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Welcome to
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Tom's Voice is a ‘different' magazine. It is full of writing by men and women trying hard to kick long-term drug and/or alcohol addiction, and writing by people whose lives have been irretrievably changed by the addiction struggles of family or friends. Why ‘Tom's Voice'? Because a good guy called Tom tried hard to overcome heroin addiction in 2003. He was one of my first students. He battled through three months in a tough rehab. and while he was there discovered that he could write wonderful wacky poetry and prose poems. Tom died not long after he finished at rehab. and beside his body was a poem. His own version of “to everything there is a season.” HE HAD A VOICE. Addiction is a cruel enemy. To fight it you need some strong weapons. But sometimes the weapons to fight the cruellest enemies seem to be the smallest things. A pencil. A scrap of paper. Is ‘Tom's Voice' literary? It depends on your definition of ‘literary'. If you are using words to communicate something that is searingly important to you, and if you are allowing that work to be displayed for the world to read, isn't the end result ‘literary' in some measure? Our writers who are currently in rehab are all going to call themselves ‘Tom', whether male or female. They are very brave people but also very vulnerable, and we want to protect them. Why are the writers' bios set before their writing? Because we want you to understand what these writers are battling against. Not just physical issues, but their own history. Tom's Voice Issue 1 contains work by a writer who has won a national prize for his prose. Writing by a published poet and columnist who lost her partner to heroin. Writing by a man whose life was changed by having a couple of paragraphs published by a literary print magazine. Writing by a guy who has had the guts to go back to University after kicking addiction. Writing by a woman who won't be allowed to see her kids over Christmas. Non-fiction by a man who lost his adored big brother to drugs. Fiction by a man who spent much of his life in squats surrounded by drugs. And more. If you, or your friends have work that would fit into Tom's Voice, we want to read it. We are unable to pay you, but you'll have a voice. Best wishes Vanessa Gebbie |
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