Publications
The people who published 'Poems for Big Kids' have just brought out 'Science', an anthology of poems about - yes, well, science, obviously. I have two poems in there, one previously unpublished. It's a sumptuous A4 book, elegantly illustrated, and has some fine work included - my favourite is Barbara Crooker's 'Txt Mssge Hamlet' which is great fun and linguistically clever.
It's out! Best of Manchester Volume 2, edited by me, Keir Thomas, Sarah Miller and Steve O'Connor, can be purchased from Amazon, Puppywolf or any good bookshop. It's a wonderful book, rich with a variety of talent and theme you'd be hard-pushed to find elsewhere - subjects range from wheelie bins to painting lathes pink to clerihews, and although free verse predominates there are all kinds of poetic forms therein too. Even thicker than the first volume, it packs a lot of poetic punch.
Two e-publications of short-short stories recently - see Issue 1 at Gumbo for 'The Full Moon Story'. Then at Microhorror you can find my creepy story 'The Moral'.
Due to ill-health I've been submitting very little recently, but two recent publications have thrilled me: my own collection, 'Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature', and inclusion in a charity anthology, 'Soul Feathers' alongside Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy, Benjamin Zephaniah and various other superheroes. Very cheering when one's in bed feeling grotty!
Another publication online: Bugged have accepted my poem 'The Biggest Problem' for use in their blog. There's also a chance of it going in a print publication later, so I'm very pleased. The Bugged project is all about work based on eavesdropping! Overheard conversations can be a great source of inspiration and I remembered one in a railway carriage. It's slightly naughty and good fun, I think.
How exciting is this? I'm co-editor of Best of Manchester Poets, and have two poems in it! It's a glorious book out on June 16th from puppywolf.co.uk . It's been a real labour of love between four dedicated people, with no reward except the making of a landmark book. We believe that it's as important as The Mersey Sound was in its time.
The first publication of 2010 came in January from the wonderful Women Writers e-zine, who printed no fewer than three of my poems: 'Attention!' , 'After Hearing a Mainstream Politician Speak' and 'On the Commune', with a lovely photo and mini-bio! I really enjoyed seeing my political/feminist side in print in this fantastic 'zine.
Velvet magazine have printed another poem of mine in their September 2009 issue: Her Light Touch in Darkness. I'm especially pleased as it's next to a poem by a friend and poet I admire enormously, Mary Brett - we used to pipe-dream of being published together! I never thought it would happen so soon.
It's great to be in 'Unsung' magazine in August 2009, a dynamic mag dedicated to Manchester's 'unsung' poetic heroes. It's one of the most energetic and unusual publications around, and I'm very pleased to have my poem 'Confession' in Issue #3. There's a fine illustration too - in fact there are loads of little drawings, doodles and interesting fonts all through the magazine.
January 2009 brought two poetry acceptances by Velvet magazine, though only one has made it into print so far: 'The Peach', in the edition pictured here. I believe that the issue with my work, Issue 19, has sold out.
'The Ugly Tree', a Manchester-based poetry magazine, accepted my poem 'Animal-abuse-based Proverbs and Sayings, De-animalised and Made Veganically Correct, with Apologies for the Fact that I'm No Good at Snappy Titles' in November 2008. Sadly it was their last issue - magazines folded (no pun intended) everywhere as the credit crunch hit. I was very proud to be in it, though. Read about where you can buy the final issue.
On New Year's Day 2008 I heard that my poem 'Ambition' was going in the anthology 'Poems for Big Kids' pictured here. My first published poem, and my first book! It's a lovely tome, and can be found as a free PDF or to buy in printed form.
In June 2007 the vampire story 'What I Did on my Holidays' was accepted by the e-zine 'Midnight Times', appearing in the Spring 2008 edition.. Before you castigate me for spelling and syntax, please bear in mind that it's narrated by a small child!