Poetry, Fiction, Review and Essays
Dave Kavanagh is the originator and the managing editor of The Blue Nib. He is primarily a reader with an eye for the original, the quirky and the unique, though he is a published poet and writer of short fiction, and confesses to having a number of novels gathering dust. Dave was prompted to launch …
I conceived of The Blue Nib in 2015; I wanted to offer aspiring poets a fresh platform for new work and I wanted it to be something special. I went in search of a formula; I searched the web for magazines and E-zines. During my research I found three types of poetry websites. There …
The little magazine that could – Dave Kavanagh looks at the birth of The Blue Nib Read More »
I can’t believe it is over a year since the relaunch of The Blue Nib in its current format. In many respects it has been a short journey from there to here, and in others it has been a massive one. It was wonderful to receive recognition in our first months, to be long-listed …
Things are changing at The Blue Nib – an overview by Dave Kavanagh Read More »
Many writers begin their publishing journey wanting the big deal, a book contract, a speaking tour, fame, fortune and notoriety. But that’s not the only route to a career in writing. Often starting smaller will take you to where you want to go and when you are just beginning small steps are safer and allow …
How to Get an Article Published in The Blue Nib Magazine by Dave Kavanagh Read More »
When did you start writing and what do you think attracted you to poetry? I remember reading Harlequin romance novels in my teenage years and thinking ‘this is so easy, even I can do it’. I started drafting in my exercise books though I was never serious about it until in my early twenties when …
Dave Kavanagh interviews our fine new poet Faith Atuhumuze Read More »
Kate Ennals Threads This is a beautiful book by Cavan based poet Kate Ennals. It takes us on a journey through experience, the poet’s own, and through her eyes those of others. The collection charts life both in Ireland and in England and in a larger context it examines the world we now live in. …
Threads by Kate Ennals reviewed by Dave Kavanagh Read More »
I had the great pleasure of posing a few questions to this issue’s Featured Poet, Steve Klepetar, I asked him about his process and his poetry. . Why do you think poetry is important? I think poetry, in the literary sense, is a coterie enthusiasm. A small percentage of people out of a large population …
Dave Kavanagh – in conversation with Featured Poet Steve Klepetar Read More »
Ok so I get it. There are some scary moments when it comes to commenting on the work of other poets, like fearing that your comments may not be appreciated or indeed helpful, or that they may be interpreted as harsh or judgmental. But hey, a comment is your opinion and let me assure you …
Dave was born and still lives in Loughshinny, a tiny farming and fishing village in the coastal North Co. Dublin. His work has seen recent publication in a number of anthologies as well as online at sites such as madswirl.com and Medium. Dave was the originator of The Blue Nib and now plays second fiddle …
Dave Kavanagh reviews ‘Somewhere but not Here’ by Stephen Byrne Read More »
Dear Poets. Firstly congratulations to all winners in our first competition, your poetry was inspiring and we look forward so much to publishing you in our first Chapbook. And to the runners-up, wow what a fantastic selection of work you treated us to. We plan to feature you all in an anthology in …
I have until the past week been a member of two writers groups. One I joined in the past month, the other I have been a member of for quite some time. What are writers groups? They are groups of writers who meet in libraries, church halls or quiet bars to discuss and critique each …
What use are writers groups anyway? by Dave Kavanagh Read More »
Dave Kavanagh on a journey towards not being a poet, and on why reading makes us better writers.
The Pantser The freedom to create without the confines of a plan. Famous pantsers include such authors as Margaret Atwood, Stephen King and Pierce Brown. Melissa Todd is a compulsive pantser. Do you know what you’re going to write before you’ve written it? I don’t. I can’t plan anything. Well, I can, but I can …
Born in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire in 1930, the landscape of Ted Hughes’s youth would have a massive influence on his later work as a poet. He served in the Royal Air Force before attending Cambridge, where he studied archeology and anthropology, with a particular interest in myths and legends. He met and married the American poet Sylvia …
I have an appalling sense of direction. I won’t say that I have no sense of direction because I’ve got a reasonable idea of where I’ve been once I’ve got there, if you catch my drift; it’s just the getting there that proves a little problematic. There are plenty among us who can stride purposefully …
GET ALL ACCESS Subscribe today, and included with your subscription is access to all issues and archive plus members entry to the Blue Nib Chapbook Contest Subscribe Now Issue 39 Fiction & Non Fiction Featured Authors Kelli allenRoisin Maguiredavid butlerAda Wofford essaysJohn D. KellyGráinne daly Get The Print Issue Editorial: Dave Kavanagh Managing Editor Welcome …
The event will start at 6:30 PM and will include; Announcent of Chapbook 5 Winners Guest Judge Paul Sutherland will be on hand to announce the winners of Chapbook Contest 5. The winners will share in the €1000.00 prize and their work will appear in the Chapbook which will be published by The Blue Nib …
How many times have I heard someone say “Author Websites don’t work”? But the fact is, they do. Successful websites and blogs earn millions in revenue every month. So, if your website is not bringing you sales, change what you’re doing, because your Author Website is a powerful selling tool with the potential to become …
13 easy ways to make an Author Website work for you. Read More »
Clara Burghelea Poetry Editor Clara is looking for diverse, under-represented, fresh voices, as well as established ones. She favours works that bend and forge language, pushing it past its formulaic edges. Mostly, she wants to see poetry that blends craft and imagination in an innovative and moving way. Dave Kavanagh Managing Editor Dave looks after …
Announcing the winners of Chapbook Contest #3
Our Judge, Southlight editor Vivien Jones has selected her winners. We have poems from three very strong voices. This Issue also features equally strong work from Vivien’s choice of nine commended poets.
Plus poetry from two past CPC winners
Anne Walsh Donnelly and Derek Kennemeyer both feature in this remarkable issue as well as poems from Nathan Fidler, Jeremy N. Marks, L. Shapley Basson, Stephen House, Emma Lee, Mike Griffih and many more.
A Strong Collection of fiction from
Kate Ennals, David Butler, Molly Fennig, Lyn Byrne, Anne Walsh Donnelly, Audrey Molloy & More.
The second of our books released in this our final online only issue. This is a collection by Shirley Bell which I had the great pleasure of selecting. BUY IT HERE I first encountered Shirley in the summer of 2017 when she submitted work to our then fledgling magazine. I was impressed enough by her …
It is our great pleasure to be releasing this today, Chapbook 2, featuring the work of our three prize winners chosen by Irish poet, Kevin Higgins. The thrill in publishing this work is all the more for us, as each of the winners is a debutante. We give you the work of Anne Walsh …
The Blue Nib magazine awards three emerging writers publication in chapbook form on a semi-annual basis.
We readers are also amply awarded with three fresh new voices in poetry with The Blue Nib Chapbook Volume 2.
I can’t say well enough how very impressed I am with the writing of first-place winner Anne Walsh Donnelly who gives voice to her native Ireland like many of the great Irish masters. Donnelly’s is a rising star to follow.
Second-place winner is Dr. Akshya Pawasker who offers us a distinctly feminine perspective in her pieces. This in no way is meant to imply male readers won’t “get” or enjoy her works. Instead it is to say the acute male reader will gain a greater insight to the female perspective after reading Dr. Pawasker’s poetry.
Bobbie Sparrow rounds out this fine book with her offering, which take us down a different path with each poem. Biblical themes, psychological examinations, historical themes, and rustic ones highlight Sparrow’s writing here.
The Blue Nib is my favorite source for new poetry on the ‘net and chapbooks like this show very well that this imprint is making good headway in the small press world.
Reviewed By Michael Griffith
When I read poetry, which is often these days, I search for that which weds my thoughts and that which reconciles me to my fundamental incompleteness. The Still Room does both. As I was reading this collection of Shirley’s experiences I had a phrase rumbling through my heart that Virgina Woolf offered us: words belong to each other. These do. She skillfully weaves and sings the essence of purposeful observation and she quietly consents. If poetry is written to awaken me from my sleep and to calm the clamor of my most conflicted and sacred moments then the The Still Room is written for me. And all the best writing feels this way and reminds me that purpose is not something you are born with or that someone assigns you; you must find it and hold it and cultivate it and and protect it even through the ridiculous, the corrosive, and fateful. The Still Room is a sweeping reminder that a single interpretation of oneself is an illusion and that our stories mark points of departure not perpetual fixed points of reference. If the task of knowing who you are demands an unmasking and search beyond the perceived separateness of experiences then visit the stories in The Still Room. And then visit them again. See you there.
Melissa Mullvihill
This is a phenomenal book!
Three emerging poets are showcased with eight poems each. The poets each write with identifiable voices and the first presented, Derek Kannemeyer, manages to use several techniques, rhyme schemes, and poetic devices to make every one of his pieces an event unto itself.
I devoured this book in one sitting but will return to it often to re-read favorites like Kannenmeyer’s incredible work “Boat Woman, Towson” and “Ballade of Becoming American,” Jackie Gorman’s fine poems “The Word ‘No’” and the poignant “Shorn” (which I stopped to re-read twice before moving on, so touching a poem I found it to be), and “The Drying Air” and “Banagher” by Christopher Meehan.
The Blue Nib has put together a book to be experienced and not to be overlooked. Here are three raising talents also not to be missed.
Michael Griffith
No one theme or vision gets a one-sided overbalance here. Shirley Bell is a shrewd, careful editor who has given readers a wide array of topics, voices, and themes from The Blue Nib’s twice-monthly website.
Being a buffet of voices, styles, themes, and visions, there may well be a poem or two that won’t appeal to any given reader, but just around the next page is sure to be a favorite. Shirley has chosen carefully-crafted poems from mature writers.
I cherish this collection, and I hope you will enjoy it.
Michael Griffith.
Samantha Maw is studying a Creative Writing MA at Lincoln University in the U.K. and is a member of Lincoln Creative Writers and Outspoken Poets. A qualified teacher who has worked in primary and secondary schools in the UK and in Africa; she has now gained the confidence to impose her poems and blogging skills …
A Meet the Poet Special: Faith Atuhumuze, by Samantha Maw Read More »
Emma McKervey won the 2015 PoetryNI/Translink Poetry Competition and in 2016 she was shortlisted for both the NI National Poetry Competition and the Bord Gáis Irish Book Awards’ Poem of the Year Award. In 2017 she had two poems highly commended for the Seamus Heaney Prize. She is also a professionally-trained musician, having played cello …
Opps, that should have read How to cope with Dyslexia, but it got you here, and I promise I will get back to the point of the title shortly. I have spent a number of days looking at writing from the perspective of authors or poets with a mental or physical disability and was both …
I had a brief discussion with a fellow writer recently and during the course of our grumbling he revealed that he loves to write on trains. He went on to tell me how he often catches the slow train from Dublin to Belfast and writes for the entire journey plus the return. This brought me …
List Price: $20.00, £14.95, Euros 16.50 6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm) Black & White on White paper 118 pages Blue Nib Publishing ISBN-13: 978-1999955021 ISBN-10: 1999955021 BISAC: Poetry / General “Welcome to The Blue Nib Anthology 1, Poetry, June – December 2017. Dave Kavanagh and I are delighted to present this book, which we hope will be …
A big welcome to you all and here are the results and the judge’s comments from Michael Blackburn Dave Kavanagh will be contacting the prizewinners on 18th December 2017 to arrange the prizes RESULTS Winners: 1st: Derek Kannemeyer 2nd: Jackie Gorman 3rd: Christopher Meehan Runners-up: Lorraine Carey Michael …
Michael A. Griffith teaches courses and workshops in public speaking, communications, and creative writing at the college and adult continuing education levels. His essays have appeared in Teaching For Success, Ripen the Page (where this essay appeared in slightly different form in August 2016) and Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal. His poetry has recently appeared online …
by Dave Kavanagh. (Review of Scrivener, ProWritersAid & Natural Reader) Do you use writers aids? Writing is a difficult craft, in its essence it is about a writer producing words and then crafting those words into something unique, beautiful, useful. Our job is to engage readers. There are no apps, no software or hardware …
In the past week a poet died. She was a smart, sharp, and beautiful person who loved with passion and argued with venom. She had the ability to lift you up and equally to level you with an acid bitter tongue and wit. When she died I was on her wrong side, she had decided …
People write poetry for all sorts of reasons, I will often write a poem to record an event in my own life, a meeting with a friend, a particularly moving event, a sight that inspired me. Sometimes these poems are a way of recording these deeply personal experiences and are not written for others …
It is worth keeping an eye on trends in literary journals that publish poetry, especially if you have ambitions to submit work for publication. Each literary journal will have its own policies and preferences; trends are not rules and different editors like different things but by following general trends we can get a good feel …
Popular Poem Styles: The Latest Trends In Poetry Read More »
