A new literary magazine for East Anglia has been launched by Fenland’s new poet laureate, Jonathan Totman. The Fenland Reed will be edited by Totman and local writer Mary Livingstone, with one themed and one non-themed issue each year, featuring a selection of poetry and prose from Fenland, East Anglia and further afield.

Totman said: “Whilst not restricted to Fenland/East Anglian writers, Mary and I want to create a magazine with a distinctly local identity. Fenland in particular has fewer opportunities to engage in the arts compared to other areas. It seems to me that it receives relatively little attention in the media, and its landscape and heritage are often overlooked. There is also a tendency for narratives about the Fens to be rather past-focused, with less exploration of what it's like to live here now.”

The magazine is inviting submissions for its first issue, due for publication in autumn 2015. The deadline for submissions to the first issue is 31 July.