English poet and writer David Caddy and Harry Seccombe founded
Tears in the Fence in November 1984, as a literary magazine for the
Green Movement. Sarah Hopkins, who was also Literary Editor of
Spare Rib at that time and co-author of
Greenham Common: Women at the Wire (
Women's Press, 1984), soon joined them. It is widely recognised as an internationally flavoured literary magazine of distinction, with editorial contributors in the United States,
Paris, France and
Melbourne, Australia. Regular columnists include David Caddy, Sarah Hopkins,
Tom Chivers,
Jennifer K. Dick, Kat Peddie, Morag Kiziewicz and Ian Brinton. Beginning from an ecological and feminist perspective, the magazine deepened and developed its thinking on this path. It rapidly built upon its early internationalist outlook and international following. It was the first U.K. magazine to publish American poets and writers, such as
Sheila E. Murphy,
Gerald Locklin,
Ed Ochester,
Donna Hilbert, Fred Voss, as well as regularly publishing
Edward Field and
Paul Violi. Regular contributors include poets associated with the
British Poetry Revival including
Lee Harwood,
Iain Sinclair,
Bill Griffiths,
John James,
Jeremy Reed,
Barry MacSweeney,
Peter Riley, and associate editor,
Brian Hinton. Regular reviewers include
Andrew Duncan, Steve Spence, Mandy Pannett, Norman Jope, Jeremy Hilton, Sheila Hamilton, Isobel Armstrong, Lesley Saunders, Fiona Owen, John Freeman, Mary Woodward, Nathaniel Tarn, Ian Seed, John Welch, Rosie Jackson,
Robert Sheppard, Ric Hool, Frances Spurrier, Richard Forman, Peter Hughes and
Ian Brinton. ==References==