Portmanteau, edited by Esther Dreher, Ethan Lowe and Oz Hardwick (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2016).

Portmanteau is the third annual Wordspace Anthology with Indigo Dreams Publishing. The social and political world, like its geological foundation, is always in a state of flux; yet few would deny that the twenty-first century has thus far witnessed a greater degree of fragmentation than has been experienced in many years.  On a local scale, the division between rich and poor in the UK continues to widen, with a concomitant widening of the gap between political Left and Right.  This is, of course, playing out against Brexit, a fracture in the EU which threatens further aftershocks and fissures within the seemingly precariously ‘United’ Kingdom.  For all its paradoxical divisions, however, Brexit has paradoxically furnished us with a whole vocabulary of words which weld concepts together.  Apart from Brexit itself, other portmanteau terms include Brexiteer, Bremainer, Bremoaner, and so on.  In the light of this linguistic curiosity, the editors of this collection put out a call for writers to engage with the idea of the portmanteau itself, in order to create, rather than divide.  Some chose to focus on the overtly political, while others looked to language, genetics, philosophy, relationships … and, of course, suitcases.  Guided by the twin principles, that language not only describes the world, but also creates it, and that every creative act is inherently political, the editors offer this collection of new poetry and prose as a small drawing together, a community of words – a wormunity, if you like – something to share as the Conselfservative government pulls itself apart.

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