''Agenda'' is a literary journal published in London and founded by William Cookson. ''Agenda Editions'' is an imprint of the journal operating as a small press.

History and editorial orientation

''Agenda'' was started in 1959, after Cookson had met Ezra Pound in Italy the previous year. Pound had originally suggested that Cookson edit pages in an existing publication, but when these plans did not come to fruition, the bookseller and poet Peter Russell suggested that Cookson found his own magazine. ''Agenda'' was edited with Peter Dale and then Patricia McCarthy, who continues to edit the journal following Cookson's death in 2003. The editorial preoccupations of ''Agenda'' reflected Cookson's own passions. The journal continued to champion Pound long after the poet's death. A "Special Issue in Honour of Ezra Pound's Eighty-Fifth Birthday" (Vol. 8, Nos. 3–4) was a significant early issue of the journal in 1970, and a special issue on "Dante, Ezra Pound and Contemporary Poetry" (Vol. 34, Nos. 3–4) was published as late as 1996. Cookson also used ''Agenda'' to promote the reputation of David Jones, devoting two major special issues to him (in 1967 and 1974) in addition to articles in several other issues. ''Agenda Editions'' published several major Jones volumes. These included ''The Kensington Mass'' (1975, published with a photographic reproduction of the manuscript) and ''The Roman Quarry'' (1981), a full-length volume of until then unpublished material. ''Agenda Editions'' published volumes of Jones's letters in 1979 and 1996. ''Agenda'' is also notable for its focus upon the art of translation. Recent issues include "Translation as Metamorphosis" in 2005 (Vol. 4, No. 4).

''Agenda: An Anthology 1959-1993'' (1994)

Poets, translators and reviewers included were: * Michael Alexander *

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

* Jonathan Barker * John Bayley *William Bedford * Anne Beresford * Heather Buck *

Basil Bunting Basil Cheesman Bunting (1 March 1900 – 17 April 1985) was a British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of '' Briggflatts'' in 1966, generally regarded as one of the major achievements of the modernist traditio ...

* Stanley Burnshaw *

John Cayley John Howland Cayley (born 1956) is a Canadian pioneer of writing in digital media as well as a theorist of the practice, a poet, and a Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University (from 2007). Education After moving to the United Kingdom in ...

* Humphrey Clucas *William Cookson * Arthur Cooper * Peter Dale *

Donald Davie Donald Alfred Davie, FBA (17 July 1922 – 18 September 1995) was an English Movement poet, and literary critic. His poems in general are philosophical and abstract, but often evoke various landscapes. Biography Davie was born in Barnsley, ...

* Peter Dent *

Ronald Duncan Ronald Frederick Henry Duncan (6 August 1914 – 3 June 1982) was an English writer, poet and playwright of German descent, now best known for his poem '' The Horse'' and for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera ''The Rape of Lucr ...

* T. S. Eliot *

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving towards a looser, ...

Donald Hall Donald Andrew Hall Jr. (September 20, 1928 – June 23, 2018) was an American poet, writer, editor and literary critic. He was the author of over 50 books across several genres from children's literature, biography, memoir, essays, and includin ...

Michael Hamburger Michael Peter Leopold Hamburger (22 March 1924 – 7 June 2007) was a noted German-British translator, poet, critic, memoirist and academic. He was known in particular for his translations of Friedrich Hölderlin, Paul Celan, Gottfried Benn and ...

* Ian Hamilton *

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

David Heidenstam David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

* A. L. Hendriks *

Geoffrey Hill Sir Geoffrey William Hill, FRSL (18 June 1932 – 30 June 2016) was an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to be ...

* Peter Jay *

Roland John Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

* David Jones *

Peter Levi Peter Chad Tigar Levi, FSA, FRSL (16 May 1931, in Ruislip – 1 February 2000, in Frampton-on-Severn) was a British poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic. He was Professor of P ...

Saunders Lewis Saunders Lewis (born John Saunders Lewis) (15 October 1893 – 1 September 1985) was a Welsh politician, poet, dramatist, Medievalist, and literary critic. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist, supporter of Welsh independence and was a co-founde ...

* Eddie Linden *

Edward Lowbury Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury (December 12, 1913 - July 10, 2007) was a pioneering and innovative English medical bacteriologist and pathologist, and also a published poet. Life Edward Lowbury was born in Hampstead to the recently naturalised Benj ...

* Robert Lowell * Patricia McCarthy *

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...

* Seán Mac Falls * Jean MacVean * Eve Machin * Sylvia Mann *

Virginia Maskell Virginia Elizabeth Maskell (27 February 1936 – 25 January 1968), was an English actress. Biography Virginia Maskell was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, daughter of William Eric Brands Maskell, of Little Down, Duncton, Sussex. After the ou ...

Alan Massey Vice Admiral Sir Alan Michael Massey, KCB, CBE (born 9 March 1953) is a former senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as the Second Sea Lord. Early life and education Massey was educated at the University of Liverpool and Britannia Roya ...

* Ruth Mead * Matthew Mead * Moelwyn Merchant * W. S. Milne *

Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood ...

* George Oppen * Alan Neame * Pénélope Palmer * Rachel Pelham Burn *

Stuart Piggott Stuart Ernest Piggott, (28 May 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a British archaeologist, best known for his work on prehistoric Wessex. Early life Piggott was born in Petersfield, Hampshire, the son of G. H. O. Piggott, and was educated t ...

* Ezra Pound *

Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was a British poet, critic, and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently ...

* Norman Rea

Theodore Roethke Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book ''The Wa ...

* David Rokeah * Peter Russell * N. K. Sandars * Tom Scott * C. H. Sisson * W. D. Snodgrass * Henry Swabey * R. S. Thomas *

Charles Tomlinson Alfred Charles Tomlinson, CBE (8 January 1927 – 22 August 2015) was an English poet, translator, academic, and illustrator. He was born in Penkhull, and grew up in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Life After attending Longton High Sc ...

* Peter Whigham * Julie Whitby *

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

* Caroline Wright *

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

References

External links

* * Literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1959 Poetry magazines published in the United Kingdom {{UK-lit-mag-stub