-formed thoughts.

The contest reserves the right to NOT award a winner if the submissions don’t reach a publishable standard. In this case, the winner won’t be announced. Although this has rarely come to pass in our six-year publishing history, our top priority must remain with the quality of the work we publish.

4 . Sean Elliot Martin and Pancho Timmons are friends on a mission to change the world, one small act of kindness at a time. That’s the subject of their new book, Quick and Easy World Change, which they released as an e-book.

The project is inspired by another kindness-related book Martin worked on years ago. The latest one takes parts of the first book and updates it with more inspiring stories and lists of little things people can do daily to spread goodness wherever they go. “Make a game of giving—you can assign yourself points for different little things,” Martin said. “How many doors can I open each day for someone with their hands full? Or how many different ways can I help someone today? Or how many good deeds can I think of?” It also addresses the concept of compound kindness—a domino effect of good deeds. “If you compliment one person, they’re likely to compliment two to five people,” Martin said.

Both authors’ lives have been impacted by the kindness of others, they each explained. Quick and Easy World Change is their way to pay those experiences and sentiments forward. For Timmons, a teacher’s compassion in college was a turning point for him. “I did all the things I was supposed to do—worked hard, studied hard—and ended up failing pretty miserably,” he recalled. “But the professor pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re an A student turning in C and D work because you’re clearly dyslexic (读写困难) and not getting the help you need.” “That 5-minute conversation was the difference between dropping out of college and getting two master’s degrees and now running two companies,” Timmons said. “I’ve spent my career trying to pay that forward.”

With the electronic version available, their plan is to follow up with hard copies. The authors hope people will use it like a workbook, a living document they can mark up, reflect on and use to make their lives—and the lives of others—better.

A seminar (研讨会) was held in Beijing recently. According to its report, the Chinese TV series     1    (adapt) of Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem, the first Asian novel to win the Hugo Award, has gained popularity overseas.

Statistics show that     2     series has gained a rating of 7.9 out of 10 on the foreign review company IMDb and has accumulated 5 million views on YouTube, one of the     3    (popular) video platforms in the world.

Gao Changli, director-general of the TV drama department at the National Radio and Television Administration, said that the drama contains a lot of thoughts and knowledge     4    (inspire) by China’s traditional philosophy and culture,     5    (offer) a distinctive edge for homegrown tales in the world’s sci-fi landscape. He also mentioned that the drama has been     6     preparation and production for seven years and has done a good job of bringing to life the typical     7    (scene) described in the novel.

Producers have also revealed that currently they     8    (produce) Three-Body Ⅱ: The Dark Forest,     9     is the second episode in Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. Meanwhile, more quality works will be produced to     10    (positive) publicize Chinese culture in the overseas markets.

6 . At least 3 million people, or around 6% of the adult population in England aged over 16, say they feel isolated “often or always,” according to Government figures, with those aged between 16 to 24 especially vulnerable(易受影响的). When it comes to our emotional wellbeing, feeling lonely is a risk factor for several mental disorders including schizophrenia and major depression, and also makes us more fearful and anxious.

    1     What is perhaps less obvious is one answer to the problem: the healing power of poetry to make us feel more connected to others.     2     We’re not alone in our despair or delight. When we have a poem by our side, whether tucked into a bag or on a bedside table, it feels like we’re being accompanied by a friend: an authorial arm is wrapped around our shoulders.

I remember one woman starting to cry as she read Derek Walcott’s poem Love After Love during a workshop held at my local hospital in West London.     3     Everyone in the room knew just what she meant. She had, in Walcott’s phrase, struggled to “love again the stranger who was yourself”. The poet’s invitation to “Sit. Feast on your life” was what she needed, in language which spoke to her, to imagine loving herself in a way she had always found hard.     4    

I am not alone in believing in that poems can aid our mental health. A 2021 study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that a group of 44 hospitalized children who were encouraged to read and write poetry saw reductions in fear, sadness, anger, worry and fatigue, Poetry was a welcome distraction from stress and an opportunity for self-reflection, the researchers concluded.     5    

The idea of writing a poem might feel frightening     1     (initial) — do you need to follow a certain structure, does it need to have a rhyme, or do you need to have recited a dictionary to be a “proper” poet? The truth is: absolutely not. While there are “types” of poem that offer structure to serve     2     a guide, the reality is that poetry doesn’t have to follow a set of rules — it’s much more about conveying a feeling, and that opens up a lot of creative     3     (free) for us to explore.

Over 30 chief editors of literature publications and    1     (head) of publishing houses across China recently attended a signing ceremony.

The ceremony was about     2    expansion plan for the creative writing project about China’s mountain villages to enter into a new era,     3     (look) for original full-length novels,     4     showcase the great changes of rural China and Chinese agriculture. Since the project     5    (launch) on Aug 1, over 800 pieces of writing have been submitted. Writer Yang Zhijun’s novel Snow Mountains and the Earth, recently     6     (publish) thanks to the project, is     7     the great changes in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau over the past years.

According to Wu Yiqin, vice-president of the China Writers Association, the project     8     (aim) to cultivate young writers and literature workers from the grassroots and publish good-quality novels that have     9     (vary) themes such as the country’s effort to lift millions of people out of     10     (poor)and rural vitalization.

Dream of the Red Chamber,     1     epic masterpiece in Chinese literature,     2    (stage) as an original ballet show by the National Ballet of China (NBC) this coming Friday, according to the troupe at a media event.

Considered as one of the four great classical     3    (novel) of Chinese literature, the Dream of the Red Chamber, through the perspective of Jia Baoyu, narrates a story about the fall of his large wealthy family and     4     (he) complex relationship with Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. It shows the beauty of women and complicated ancient Chinese society from all angles,     5     has a far-reaching influence and world-renowned reputation.

The ballet dance drama will present this Chinese classic novels through a romantic Western-style narration,     6     (offer) a visual feast with carefully designed winter snow stage setting and the costumes of the characters. By integrating Chinese silk into the ballet skirts, the designer Yang Donglin commits himself     7     achieving a “combination of Eastern and Western aesthetics (美学)”.

”You can imagine     8     appealing it is to see the use of Western ballet to tell a classic Chinese story, "chief choreographer Tong Ruirui told the Global Times on Thursday.

“NBC has done     9    (remarkable) in adapting this wonderful classic into a ballet. It’ll definitely help the story gain much     10     (wide) recognition around the world, ” commented Zhang Qingshan, president of Chinese Society of Dream of the Red Chamber.