Poetry, Fiction, Review and Essays
A common question asked by those new to poetry is “Who should I be reading?” or “What contemporary poets should I be watching?” To answer this question I had intended to select 5 contemporary poets that I felt worthy of closer scrutiny, but The Daily Telegraph had already done the job so here they are …
The Man Booker Prize was won in October by Anna Burns, with her Northern Ireland-based novel of sexual coercion Milkman. There’s always a lot of media attention on the novels listed for the Man Booker, but I’m often equally or even more intrigued by the lesser-known Goldsmiths prize list. This is a British award launched …
The Goldsmiths Prize by Fiction Editor Mimi Gladman Read More »
A Pick of the Best Contemporary English-language Short Story Collections Short stories appear widely in literary magazines, as well as in the relatively small number of mainstream publications that publish literary short stories, notably The New Yorker. There are also plenty of anthologies and single-author collections of short fiction published, and the form seems to …
The Contemporary Short Story by Fiction Editor Mimi Gladman Read More »
Although my working and creative life has mostly been as a writer, I’ve always loved photography. As a poet, the initial appeal for me in combining photos and poetry on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram was to try and reach new audiences – people who wouldn’t normally read poetry but did respond to …
Photo-poems: visual art and poetry combinations for a high-tech age by Sarah Leavesley Read More »
What is Literary Fiction? We all think we know? Or do we? We know what it is not, when genre labels are easy to apply. The covers with loopy handwriting and book illustrator style, pastel and jolly, are obviously chic lit. Thrillers with their block capitals and misty figures in hoodies or girls …
A Poetic Adventure in Uganda by Samantha Maw 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 part time English lecturer, she has finally gained the confidence to impose her poems and blogging skills (couragechasers.com) on the general …
Anne Tannam talks about performance poetry and poetry for the page Anne Tannam is a Dublin poet with two collections: Tides Shifting Across My Sitting Room Floor (Salmon Poetry 2017) and Take This Life (WordOnTheStreet 2011). Also a spoken word artist, Anne has performed at festivals and events in Ireland and abroad including Lingo, Electric Picnic, Bloom and The …
Anne Tannam talks about performance poetry and poetry for the page Read More »
A glorious pic’n’mix from Shirley Bell I said last year that I would write about useful and exciting anthologies, but I did not keep my promise I’m afraid. So better late than never, here goes. There is an obvious joy in reading a single poet’s work. You enter into their world, hear their voice, really experience what …
Haiku is Mindfulness by Lara. J. Fuller Lara. J. Fuller :I have been writing poetry for a year and taken part in public poetry readings as well as joining a poetry group on a monthly basis. Also I have a poem published in a local magazine called ‘Seaside News’. My favourite poets are Wordsworth, Dylan …
Jane Simmons is a retired teacher/lecturer who is now studying for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln. She has written several short stories and is currently working on her second novel and a collection of poetry. She is a member of the Lincoln-based Pimento poets and Outspoken Poets and regularly reads/performs …
Emily Berry: Stranger, Baby – a review by Jane Simmons Read More »
Steve Klepetar lives in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. His work has appeared widely in the U.S. and abroad, and has received several nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, including four in 2016. Three new collections have appeared in 2017: “A Landscape in Hell;” “Family Reunion;” and “How Fascism Comes to America.” …
Samantha Maw is studying a Creative Writing MA at Lincoln University and is looking forward to developing a writing career. She is a qualified teacher who has worked in primary and secondary schools in the UK and in Africa (Uganda). She has been writing poems and stories for pleasure since childhood, and continues to pass …
John Saunders is a founder member of the Hibernian Writers’ Group. His collections are After the Accident(Lapwing Press, 2010) and Chance (New Binary Press, 2013). One of three featured poets in Measuring, Dedalus New Writers, 2012, he was shortlisted in the 2012 inaugural Desmond O’Grady Poetry Competition and is a 2014 Pushcart Nominee. John’s poems have appeared in journals in Ireland, …
J D DeHart is a writer and teacher. He blogs about books and authors at dehartreadingandlitresources.blogspot.com and publishes poetry at onpossibilitypoems.blogspot.com. DeHart has a chapbook, The Truth About Snails, published by RedDashboard. . . . . . . . . . The Word Has an Edge Below the soft word is a knife blade waiting to …
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 »
Phil Dunkerley is active in poetry groups in the South Lincolnshire area of the UK, where he lives and is currently the representative for Stamford Poetry Stanza. His poems have appeared in small-press publications, anthologies and webzines, and his translations of poems from Spanish and Portuguese have appeared in print. He considers that there are …
St Kilda Post Boat, winter 1886 Select a sheep for slaughter …………………an old one, a tough one. Remove its slack stomach, ………………….clean, eat the rest. Fetch driftwood from the rocks, ………………a few feet square, not waterlogged. Carve a wee boat, a notion ………………no need to be accurate. Gouge a deep hole, centre square ………………..to …
Judy Shepps Battle began writing poems long before she became a psychotherapist and sociology professor at Rutgers University. Widely published both in the USA and abroad during the Sixties and Seventies, she deferred publishing to concentrate on career and family. Fortunately her muse was tenacious and she continued to write during the next three decades …
Polly Richardson (Munnelly) is a Dublin born poet now living and writing in Meath. She has been published both nationally and internationally in many anthologies and e-zine under the surname of Munnelly and more recently Richardson. She is member of Navan writers group: The Bulls Arse and Cork based group Blackwater Poetry. Polly has been …
Matt was born and raised outside Philadelphia. His work has been published in Poetry Quarterly, Penumbra St. Louis U Madrid, and SurVision. When he grows up he wants to play second base for the Phillies. Right now, his goal is to put everything into poetry. Yelling “Fire” at the Crowded …
Craig Wijckaans : I’m Craig. I’m from Teesside in the North East of England. I write poetry mostly for myself. I enjoy the freedom of expression it gives me. I have been writing on and off since I was sixteen, though I don’t really consider myself a writer. I’m more an old fashioned ‘song-and-dance’ man. …
Poetry from Craig Wijckaans, Amy Louise Wyatt, Marc Frazier and John Malvert Read More »
Ceinwen has worked as a Probation Officer, a Mental Health Social Worker and Practice Educator. She lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and writes short stories and poetry. She has been published on web magazines and in print anthologies. These include Fiction on the Web, Literally Stories, Alliterati, Stepaway, Poets Speak (whilst they still can) Three Drops …
Jim Bourey is an old poet living on the northern edge of the Adirondack Mountains. He lived in Delaware for thirty years before this recent move. His chapbook “Silence, Interrupted” was published in 2015 by the Broadkill River Press. His work has appeared in Gargoyle, Broadkill Review, Double Dealer and other journals and anthologies. He …
Alan Halford was born in Dublin, Ireland. The Memory Bone was his was his first collection of work. (2016) Poems have appeared in The Blue Max Review (Rebel Poetry) Fathers and what must be said (Rebel Poetry) The Galway Review Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts (2013/2015) Madswirl.com (USA) https://www.facebook.com/AlanHalfordPoetry/ In memory of J.H. 1974. Cry …
Jeremy Nathan Marks writes, reads, teaches, researches and talks to folks about things which interest them and which interest him. He has had editorials, essays, poems and photographs published in various places in Canada, the United States and across two ponds. He makes his home as an American exile in London, Ontario, Canada. A town …
Pauline Flynn is an Irish Visual Artist by profession and has an MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. She began writing poetry in 2009 and was shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2010. She has travelled widely, lived in Japan for four years and is influenced by its aesthetic. She is …
Mark Tarren is a poet and writer based in Queensland, Australia. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in various literary journals including The Blue Nib, Poets Reading The News, Street Light Press, Spillwords Press and The New Verse News. Sleep in my Eyes Then there was your mahogany warm desk your …
Judy Shepps Battle began writing poems long before she became a psychotherapist and sociology professor at Rutgers University. Widely published both in the USA and abroad during the Sixties and Seventies, she deferred publishing to concentrate on career and family. Fortunately her muse was tenacious and she continued to write during the next three decades …
Niamh Clarke : Niamh is originally from Dundalk, Co.Louth. She received her BA in English and Philosophy from NUI, Galway. She is currently studying a Diploma in Journalism from The Irish Academy of Public Relations and has a FETAC certificate in Print Journalism from Dún Laoghaire Further Education Institute. She is the writer at the blog …
Akshaya Pawaskar is a doctor practicing in India and poetry is her passion. Her poems have been published in Tipton Poetry journal, Writer’s Ezine, Efiction India, Ink drift, The blue nib, Her heart poetry, Awake in the world anthology by Riverfeet press and few anthologies by lost tower publications. She had been chosen as ‘Poet of the …
