Word comes up the Lane
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Annie Kissack is from the Isle of Man. In 2018 she became the Fifth Manx Bard. Her two poetry collections Mona Sings (2022) and A Suggestion of Wrens (2025) engage with the stories, landscapes and languages of her native island.
Pickle
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Emma Dandy’s writing explores the fragmentation of identity after trauma. Publication of her debut pamphlet – I Laid Out Knives, Guns and Razors – is forthcoming with Hedgehog Poetry Press. She is a Creative Writing PhD student at the University of Birmingham. Insta: @emmadandypoetry
Low dive remembered
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Judith Taylor lives in Aberdeen, where she co-organises the monthly Poetry at Books and Beans events. Her latest collection, Across Your Careful Garden, is published by Red Squirrel Press. She is one of the Editors of Poetry Scotland. Website: http://sometimesjudy.co.uk/ Publisher: https://www.redsquirrelpress.com/poetry?Author=Judith%20Taylor
Something Seriously Not Right
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Graham Clifford is the author of five collections of poetry. His work has been translated into Romanian and German, can be found on the Poetry Archive, and is anthologised by publishers including Faber, Against the Grain and Broken Sleep Books. Most recently, his work has been included in the Manchester Review, Iamb, BerlinLit, The Madrid Review, and Finished Creatures. Graham is co-editor of Edition, a London-based poetry magazine and event night. Insta @editionpoetryperformance
Bored of My Little Ponies,
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Jeanette Burton is a poet from Belper in Derbyshire. Her poetry has previously appeared in Mslexia, Poetry Wales, The North, The Friday Poem, Dust, Atrium, IS&T and Dreich. She has been placed in several competitions, winning first prize in McLellan (2021), Ware (2022) and Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists (2023). Her debut pamphlet, Ostriches: Ten Poems about My Dad, is published by Candlestick Press. https://www.candlestickpress.co.uk/pamphlet/ostriches-ten-poems-about-my-dad/
Ghost Singer
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Catherine Graham’s the author of ten books. Her poems have appeared in Best Canadian Poetry, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Daily, Gutter Magazine and on CBC Radio. Moon Writing is her latest book. A collection inspired by Remedios Varo is forthcoming. www.catherinegraham.com @catgrahampoet
Balcony women
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Note: More female suicides in Turkey are now reported as being balcony killings – less easy to detect – as many as one in four hidden femicides disguised as suicides. The Guardian 31.1.26
Alison Campbell, from Aberdeen, lives in London and has poetry published in various publications including London Grip, Culture Matters, Indigo Dreams. She was highly commended in the Ware poetry competition, 2024 and won the South Downs poetry competition in 2023.
Fuck/ this hair
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Lynn Valentine lives in the Black Isle. Her second poetry collection, Devil’s Piece, was published by Cinnamon Press in 2026. Lynn’s debut poetry collection, Life’s Stink and Honey, was published by Cinnamon Press in 2022 after winning their literature award.
Hotel on the quay
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Cherry Doyle lives on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. Her pamphlet September and collection The Taste of Rain are available from Offa’s Press. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Poetry. Find out more at cherrydoyle.com.
Alice I Love You
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Claire Booker lives by the South Downs. Her poems have appeared in publications including Agenda, Magma, Rialto, Spectator and Stand. She is a five-times winner of The Poetry Society Members’ Competition and was long-listed in the National Poetry Competition.
atriumpoetry.com 