The Real Story of the Beautifully Minded Helena Nelson

Helena Nelson is a highly respected personality of the contemporary poetic culture as a poet, critic, and a publisher. She is perhaps most well known as the founder of HappenStance Press, an independent poetry press established in Scotland. Since 1977, she has lived in Fife, Scotland and has become an active member of the Scottish writing scene.

Nelson was born 1953 in Knutsford located in the Cheshire region in England. This is evidenced by her academic experience where she was trained at the Universities of York and Manchester; acquired BA Hons in English Literature and obtained an MA in eighteenth century literature. She was for a long time 25 years working as a tutor in English and communication at Fife College.

The Career of Helena Nelson

Spectrum magazine was among the first to publish the work of Nelson in 1992 and then followed by The Dark Horse. She was a winner of the Keats Shelley Memorial Association Millennium Competition in 2000, she prepared an essay about Keats. In 2001, her first pamphlet Mr and Mrs Philpott on Holiday at Auchterawe, & Other Poems appeared at the time from the Kettillonia Press, which was founded by the Scottish novelist and poet James Robertson. Her first full collection, Starlight on Water, was published in 2003 by The Rialto Press and won the Jerwood Aldeburgh Poetry Prize jointly. Her work has also appeared in the 2003 Modern Scottish Women Poets collection.

In the year 2005, she founded HappenStance Press and used her pamphlet ‘Unsuitable Poems’ as the initial launch publication. The press has no state funding but relies on subscriptions and sales. It publishes poetry pamphlets and has published over one hundred poets and mainly focuses on poets from the UK and first collection poets. The Michael Marks Publishers’ Award was awarded to HappenStance Press in the year 2010. Nelson also produced and released twelve magazines known as Sphinx, which was a magazine specializing in poetry pamphlet publishing. Sphinx still exists as a website dedicated to hosting poetry pamphlet reviews, as well as articles about pamphlet publishing companies. In 2013 Nelson did a book titled “Fife Place Name Limericks” which contained poems written for the Fife Libraries competition in the early 1990s and they were illustrated by Gillian Rose.

Nelson also provides occasional small-press publishing and reviewing workshops and talks. In 2004 she was involved in ‘One Thousand Lines,’ the first The Poetry Trust schools tour along with Matt Harvey and Neil Rollinson. She has run several sessions on how to get poetry published and her advisory pamphlet, How (not) to Get Your Poetry Published has further been developed into a comprehensive guide in 2016 and a new reprint in 2017. It is worth noting that she was invited as a participant and speaker at the 2016 Scottish Women’s Poetry Symposium hosted by the University of Edinburgh

The Works of Helena Nelson

Helena Nelson is a well-known Scottish poet, editor, and publisher who has published both creatively and analytically throughout her career. Her works are also characterised by elements of humor, wit and a good understanding of human life. Below is an overview of her key works:

1. ‘Mr and Mrs Philpott on Holiday at Auchterawe & Other Poems’ (2001)

This work represents Nelson’s first published volume and displays her first attempts at poetry. The title translates and analyzes daily life reality full of small and not-so-significant, but still remarkable moments of two people on holiday. The charm of the collection is also the accessibility and the ability of Helena to see the extraordinary in everyday things.

2. "Starlight on Water" (2003)

Some of the major ideas depicted in the poem “Starlight on Water” include nature, passion, and contemplation. It is one of the most poetic and emotionally-charged collections of poetry. They relate the nature scenes with human emotions in both harmony and conflict, and there is a tone of reflective melancholy.

3. "Unsuitable Poems" (2005)

This is a collection that suggest Nelson’s fun side; she is not as serious here as she is in other poems where she tends to be more formal. “Unsuitable Poems” contains poems which unlikely correspond the norms of traditional poetry and therefore, which is rather sarcastical most of the time. The collection perfectly illustrates Nelson’s creative freedom and his desire to transgress the established norms and conventions of fashion.

4. ‘The Sorry I Never Said’ (2008)

”The sorry I never said” is a very personal piece of work which focuses on such feelings as regret, loss and forgiveness. The poems are dramatic and self-reflective about life and what could have been said but wasn’t. It may be seen in Nelson’s writing when she paints shocking images to the readers’ minds in order to elicit a deep, emotional response.

5. "The Unread Squirrel: “More Unsuitable Poems” (2009)

Carrying on from his previous collection, Unsuitable Poems, this collection sees Helena progress further into the realm of unclassifiable poetry. That is why 'The Unread Squirrel’ is replete with the elements of parody, wordplay, and slapstick, and some of the poems broken down can be viewed as postmodernist. For those who enjoy poems which have humor and do not take themselves too seriously, this is a piece written by Nelson.

6. "Plot and Counter-Plot" (2010)

This work is organized in a more formal way, though Helena toys in this part with the notion of story telling within poetry. Essentially, each poem encapsulates a little drama with a dramatic plot or even an element of surprise. The collection is a discussion of the opposition of order and chaos, narrative and anti-narrative, thus demonstrating Nelson’s ability to combine narrative poetry with storytelling.

7. Fife Place Name Limericks (2013)

In this collection, Nelson decided to come up with limericks with references to the geography of Fife, Scotland. The poems are funny, fun and extol the spirit of the locality with pride. These poems are interesting and reflect the ability of Nelson to describe a location and its inhabitants in a few concise funny words.

8. "Down with Poetry!" (2016)

”Down with Poetry!” is a satirical one, which exposes the reader in the world of poetry. Contemporary poetry has become too serious for itself – she employs this work to make this comment. The poems are both comedic and cynical, and anyone involved in the literary community should find this poetry collection engaging.

9. “The HappenStance Story” Series, (2006-2015)

This series documents Nelson’s own experience starting his own publishing company, HappenStance Press. Collectively, each chapter offers a glimpse into the struggles and successes of maintaining a small independent press. In addition to being a memoir, the series is a blueprint for future publishers and poets with pertinent tips, anecdotes, and philosophies about the poetry publishing profession.

10. “How (Not) to Get Your Poetry Published” (2016)

I would recommend this guidebook for poets wishing to establish themselves in the writing industry. For more specifics of what to do and what not to do, Nelson has advice coming from her background as a poet and publisher. It is informative and funny at the same time and should be considered required reading for any and all poetry-submission veterans and wannabes.

Conclusion

The story of Helena Nelson and her work truly exemplifies the influence that poetry can have and the value of the independent publishing company. She as a poet, a critic, a publisher has greatly contributed to the society by filling the literary world with literature, which will help in empowering the next generations.

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