Results will be announced in issue 37 which will be out in print & on site on 15th March 2019
Chapbook V will also launch in issue 37
The Blue Nib Chapbook Contest The Blue Nib Chapbook Contest series started in Autumn 2017 and is now in its fourth round. The raison d’être for the series was to discover exciting talent in the poetry world. The contest gives established & emerging poets the opportunity to get their work in front of a well known poet and have it judged by a credible authority. To date we have had Michael Blackburn, Kevin Higgins and for our last round Vivien Jones. We are very excited to have the wonderful Helen Mort judging this round of the contest.
Vivien’s first poetry collection – About Time, Too – was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in 2010. In that same year, she won the Poetry London Prize. She has completed a second short fiction collection on a theme of women amongst warriors – White Poppies (2012). Her second poetry collection –‘Short of Breath’ – was published in November 2014 by …
Clint Wastling was born in Beverley, Yorkshire and returned there in the mid-1990s after a spell in London as a chemistry teacher. Five years ago he went part-time and began a career in FE. Clint was born in Beverley, Yorkshire and returned there in the mid-1990s after a spell in London as a chemistry teacher. …
Fred Johnston (born 1951) is an Irish poet, novelist, literary critic and musician. He is the founder and current director of the Western Writers’ Centre in Galway. He co-founded the Irish Writers’ Co-operative in 1974, and founded Galway’s annual Cúirt International Festival of Literature in 1986. His most recent work includes poetry, The Oracle Room …
Steve Cawte has worked as a playwright, poet, teacher and performer. Over the years, he has produced eight of the plays he has written and has directed a collection of stage plays. He went on to win two awards in 2012 – the ‘Our Times New Writer of the Year’ and the ‘Voice it’ Performers …
Jim Bennett has worked at the University of Liverpool. He used to perform regularly with the Dead Good Poets in the Everyman Bistro. He received three DaDaFest awards, and a Silver Stake from the Manchester Slam. He has also won awards for his poetry including the 2006 Frost Award, and the Fante Award in 2002. In 2005 his book The Man Who …
Leanne Neill is a company director, mother of three, and a self-professed ‘composer of words.’ She has over twenty years of experience in public libraries and local government. In 2016, she started her poetry and art inspired Facebook page : LUST for WORDS, and has since been published in many ezines and pages including Spillwords …
John Short was born in Liverpool and studied comparative religion at Leeds university and creative writing at Liverpool university with the poet and lecturer Richard Hill. Later he spent some years in Europe as an agricultural worker, production operative and language teacher before settling for a long period in Greece where he developed a passion …
His next book of poetry out soon is a collection in Merthyr dialect ‘From Aberfan t Grenfell’ ( Culture Matters), with illustrations by Swansea artist Alan Perry. Co-editor of ‘Red Poets’ magazine for 25 years and former editor of ‘Poetry Wales’. Regular blogger on website www.mikejenkins.net . Winner of Wales Book of the Year for collection of …
About the Poet- Sandeep Kumar Mishra is an outsider artist, poet and lecturer in English Literature. He has edited a collection of poems by various poets – Pearls (2002) and written a professional guide book -How to be (2016) and a collection of poems and art – Feel My Heart (2016). Recently his work has published …
Katrina E. Halfaker holds a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric and Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently pursuing an Associate’s (and eventually second Bachelor of Arts) degree in Communication Studies. She actively volunteers at local libraries whenever possible in conservation, adult services, and HDP – a program for homebound patrons. …
Carla Scarano D’Antonio moved to England (Lancashire then Surrey) in 2007 from Rome (Italy) and started attending creative writing courses. She obtained a Degree of Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit at Lancaster University in October 2012. Her work was published in Shipwrights (an online Swedish Review), Purple Patch, First Edition magazine, Northern …
Ellie has been writing poetry and short stories since primary school and been blogging for ten-plus years. She has had a number of individual works published alongside others in anthologies and journals, has self-published some collections of poetry and short stories herself, and is currently seeking representation for her debut novel.
Mary Wight lives and writes in the Scottish Borders. Some of her poems have appeared in various magazines & anthologies including The Poets’ Republic, Causeway/Cabhsair, Gutter and New Writing Scotland among others.
Carla Scarano D’Antonio moved to England (Lancashire then Surrey) in 2007 from Rome (Italy) and started attending creative writing courses. She obtained a Degree of Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit at Lancaster University in October 2012. Her work was published in Shipwrights (an online Swedish Review), Purple Patch, First Edition magazine, Northern …
Sarah Leavesley/James (http://sarah-james.co.uk) is a prize-winning poet, fiction writer, journalist and photographer. Author of seven poetry titles, two novellas and a touring poetry-play, she’s been published by the Guardian, Financial Times and in the Blackpool Illuminations. Sarah runs The Poetry Society’s Worcestershire Stanza and V. Press poetry and flash fiction imprint (http://vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/). 2018 books: Always Another Twist (Mantle …
Dick Edelstein, born in Chicago, became an Irish citizen in 1999. Now retired and living in Barcelona, he has worked as a writer, editor, translator and journalist and published fifteen books as well as a number of translations and articles. An active member of the Irish-based writing group Poets Abroad, he tours Ireland by bicycle with …
Maximum 200 words. Ana Vidosavljevic from Serbia currently living in Indonesia. She has her work published or forthcoming in Down in the Dirt (Scar Publications), Literary Yard, RYL (Refresh Your Life), The Caterpillar, The Curlew, Eskimo Pie, Coldnoon, Perspectives, Indiana Voice Journal, The Raven Chronicles, Setu Bilingual Journal, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Madcap Review, The …
Peter lives on the southside of Glasgow, Scotland with his wife and three children. He is a scientist working in the renewable energy sector. As well as poetry, he enjoys composing music for piano and spending time in the Isle of Lewis. Peter has been published by Poetry Republic, Writer’s Cafe Magazine, Cadaverous Magazine, Reflections, …
Jonathan Humble has worked as a painter in a corrugated cardboard factory, lettuce picker for East Coast Salads and mechanical engineer in the power industry. He is currently masquerading as a deputy head teacher in a rural Cumbrian school. His poetry and short stories have appeared in a number of publications in print and online …
Maximum 200 words Elly Farrelly lives in Glasgow and works in education. Her poems have been published in journals including The Glasgow Review of Books, Message in a bottle and Atrium and have been included in three anthologies. As well as writing poetry she is also a songwriter and performing musician. www.ellyfarrelly.co.uk .
Sasha Lauren, poet, artist, and dogged patient safety activist, recently completed her first literary fiction, The Paris Predicament. The founder of Epiphany Scripts, Sasha has consulted on feature films scripts, authored a book on organizing, won writing contests, and has many stories, poems, and articles published. Sasha’s goals are to uplift, entertain, and educate. She …
Ruth Ennis completed her English with Drama undergraduate degree at UCD in 2017 and is now studying Children’s Literature at Trinity College Dublin. She is the Administrative and Marketing Assistant for the Dublin Book Festival 2018. She has worked for Children’s Books Ireland, Luath Press and has written for The Blue Nib, The University Observer …
Nigel Burch (born 1954 in Braintree, Essex) is an east London songwriter, musician, poet, and graphic artist now based in the London Borough of Hackney.[1] Musically covering the genres of punk, rock, folk, and anti-folk, Burch has collaborated with Kevin Coyne, John Cooper Clarke, Andrew Ranken (of The Pogues),[2] and had an ongoing pen pal …
Thomas Bailey: Tom is 21 years-old, and lives in London. He is currently studying English at Cambridge, and is editor of his college’s annual poetry publication. His work has been published in Agenda’s Online Broadsheet, The Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Acumen’s Young Poets Section, Off the Block, and The Cambridge Student, among other places. When he gets …
Initially wooed by the First World War poets and then seduced by the Beats, Dick Jones has been exploring the vast territories in between since the age of 15. Work has been published in a number of magazines, print and online, including Orbis, The Interpreter’s House, Poetry Ireland Review, Qarrtsiluni, Westwords, Mipoesias, Three Candles, Other …
BIO Jerry T. Johnson is a Poet and Spoken Word Artist whose poetry has appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies. Jerry often features at a variety of spoken word venues in the New York City area and he currently lives in Danbury, Connecticut with his wife Raye.
Lucy Mackarel is a teenage aspiring writer from rural Ireland. She has always been passionate about writing and uses personal experiences to gather her inspiration. Lucy has been making solid plans to attain her dreams of attaining a future in creative writing, having been offered a place in University to study the subject.
Michael Brockley is a pseudo-retired school psychologist who still works in rural northeast Indiana. His poems have appeared in Atticus Review, Gargoyle and Clementine Unbound.
Maximum 200 words. Frances Browner grew up in Dublin, spent twenty years in New York and now resides in County Wicklow. She has been writing fiction for over twenty years and has had short stories shortlisted for competitions and one took 2nd prize at the Dromineer Festival in 2010. Others have been published in Ireland’s …
Novelist, short story writer and critic. Works include The History of Luminous Motion and The People Who Watched Her Pass By. Stories and reviews have appeared in Triquarterly, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The New York Times Book Review, The Baffler, and numerous “best of” anthologies. He lives in California and London
Maximum 200 words. Jacqueline Knight has lived in Spain for 28 years. She is a writer, mother of 4, committed activist for environmental protection, equality and voting rights and Deputy Mayor of her small village. She has had poems published in various anthologies and online journals and in her poetry blog. http://blog.healingwordspoetry.com/
Dermot McGarthy was born and grew up in Dublin. He started writing short stories in his teens and had some of these were published in local magazines. He got the poetry bug in his mid-thirties, and has since self-published 4 books, Standing Room Only (2004), Goldfish Logic (2006), Building Work (2008) and his current collection, …
Megan’s work can be read in Shot Glass Journal, Runestone Journal, North Dakota Quarterly and Weasel Press’s anthology: How Well You Walk Through Madness. She currently attends Northwestern Health Sciences University in Minneapolis, Minnesota for Massage Therapy.
Jude studied English at Aberdeen University and now lives near Belfast with her very tolerant husband and a gang of spoilt rescue-animals. She has tutored students and taught EFL in local schools, and now writes poetry, flash fiction and short stories in her spare time. Some of her poetry has been featured in The Blue …
Susan was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, her flash-fiction Talk of Armadale trees was featured in the anthology My Favourite Place, published by the Scottish Book Trust in 2012, several of her short stories were published by Aphelion Webzine in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Susan has been featured on the cover of Aphelion in March and July 2017, February and …
Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, Forge, Poetry, Osiris, The New Yorker and elsewhere. His most recent collection is The Osiris Poems published by boxofchalk, 2017. For more information including free e-books and his essay “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” please visit his website at www.simonperchik.com. To view one …
I have an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh and numerous publications, including Cutbank and three in The Sun Magazine.
Brian Kirk is an award-winning poet and short story writer from Dublin. His children’s novel The Rising Son was published in December 2015. He was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series in 2013 and highly commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2014 and 2015. His first poetry collection After The Fall was published …
Deborah Harvey is a poet and novelist. Her three poetry collections, Communion (2011), Map Reading for Beginners (2014), and Breadcrumbs (2016), are published by Indigo Dreams, while her historical novel, Dart, appeared under their Tamar Books imprint in 2013. Her fourth collection, The Shadow Factory, will be published in 2019. Deborah runs workshops and read at …
Having worked in Andalusia since 2000, Clare Morris has recently returned to the UK and now lives in South Lincolnshire. She is currently working on an anthology, arising from her collaboration with the abstract artist, Nigel Bird (www.nigel-bird.com). Although much of her poetry is written in response to the environment, she also enjoys incorporating more …
Karen Poppy has work published or forthcoming in The American Journal of Poetry, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, ArLiJo, Wallace Stevens Journal, and Young Ravens Literary Review, among others. She has recently written her first novel, is at work on her second novel, and is an attorney licensed in California and Texas. She lives …
I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and had an idyllic childhood. I went insane when I was eighteen and struggled with mental illness for many years. It wasn’t until I went to live on a farm in Western Massachusetts that I truly began to heal. The act of my rebuilding my psyche was …
David Gladwin grew up in Derbyshire, and lives in East Yorkshire. His stories have been published by Nailed, Old Ladybird Books and What the Dickens. He is a member of the B.S. Johnson Society, whose forthcoming BSJ journal 4 will include a new story.
Maximum 200 words. Fiona Sinclair is the editor of the on line poetry magazine Message in a Bottle. Her sixth collection Slow Burner was published by Smokestack , August 2018. Her poem The Ladies of Cadiz was nominated for this years Forward Prize. She lives in Kent with her husband and an imaginary cat.
Mark has only been writing short stories for four months now, but his passion and enthusiasm are unparalleled, and this has recently resulted in paid pieces in four prestigious magazines including Books N’ Pieces, Artpost Magazine, and four upcoming anthologies. Mark currently works in sales and is ready to sell his soul to the devil for …
John Higgins is a 21 year old student. He has been writing from a very young age, and his early, more unpolished works have received commendations from publishers encouraging him to keep perfecting his craft. He currently has a book under consideration by a publisher. He enjoys a wide variety of authors, including- but not …
International best-selling author, P.A. O’Neil, spent her early years in southern California, before her family moved to a small town in Washington. Her father always said, her Mexican and Irish heritage qualified for the designation of “Smoked Irish”. Knowledgeable in things urban and rural, young and old, she knows what it means to simultaneously be …
Ewa Mazierska is historian of film and popular music, who writes short stories and nonfiction in her spare time. Several of them were published in literary magazines: ‘The Longshot Island’, ‘The Adelaide Magazine’, ‘The Fiction Pool’, ‘Literally Stories’, ‘Ragazine’, ‘Shark Reef’ and ‘Terror House Magazine’. Ewa lives in Lancashire, UK.
Bob Beagrie is a widely published poet. Recent collections include ‘This Game of Strangers’ – written in collaboration with Jane Burn (Wyrd harvest Press 2017), ‘Leasungspell’ (Smokestack Books 2016). He is a senior lecturer at Teesside University and co-director of Ek Zuban Press & Literature Development. These poems are from a forthcoming collection entitled ‘Civil …
My name is Terry Connolly, I am 38 years old, living in Dublin, Ireland. I am a new writer, testing out my work. My billpaying background consists of work in Science and Politics, which when combined with my overactive imagination has resulted in several sci-fi short stories as well as a novel that was hiding …
