June 13 - 2025



~

'There Is More Than Glass Between The Snow And The Huge Roses' appears in The Waxed Lemon,

Issue 9, edited by Derek Flynn and Joanne McCarthy, and launched on Friday 13th June in

Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens, Tramore, Waterford, Ireland, as part of the Sean Dunne Literary

Weekend.  

 

'A dynamic literary journal from Waterford, Ireland. Publishing poetry, fiction, flash & art.' 

 

The Waxed Lemon, Issue 9 can be purchased in independent bookstores in Ireland, or direct

from The Waxed Lemon website.

~

June 11 - 2025



~

Accepted for publication in Cordite 117: NO THEME, edited by guest poetry editor, Alex Creece,

in Melbourne, Australia.

 

Cordite Poetry Review is an Australian and international journal of poetry, criticism and research.

 

Cordite 117: NO THEME will launch in August.

~

June 5 - 2025



~

'Possession' appears in Abridged 0-105: Lilith, edited by Gregory McCartney and Susanna Galbraith,

launched at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast on June 5th.

 

'Abridged aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental poetry plus contemporary art.

We encourage poets/artists to investigate the articulation of ‘Abridged’ themes. These themes focus on

contemporary concerns in a rapidly changing society. We are offering an alternative and complete integration

of poetry, art and design. We experiment continually. We also stray into the exhibition format producing

contemporary, innovative and challenging work accompanied by a free publication.'

 

The web version of Abridged 0-105: Lilith is available here.

 

The print version of Abridged 0-105: Lilith is available in art galleries/independent bookstores

in Ireland, and via the Abridged website.

~

June 2 - 2025

~

'Revenant' appears in Meniscus Volume 13: Issue 1, edited by Jen Webb, Ginna Brock, Deb Wain,

Alyssa Waldon, and launched at the University of Canberra.

 

New work from: Hasti Abbasi, Ben Adams, David Adès, Hellen Albuquerque, Emma Ashmere,

Hilary Ayshford, Lidya Ayuningtyas, Mitchell Batavia, Amber Black, Margaret Bradstock, Ruth

Brandt, Elizabeth Rae Bullmer, Marion May Campbell, Sara Cosgrove, Ellie Cottrell, Kirsty Crawford,

Taylor Croteau, Kate Cumiskey, Em Dial, Richard Downing, Dorit d'Scarlett, Louis Faber, Fiona

Faulds, Anneliese Finke, Ian Fisher, Kasey Frahm, Anna Riley Frankpitt, A.J. Frantz, Kim Fulton,

Claire Gaskin, Stephanie Green, Kirwan Henry, Blossom Hibbert, Marwa Hijazi, Kylie A Hough,

Heikka Huotari, Danielle Johnstone, Kimberley Knight, Michael Leach, Matthew Lee, Wes Lee,

Travis Lucas, Robert Maddox-Harle, Cendrine Marrouat, Tenille McDermott, Lindsay McLeod,

Frances Milat, Katya Mills, Peter Newall, Keith Nunes, Thomas Osatchoff, Simon Ott, E Peregrine,

Edie Popper, John Pring, Promise nobuhle, Dustin Radke, Jessie Raymundo, Purbasha Roy,

Thaddeus Rutkowski, Maggie Shapley, Jessica Sheather-Neumann, Gemma Siegler, Ian C Smith,

Jane Snyder, Soo Jin, Edward Michael Supranowicz, RL Swihart, Ruby Sylvanie, Carsten ten Brink,

Jake Tringali, Jonathan Vigdop, Louise Wakeling, Sui Wang, Sue Watson, Kendra Whitfield,

Lucy Wilks and Leone Gabrielle, Myfanwy Williams, Jena Woodhouse, Kirby Michael Wright,

Morgan Yasbincek

 

‘Meniscus is an online literary journal published by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs

(AAWP), at the University of Canberra. Its aim is to provide a showcase for the best in contemporary

international writing.’

~

May 31 - 2025

~

Shortlisted for The Plough Poetry Prize 2025, judged by Pascale Petit, in the UK.

 

Now in its twenty-fifth year, The Plough Poetry Prize is offered by The Plough Arts Centre in

Torrington, North Devon.

 

The winners have been announced on The Plough website.

 ~

May 28 - 2025



Magma's award ceremony event will take place tonight at the Devereux pub in Central London.

 

Prize winners and commended poets will read their poems. Plus a special set from Magma's

guest judge Amy Acre who will read from her own poetry.

 

Wes's poem 'Potassium Nitrate, Charcoal, Silver', which won the Magma Editors' Prize 2024/05,

will be read by one of the Magma editors. 

 

The event starts at 7pm.

~

May 27 - 2025

~

Accepted for publication in The Waxed Lemon, Issue 9. Edited by Derek Flynn and Joanne

McCarthy.

 

'A dynamic literary journal from Waterford, Ireland. Publishing poetry, fiction, flash & art.'

 

The Waxed Lemon 9 will launch on Friday 13th June 2025 in Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens,

Tramore, Waterford, Ireland, as part of the Sean Dunne Literary Weekend.

~

May 26 - 2025

~ 

'December' appears in Landfall 249: Autumn 2025, edited by Lynley Edmeades.

~

Landfall 249 features new poetry by Miriam Barr, Casey Carsel, Jodie Dalgleish, Lynn Davidson, Sian

Doole, Elese Dowden, Alistair du Chatenier, David Eggleton, Riemke Ensing, Holly Fletcher, Rhian

Gallagher, Rata Gordon, Eliena Gray, Bronte Heron, Gail Ingram, Wes Lee, Jackson McCarthy, Carolyn

McCurdie, Zoe Meager, James Norcliffe, Claire Orchard, Mark Prisco, Kerrin P. Sharpe, Elizabeth

Smither, Lisa Stanley, Kim Cope Tait, Nicola Thorstensen, Ariana Tikao, Whaitiri Tua-Warbrick,

Sophie van Wardenberg, Holly Walker, Dustan Ward, Tim Wilson, Nicholas Wright.

 

'For almost 80 years, Landfall has been a dedicated space for writers, artists and reviewers in Aotearoa

New Zealand. Published twice a year, each volume showcases two full-colour art portfolios and brims with

vital new fiction, poetry, cultural commentary, reviews and essays. Bringing together a range of voices

and perspectives, from established practitioners to emerging talents, Landfall is always an exciting anthology

with a finger on the pulse of innovation and creativity in Aotearoa today.'

 

Landfall 249 is available in independent bookshops and direct from Otago University Press.

~

May 22 - 2025

~

'The seal' appears in Splinter, Issue 2, edited by Farrin Foster, and launched at the State Library

of South Australia, North Terrace, in Adelaide. 

~

Splinter, Issue 2, features 25 writers from across Australia, Japan, Canada, Nigeria, Lebanon,

the Philippines, and New Zealand.

New work by: Alex Cothren, Corey Theatre, Courtney Jaye, Ellena Savage, Erin Riley, Glenn Diaz,

Hasib Hourani, Jessica White, Jo Case, JP Wilson, Katie Smith, Madeleine Nattrass, Mag Merrilees,

Margot Albrecht, Naya Jehad Fathi Shalbak, Omar Musa, Oyewumi Fawaz Akorede, Rita Horanyi,

Rowena Vnuk, Royce Kurmelovs, Sarah Sands Phillips, Smriti Daniel, Sofya Gollan, Stephanie

Westwood, and Wes Lee.

~

'Sharp and hard to ignore. Splinter is a literary journal for writers and readers that is published

biannually out of Tarntanya (Adelaide, Australia) by Writers SA, and supported by Arts SA,

Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and UniSA.'

 

Issue 2 is available in independent book shops in Australia and can be purchased here.

 

'I was looking for affecting insights on the anthropocene this issue, and 'The seal' is so resonant

on the theme - I love the many layers to it, and the seamless focal shifts across time.'

— Farrin Foster, Splinter

 

'We're so glad that we can share their excellent, chaotic, chilling, and often beautiful work.'

~

May 16 - 2025

~

Awarded second prize in The Fish Poetry Prize 2025, selected by the judge, former US Poet Laureate

Billy Collins.

 

The winning poets and honorary mentions have been announced on the Fish Publishing website in Ireland. 

There were 1,886 entries this year.

 

"Wes Lee's Prayer at the Cove"... All done in one breathless sentence, this poem is a syntactic tour de force.

The mix of swan, seal, whales, ducks, and dandelions keeps adjusting the scene on this engrossing, attentive ride,

as the consciousness that guides the poem chases itself to an ending. How refreshing to be in the mind of another

if only for a moment or so.' — Billy Collins

 

Fish Publishing is an independent publishing company based in the West of Ireland. It was founded

in 1994 by Clem Cairns and Jula Walton. The Fish Poetry Prize was established in 2006.

 

Billy Collins is the author of twelve collections of poetry. A Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman

College of the City University of New York and Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Winter Park Institute

of Rollins College, he was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003 and New York State Poet

from 2004 to 2006. In 2016 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

 

The winning and commended poems will be published in The Fish Anthology 2025 in July and will be

invited to read at the launch during the West Coast Literary Festival in Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland.

~

May 5 - 2025

~

'Naked' appears in Westerly 69.2, edited by Daniel Juckes, at the Westerly centre,

University of Western Australia.

~

Featuring new work from writers and artists across WA, Australia and the world, Westerly 69.2

showcases a range of contemporary poetry, fiction, nonfiction. Contributors to 69.2 include Carrie Chappell,

Nandi Chinna, Rashida Murphy, Julie Watts, John Kinsella, Pidj Flavell, James Salvius Cheng,

Sharon Mesmer, Liam Byrne, Wes Lee, Miriam Wei Wei Lo, Hannah McCann and many others. 

 ~

Westerly 69.2 can be purchased throughout Australia, or through the Westerly website.

~

April 23 - 2025

~

Awarded second and third prizes in The Plaze Poetry Prize 2025, selected by

the judge, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natalie Diaz, in the UK.

~

The winning, commended, and shortlisted poems (for an individual poem with

a maximum length of 60 lines) have been announced on The Plaza Prizes website.

~

'Reading the finalist poems for The Plaza Poetry Prize was like shining a bright light

into my end of winter days. Many of the poems were pulsing and rippling with

emotional imagery and powerful ruminations on what it means to be alongside one

another in this world, as miraculous beings, despite our wounds and losses.'

- Natalie Diaz

~

The Plaza Prizes offer a prize pool of 20,000 pounds (US $30,000).

~

The award ceremony will be held in the Dordogne, France on 16th of October 2025

to launch The Plaza Prizes Anthology 3.

~

'In her soaring poems, Diaz deepens and revises the word "postcolonial", demonstrating

not only that love persists in the aftermath of colonialism, but that it provides a means

of transcendence too.' - The Guardian

~

April 18 - 2025

'The broken smashed rubble of everything I owned' appears in Australian Poetry Journal

14.1 'Walking', guest edited by Jake Goetz.

 

Featuring new work by Robin M Eames, Kaya Ortiz, Mimi Galt, Gina Mercer, Marcelle Freiman,

Rose van Son, Angela Costi, Dave Clark, Gayle Kennedy, Bonny Cassidy, Gayelene Carbis,

Charmaine Papertalk Green, Kristian Radford, Chloe Mayne, Toby Fitch, B.R. Dionysius,

Stephanie Powell, Thomas Simpson, Edie Popper, Anne Elvey, Dženana Vucic, Luke Patterson,

Damen O’Brien, Liam Ferney, Kit Kavanagh-Ryan, Willo Drummond, Michael Farrell, Wes Lee,

Lou Smith, Elena Gomez, Corey Wakeling, Svetlana Sterlin, Jill Jones, Mitchell Welch, Gareth Morgan,

Niko Chlopicki, Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn, Christine Yunn-Yu Sun, Paris Rosemont, Melody Paloma,

Dave Drayton.

 

APJ 14.1 is available in independent bookstores in Australia and direct from the Australian Poetry website.

~

April 16 - 2025

~

Shortlisted for The Plaza Poetry Prize 2025, judged by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natalie Diaz,

in the UK.

 

The Plaza Poetry Prize, £4000 pounds for a poem (max 60 lines).

 

'Natalie’s Postcolonial Love Poem won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, was a finalist for the National Book Award,

and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize. Her first book, When My Brother Was an Aztec, was winner

of an American Book Award. She is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, a Lannan Literary Foundation Fellow,

a Native Arts and Culture Foundation Fellow, and a former Princeton University Hodder Fellow.'

 

The winners will be announced on April 22nd.

~

April 15 - 2025

~

Awarded the Editors' Prize 2024/25, by Magma Poetry magazine in London.

The £1000 Editors' Prize is judged by a panel of Magma editors.

~

Magma holds two poetry competitions each year: the Judge’s Prize for poems of 11 to 50 lines,

and the Editors’ Prize for poems up to 10 lines.

 

This year's prizes received over 3,100 poems.

 

The prizewinning poems will be published in Magma Poetry 92, Ownership and all winning and

commended poems plus the judge's reports will be published online in a downloadable PDF,

available when the issue launches this July.

 

Magma Poetry is one of the UK's most prominent literary magazines. A London-based poetry magazine,

publishing work on and about poetry, and known for appointing a different editor every issue.

It was founded by Helen Nicholson and Laurie Smith in 1994.

 

There will be a ceremony event in London in July to celebrate the prize-winners and commended poets.

~

April 14 - 2025

~

Longlisted for The Plaza Poetry Prize 2025, judged by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natalie Diaz,

in the UK.

 

The Plaza Poetry Prize, £4000 pounds for a poem (max 60 lines).

 

'Natalie’s Postcolonial Love Poem won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, was a finalist for the National Book Award,

and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize. Her first book, When My Brother Was an Aztec,

was winner of an American Book Award. She is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, a Lannan Literary

Foundation Fellow, a Native Arts and Culture Foundation Fellow, and a former Princeton University

Hodder Fellow.'

 

The winners will be announced at the end of April.

~

April 11 - 2025

~

Three poems appear in NOON: journal of the short poem, Issue 27, edited by Philip Rowland,

and launched in Tokyo.

~

April 8 - 2025

~

'Soon It Will Smell Like Us' appears in Poetry Scotland, Issue 109.

 

Poetry Scotland is published twice-yearly as a literary broadsheet, showcasing new poetry

in English, Scots and Gaelic from Scotland and all around the globe.

 

Poetry Scotland was founded in 1997 by Sally Evans and Ian King at Diehard Press.

Since 2020 it has been edited by Andy Jackson and Judy Taylor, with Sheena Blackhall (Doric Adviser)

Maggie Rabatski and Maoilios Caimbeul (Gaelic Advisers).

~

April 6 - 2025

~

Two poems appear in Blackmail Press, Issue 46, launched in Auckland, and edited by Doug Poole.

 

'Founded in 2001, Blackmail Press’s impetus is to promote New Zealand poetry and to provide an environment

for New Zealand poets to share their work, presenting an eclectic range of voices from Aotearoa and abroad.’

~

March 29 - 2025

~

Accepted for publication in Landfall 249: Autumn 2025.

 

'Landfall is New Zealand’s foremost and longest running arts and literary journal. Published by

Otago University Press, it showcases new fiction, poetry, essays and cultural commentary.'

— Otago University Press

 

Landfall 249 will launch in May.

~

March 25 - 2025

~

Longlisted for the National Poetry Competition in the UK, by the judges John McAuliffe,

Stephen Sexton and Romalyn Ante.

 

'Offered by The Poetry Society since 1978, The National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s

most prestigious prizes for a single poem. This year the prize attracted 21,736 poems, from which

the judges selected a longlist of 114 poems.'

 

The winning and commended entries will appear on The Poetry Society website on March 28

after the Award ceremony and online reading.

~

March 19 - 2025

~

Accepted for publication in Splinter a new literary journal from Adelaide, edited by

Farrin Foster.

 

Splinter is published by Writers SA and supported by Arts SA, Flinders University,

the University of Adelaide and UniSA.

 

Issue 2 will be launched early this year.

~

March 14 - 2025

~

Accepted for publication in the Australian Poetry Journal 14.1: 'Walking', guest edited

by Jake Goetz.

 

'Walking in poetry – whether as a theme, a methodology, or concept – has always been

a subversive act, a way for people from diverse genders and backgrounds to speak back to cultures

and histories of exclusion. For this issue, we are interested in poems that not only reframe

and challenge the relationship between poetry and walking, but which also seek new ways

of writing about walking that might not be about walking at all. Who gets to ‘walk’, for instance?

Who is forced to walk? Who is prevented from walking?' — Jake Goetz

 

APJ 14.1 will be published in April.

 

March 14 - 2025

~

Accepted for publication in Poetry Scotland.

 

Poetry Scotland is published twice-yearly as a literary broadsheet, showcasing new poetry

in English, Scots and Gaelic from Scotland and all around the globe.

 

Poetry Scotland was founded in 1997 by Sally Evans and Ian King at Diehard Press. Since 2020

it has been edited by Andy Jackson and Judy Taylor, with Sheena Blackhall (Doric Adviser)

Maggie Rabatski and Maoilios Caimbeul (Gaelic Advisers).

 

Issue 109 will launch in April.

~

February 19 - 2025

~

'I like...' appears in The Poem, I Now Realised, Was A Dog: The Verve Anthology of Poets and Poetry,

introduced and selected by Hannah Lowe. Featuring the shortlisted and winning poets

from the Verve Poetry Festival 2025 prize, in Birmingham.

 

The anthology features poems by Roberto Salvador Cenciarelli, Julia Ireland, Carole Bromley,

Christopher Horton, Daniel Revach, Julie Runacres, Helen Bowell, Jonathan Chibuike Ukah,

Nicolette Daskalakis, Oliver Fox, Audrey Ardern-Jones, Ben Verinder, Gail Webb, Elizabeth Gibson,

Tommy Sissens, Kat Dixon, Wes Lee, Ruth Higgins, Julia Webb, Tina Sederholm, Vanessa Lampert,

Estelle Price, Paul Francis, Rona Luo.

 

The Poem, I Now Realised, Was A Dog: The Verve Anthology of Poets and Poetry is published by Verve Press,

and is available from all good bookshops throughout the UK, or direct from Verve Press.

 

This year’s theme, "Poets and Poetry," celebrates the essence of the poetic craft and the voices

behind the verses.

 

The anthology was launched at an Award Event at the Verve Poetry Festival 2025, hosted

by Hannah Lowe at the Birmingham Hippodrome on February 16th.

~

February 18 - 2025

~

Longlisted for Mslexia Magazine's Women's Poetry Competition 2024. The longlist was selected

by the judge Jane Hirshfield.

 

The 2,000 pound prize is offered by Mslexia Magazine in the UK.

 

Winners will be announced early March.

~

February 14 - 2025

~'

Why does my heart feel so bad?: An Ode to Google appears in Abridged 0-104: Legion, edited by

Gregory McCartney and Susanna Galbraith. The print version will be launched at the Golden Thread

Gallery in Belfast on the 6th of March.

 

'Abridged aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental poetry plus contemporary art.

We encourage poets/artists to investigate the articulation of ‘Abridged’ themes. These themes focus on

contemporary concerns in a rapidly changing society. We are offering an alternative and complete integration

of poetry, art and design. We experiment continually. We also stray into the exhibition format producing

contemporary, innovative and challenging work accompanied by a free publication.'

 

The print version of Abridged 0-104: Legion will be available in independent bookstores in Ireland,

and via the Abridged website.

~

February 7 - 2025

~

Highly Commended in the Southword Editions Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition

2024. One of Ireland's most prestigious prizes for a poetry chapbook, offered by

The Munster Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland.

~

The Munster Literature Centre established the Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition in 2005.

The two winning chapbooks will be published by Southword Editions and launched at the Cork

International Poetry Festival 2025.

~

January 23 - 2025

~

Accepted for publication in Abridged 0-104: Legion, edited by Gregory McCartney and

Susanna Galbraith, in Northern Ireland.

 

'Abridged aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental poetry plus contemporary art.

We encourage poets/artists to investigate the articulation of ‘Abridged’ themes. These themes focus on

contemporary concerns in a rapidly changing society. We are offering an alternative and complete integration

of poetry, art and design. We experiment continually. We also stray into the exhibition format producing

contemporary, innovative and challenging work accompanied by a free publication.'

 

Abridged 0-104: Legion will launch in Belfast in February.

~

January 16 - 2025

~

Commended in the Verve Poetry Festival 2025 prize by the judge Hannah Lowe.

 

The Verve Festival of Poetry and Spoken Word 2025 takes place each year in Birmingham

from Feb 13th — 16th.

 

The winning and commended poets will read at a festival event and appear in the annual anthology

introduced by Hannah Lowe and published by Verve Press. Previous anthologies have been selected

and introduced by Helen Mort, Kim Moore, Caroline Bird, Andrew McMillan, Joelle Taylor, Luke Kennard.

 

'Verve Poetry Festival (and our sister press) are proud to be a home for poets and poetry-lovers.

From Waterstones to The Old Rep to The Hippodrome, and from a four-day programme to a five-day extravaganza,

our festival continues to get better every year, welcoming award-winning poets from the Midlands, the UK

and the world. We're thrilled collaborators with the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival, extend

our offering with a years worth of online workshops with some of the finest poets the world has to offer

in addition to our trimphant return every February.'

~

December 21 - 2024

~

Accepted for publication in Westerly 69.2, at the Westerly Centre, University of Western Australia.

 

Westerly 69.2 will be launched in the New Year.

~

December 16 - 2024

~

Shortlisted for the After the End Poetry Competition 2024 - offered by After the End - 

a research project run by a unique group of academics: Prof. Patricia Kingori (University

of Oxford, UK), Prof. Laura Salisbury (University of Exeter, UK), Dr. Haja Wurie

(University of Sierra Leone), Prof. Emily Chan (University of Hong Kong), Prof. Dora

Vargha (University of Exeter), Prof. Sharifah Sekalala (University of Warwick), Prof Debora

Diniz (Anis Instituto de Biotica, Brazil), Prof. Luciano Brito (Anis Instituto de Biotica,

Brazil), Prof. Ruth Ogden (Liverpool John Moores University, UK).

 

'The competition invited responses from poets that critically engage with ideas of time and

temporality and the question of who gets to say that something has ended.'

 

The judging panel included award-winning poet Jenny Mitchell, literary agent

Selma Begum, University of Exeter’s director of Liberal Arts Dr Michael Flexer,

and After the End researcher and Professor of Modern Literature and

Medical Humanities Laura Salisbury.

 

The competition had 270 portfolio entries from 13 countries. 12 poets were shortlisted

for the prize.

 

The winner, Chiwenite Onyekwelu, and the two runners up: Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi

and Rhiya Pau are published here.

 

December 7 - 2024

Longlisted for the QuietManDave Non-Fiction Prize 2024, offered by Manchester Metropolitan

University in the UK.

 

Selected by the judging panel: Catherine Love, Mufaro Makubika, Michael Pinchbeck and Joe Shute.

There were 900 overall entries worldwide for this year's prize.

 

The winners will be announced in December.

 

December 3 - 2024

~

Possession appears in The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Annual 2025, published

by Aesthetica magazine in the UK.

 

'The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award champions exceptional literary talent from across the globe.

The short fiction and poetry included in this anthology takes the temperature of society as we know it

today and demonstrates the strength and resilience of the human spirit.' 

 

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Annual 2025 can be purchased in bookshops in the UK,

and direct from Aesthetica.

~

November 27 - 2024

~

'November' appears in Meniscus Volume 12: Issue 2, edited by Jen Webb and Camilla Cripps,

and launched at the University of Canberra.

 

‘Meniscus is an online literary journal published by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs

(AAWP). Its aim is to provide a showcase for the best in contemporary international writing.’

 

November 21 - 2024

~

Shortlisted for The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2024, in the UK.

 

'The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is an international literary prize that celebrates excellence

in Poetry and Short Fiction. Hosted by the international art and culture publication, Aesthetica Magazine.'

 

The shortlisted and winning pieces will appear in The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Annual 2025,

an international showcase of new poetry and short fiction.

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Annual 2025 will be launched in December.

~

November 11 - 2024

~

'To the Middle Child Who Died' appears in 'BeHold: Responding to Wellington Words'.

A Wellington exhibition featuring: Nigel Brown, Marian Fountain, Tanya Ashken, Frances Battersby,

Graham Bennett, Lesley Fowler, Fiona Garlick, Anton Hart, Samantha Lissette, Christine Massey,

Richard Mathieson, Neil Miller, Gregory O'Brien, Terry Stringer, Marte Szirmay, Greer Twiss,

Chris Van Doren, Jim Wheeler. 

 

'To the Middle Child Who Died' accompanies the work of Marian Fountain.

 

'This curated collection of works in sculpture, installation, painting and medal art offers a reflection

on the literary expressions written in and about our capital city. Visitors will have the privilege of

encountering a diverse spectrum of visual responses to poetry, prose, haiku and lyrics all paying homage

to the captivating essence of Te Whanganui-a-Tara and its environs. This exhibition is a unique

opportunity to appreciate the multifaceted artistic interpretations inspired by the cultural tapestry of Wellington.'

~

October 29 - 2024

~

~

Accepted for publication in the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2025.

 

Edited by Tracey Slaughter, the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook is an international print journal

based in New Zealand and published by Massey University Press.

 

‘Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook is this country's oldest, most established poetry magazine. It is interested

not only in the work of established poets and experimental writing but also in that of new writers

trying to have their work recognised. It also contains reviews and articles concerning poetry in

New Zealand and elsewhere.’ 

 

The Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2025 will launch in March 2025.

~

October 1 - 2024

                              

~

'Prism' appears in Heroines: An Anthology of Poetry Vol. 5, edited by Sarah Nicholson.

 

'Meet mythological women and goddesses from across the globe, dryads and selkies, muses

and manasa, artists, space explorers and more, in Heroines: An Anthology of Poetry.

Poetry by Kell Woods, Jennifer Harrison, Kathryn Reese, Heather Blakey, Melanie Ehler Collopy,

Alisha Brown, Suzi Mezei, Nicole Rain Sellers, Rebekah Sachno, Kimi Sugioka, Niamh Hollis-Locke,

Wes Lee, Andrea Ciocoi, Melissa Coffey, Dominique Richards, Frances Olivia, Vicky Morris,

Eleanore Arnold-Moore, Apeksha Harsh, Claire Hampson, Aoife Mannix, E.R Traina, Bruna

Gushurst-Moore, Lemma Dore, Denise O’Hagan, Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya , Rebecca Douglas,

Samantha Bews, Felicia McCarthy, Brittany Riley, Judith Rawnsley, Sarah Drury, Elia Elton, Rosie

Copeland, Menna Siwan Williams, Jaya Penelope, Indrani Perera, Jay Wilson, JV Birch, and Lakshmi

Kanchi.'

 

The global poetry anthology will be launched in ebook & in print in Sydney towards the end of the year.

~

September 23 - 2024

                                     

~

Longlisted for The Aurora Prize in the UK, judged by Andrew McMillan.

 

The Aurora Prize is offered by Writing East Midlands, in partnership with the Society of Authors,

in London..

 

The winners will be announced at The Aurora Prize Awards Ceremony on the 30th October 2024.

~

September 20 - 2024

                                      

~

Two poems appear in NOON: journal of the Short Poem, Issue 26, edited by Philip Rowland,

and launched in Tokyo.

~

August 23 - 2024

                           

~

'On Shrouded Verandahs' appears in the Australian Poetry Journal 13.1 

Guest edited by Sara M. Saleh and Autumn Royal. Cover art by Betty Muffler.

 

'APJ 13.1: 'place', 'non place', features poetry that challenges, documents, inhabits

and observes the physical, digital, and liminal locations we occupy and pass through.

Places or non-places we have dreamt of, navigated, or imagined.'

 

APJ 13.1 can be purchased in independent bookstores throughout Australia,

or direct from the Australian Poetry Journal website.

~

August 16 - 2024

                              

~

Shortlisted for the Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize 2024 in Scotland, judged by Gerda Stevenson.

The threee poets shortlisted for the prize are Sarah Gibbons, Jennifer Harrison, and Wes Lee.

 

The Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize is offered by the Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland,

the winning pamphlet is designed and illustrated by Gerry Cambridge.

 

The winner will be announced at the Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland on October 4.

 

'I think a good poem should be a revelation, the powerful distillation of an experience, or an idea.

Here are two definitions of poetry that I like: 'Genuine poetry can communicate before

it is understood.' (T.S. Eliot). 'Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.' (Carl Sandburg). 

As a musician, I appreciate poetry which pays careful attention to sound as well as meaning.' 

— Gerda Stevenson

~

June 5 - 2024

                           

~

Two poems appear in 'being: The University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's International

Poetry Prize Anthology', edited by Jen Webb.

 

The anthology showcases the winning and longlisted poems for The University of Canberra

Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize (AUD $15,000).

 

'William Carlos Williams argued that a poem is ‘a field of action’: a place where something happens,

a place where there is intense engagement with the contemporary world. The poems in this Prize anthology

bear this out, in finding the most contemporary language and structures in which to deal with the age-old

concerns of love and of death: the very stuff of being. These poems test the air; shift perspective; challenge

traditions; celebrate – with equal enthusiasm – the past and the future, the built and the natural worlds.'

— Jen Webb, University of Canberra 

~

May 25 - 2024

                           

~

'My Mother's Skin' appears in Landfall 247, edited by Lynley Edmeades.

 

Landfall 247 features new poetry by: Zephyr Zhang, Nicholas Wright, Kirby Wright,

Kit Willett, Rose Whitau, Chris Tse, Ariana Tikao, Nicola Thorstensen, Harry Ricketts,

Vaughan Rapatahana, Claire Orchard, Mikaela Nyman, Emma Neale, Federico Monsalve,

Harvey Molloy, Zoë Meager, Wes Lee, Fiona Kidman, Greg Judkins, Chris Holdaway,

Michael Hall, Craig Foltz, Michelle Elvy, David Eggleton. Mark Edgecombe, Brett Cross,

Medb Charleton, Chris Cantillon, Nathaniel Calhoun, Cindy Botha, Rebecca Ball,

Nick Ascroft, Nicola Andrews.

 

'Landfall is New Zealand’s foremost and longest running arts and literary journal. Published by

Otago University Press, it showcases new fiction, poetry, essays and cultural commentary.' 

— Otago University Press

 

Landfall 247 is available in independent bookshops and direct from Otago University Press.

~

May 5 - 2024

                               

~

Accepted for publication in the Heroines Global Poetry Anthology, Volume 5,

in New South Wales.

 

The shortlisted writers to appear in the anthology are: Kell Woods, Jennifer Harrison,

Kathryn Reese, Heather Blakey, Melanie Ehler Collopy, Alisha Brown, Suzi Mezei,

Nicole Rain Sellers, Rebekah Sachno, Kimi Sugioka, Niamh Hollis-Locke, Wes Lee,

Natalie Thomas, Andrea Ciocoi, Melissa Coffey, Michelle Richards, Frances Olivia,

Vicky Morris, Eleanore Arnold-Moore, Apeksha Harsh, Claire Hampson, Aoife Mannix,

Elena Traina, Bruna Gushurst-Moore, Lemma Dore, Denise O'Hagan, Tatiana

Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Rebecca Douglas, Samantha Bews, Felicia McCarthy, Brittany Riley,

Judith Rawnsley, Sarah Drury, Elia Elton, Rosie Copeland, Menna Siwan Williams,

Jaya Penelope, Indrani Perera, Jay Wilson, JV Birch, Lakshmi Kanchi.

 

The anthology will be published by Neo Perennial Press later this year.

~

April 20 - 2024

                             

~

Awarded the Free Verse Prize, by The Poetry Society in London. The £500 prize was judged

this year by Chrissy Williams.

 

The prize was announced last night at the Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair in London.

 

'The Poetry Society’s Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair celebrates the vitality of poetry

in the UK – an unrivalled opportunity to browse the very best in contemporary poetry publishing

and to meet publishers, organisations and poets. With over 70 independent poetry publishers 

in attendance, Free Verse offers the best chance to find innovative, new, and up-and-coming

poetry all in one place.' — The Poetry Society

 

Chrissy Williams is a poet, editor and comic book writer based in the UK. Her poetry has been featured

on BBC radio and television, and her full collections are Bear (Bloodaxe, 2017) and Low (Bloodaxe, 2021). 

 

"'Possession' felt to me the most arresting, the most urgent, the most relentless. Its disruptiveness

keeps calling me back, and it casts a well-controlled uneasiness, with all its violence and threat,

its "grinning and appeasing", and its derailing of conventional narrative experience."

— Chrissy Williams

 

Possession is published by The Poetry Society online and will be featured in the Summer 2024

edition of Poetry News as well as in the Free Verse programme issued to all attendees of the Fair. 

Possession can be read here.

~

April 20 - 2024

                             

~

Two poems appear in NOON: Journal of the Short Poem, Issue 25 (The Spring Issue),

edited by Philip Rowland, and launched in Tokyo.

~

April 20 - 2024

                              

~

Longlisted for The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2024.

 

The winning poems will be announced in May and published in The London Magazine. 

~

March 23 - 2024

                                

Accepted for publication in Landfall 247.

 

'Landfall is New Zealand’s foremost and longest running arts and literary journal. Published

by Otago University Press, it showcases new fiction, poetry, essays and cultural commentary.' 

— Otago University Press

 

Landfall 247 will launch in May.

 

March 20 - 2024

                                 

~

Four poems appear in the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024: Revelations. To be launched

at Poppies Bookshop in Hamilton on March 20.

 

'Edited by Tracey Slaughter, the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook is an international print journal

based in New Zealand and published by Massey University Press.'

~

February 14 - 2024

~

Two poems longlisted for Mslexia's Women's Poetry Competition 2023. The longlist was selected

by the judge Fiona Benson.

 

The 2,000 pound prize is offered by Mslexia Magazine in the UK.

 

Winners will be announced early March.

~

February 12 - 2024

~

~

Selected as a finalist for Southword Editions Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition

2023. One of Ireland's most prestigious prizes for a poetry chapbook, offered by The Munster

Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland.

~

The finalists were selected from over 360 manuscript submissions from across the world.

 ~

The Munster Literature Centre established the Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition in 2005.

The two winning chapbooks will be published by Southword Editions and launched

at the Cork International Poetry Festival.

~

January 25 - 2024

~

Placed in the Dunedin Unesco City of Literature Robert Burns Competition 2023.

 

'The Dunedin Unesco City of Literature Robert Burns Competition 2023 is a collaboration between

the Dunedin Public Libraries and The Dunedin Burns Club. Entries are judged by associates

of the Robert Burns Fellowship and the winners are announced and presented with prizes in Dunedin

on 25 January, 2024.' 

~

The winning poems are published in the Otago Daily Times.

~

December 22 - 2023

~

Accepted for publication in the Australian Poetry Journal 13.1 'place', 'non place'. Guest edited

by Sara M. Saleh and Autumn Royal.

 

'APJ 13.1 seeks poetry that challenges, documents, inhabits and observes the physical, digital,

and liminal locations we occupy and pass through. Places or non-places we have dreamt of,

navigated, or imagined. How did these places or non-places come to be as they are and how did

you become to be in relation to them?

Non-place as zones, according to Marc Augé, when describing generic, anonymous spaces of

transience—stairwells, public bathrooms, airports, and hospital rooms.

We will be reading your work in places that are both personal, public, and in between—

how is your poetry anchored in this, how does it unsettle further?'

 

APJ 13.1 will be published in the New Year.

~

December 1 - 2023

                                 

~

 Shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award in the UK.

'The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is an international literary prize that celebrates excellence

in Poetry and Short Fiction. Hosted by the international art and culture publication, Aesthetica Magazine.'

 

The shortlisted and winning pieces appear in The Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual 2024, an

international showcase of new poetry and short fiction.

 

'The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award champions exceptional literary talent from across the globe.

The short fiction and poetry included in this anthology takes the temperature of society as we know it today

and demonstrates the strength and resilience of the human spirit.' 

 

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Annual 2024 is available for direct from Aesthetica,

or throughout independant bookstores in the UK.

~

November 27 - 2023

~

Shortlisted for The Kathleen Grattan Award 2023 by the judge Anne Kennedy. 

 

The Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award ($10,000) is offered by Otago University Press and is New Zealand's

foremost award for an original book-length collection of poems by a New Zealand or South Pacific

permanent resident or citizen. 

 

The collections shortlisted by Anne Kennedy for the 2023 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award were: 

Song of the Vowels by Brian Flaherty; A Year of Seasons by Saradha Koirala; Wearing Today by Wes Lee;

and Blue Hour by Jo McNeice.

 

The winner is Jo McNeice for Blue Hour.

 

The biennial award attracted 88 manuscripts this year.

~

November 27 - 2023

~

Landfall 246 announces the winner and shortlisted entries in the Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award 2023.

 

The judges report appears in Landfall 246.

 

'Landfall is New Zealand’s foremost and longest running arts and literary journal. Published by Otago

University Press, it showcases new fiction, poetry, essays and cultural commentary.' — Otago University Press

 

Landfall 246 is available in independent bookshops and direct from Otago University Press.

~

November 26 - 2023

~

'Two Poems' appear in Meniscus Volume 11: Issue 2 at the University of Canberra, edited

by Jen Webb and Ginna Brock.

 

‘Meniscus is an online literary journal published by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP).

Its aim is to provide a showcase for the best in contemporary international writing.’

 ~

November 25 - 2023

~

'i. core', appears in fourW thirty-four, the annual anthology of new writing, edited by David Gilbey

and launched at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery on November 25th, and in Sydney on December 2nd

at the Academy of Interactive Technology.

 

FourW is published by the Booranga Writers Centre at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales,

Australia.

~

November 22 - 2023

'amphitheatre' appears in 'a liminal gathering' published by Elixir & Star Press and edited by

Iona Winter. The launch will take place on November 22 at the University Book Shop, Dunedin,

and The Women's Bookshop, in Auckland, on November 24.

~

October 27 - 2023

~

Two poems appear in NOON: Journal of the Short Poem, Issue 24, edited by Philip Rowland,

and launched in Tokyo.

~

October 21 - 2023

~

Two poems longlisted for the University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize

 by the judges, Mani Rao and Tony Barnstone.

 

‘The University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize (AUD $15,000) has been offered

annually since 2014.'

 

The winners will be announced in November.

~

August 29 - 2023

~

Before the Glittering Sea of California appears online, published by Banshee Press in Ireland.

The poem originally appeared in the print issue of the journal: issue #8: spring summer 2019.

 

Banshee is an Irish literary journal published biannually. Edited by Laura Cassidy, Claire Hennessy,

and Eimear Ryan, it features short stories, flash fiction, poetry, personal essays and interviews.

~

August 25 - 2023

Commended in the POETS ON THE WRITERS WALK competition for Phantom Billstickers

National Poetry Day 2023.

 

POETS ON THE WRITERS WALK celebrates the poets and poems featured in, and inspired by, Wellington

Writers Walk. 

 

Hosted by Tracy Farr, the salon will take place on August 25 at the City Gallery Wellington.

~

August 17 - 2023

~

'Botanical' appears in Fast Fibres Poetry 10, launched as part of Phantom Billstickers National

Poetry Day at ONEONESIX Bank Street Whangarei on Thursday 17 August at 5pm.

~

Fast Fibres Poetry Collective's tenth collection is edited by Piet Nieuwland & Olivia Macassey.

~

July 24 - 2023

Shortlisted for the Poetry London Pamphlet Prize, judged by Jay Bernard.

 

30 pamphlets have been shortlisted for the inugural prize selected from a pool of several hundred

pamphlet entries worldwide.

 

The winning pamphlet will be published by Poetry London's new imprint Poetry London Editions.

The winner will invited to launch their pamphlet at Poetry London's Autumn 2023 Readings

at the Southbank Centre as part of the London Literature Festival.

 

Jay Bernard, FRSL, is a British writer, artist, film programmer, and activist from London.

Bernard’s Surge, published by Chatto & Windus, won the Ted Hughes Award (2017) and

The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award (2020), and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize

(2019), Costa Poetry Award (2019), Dylan Thomas Prize (2020), and the RSL Ondaatje Prize (2020).

~

'Its eclectic international editorial vision makes Poetry London one of the very best, essential poetry

magazines in English.' — Steve Berg, Editor, American Poetry Review

~

The winner will be announced at the end of August.

~

July 12 - 2023

~

Two poems appear in Westerly 68.1, edited by Catherine Noske and Lucy Dougan at the Westerly Centre, 

University of Western Australia, and launched by Tony Hughes-d'Aeth.

 

'This issue of Westerly includes a range of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and essays,

in addition to the 2023 Randolph Stow Memorial Lecture. Contributors to Westerly 68.1 include

Charmaine Papertalk Green, Ouyang Yu, John Kinsella, Jumaana Abdu, Stephen Muecke, Andrew

Sutherland, Brenda Saunders, DeWitt Henry, Michael Farrell, Wes Lee, Alan Fyfe, Gemma Nethercote Way,

Luisa Mitchell, Bryant Apolonio, Kate North, Ellen Shelley, Sampurna Chattarji, Jo Langdon,

Luoyang Chen, Julie Watts, Tiffany Ko, Christopher Konrad, Cass Lynch, Rachel Robertson,

Helena Kadmos, Jo Pollitt, Coral Carter, Suzanne Hermanoczki, Petra White, Kathryn Hummel,

Madeleine Dale and many others.'

 

Westerly 68.1 is available to purchase in independant bookstores across Australia and on

the Westerly website.

~

July 2 - 2023

~

'Daybreak' appears in Abridged 0-94 Severin, edited by Gregory McCartney and Susanna Galbraith,

in Northern Ireland.

 

'Abridged aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental poetry plus contemporary art.

We encourage poets/artists to investigate the articulation of ‘Abridged’ themes. These themes focus

on contemporary concerns in a rapidly changing society. We are offering an alternative and complete integration

of poetry, art and design. We experiment continually. We also stray into the exhibition format producing

contemporary, innovative and challenging work accompanied by a free publication.'

~

June 19 - 2023

~

Accepted for publication in Westerly 68.1, at the Westerly Centre, University of Western Australia.

~

'Publishing since 1956, Westerly has always sought to provide a Western Australian-based voice, although its

contributors and subject matter have never been geographically exclusive. It publishes creative writing

and scholarship from throughout the world, but maintains a special emphasis on Australia, particularly

Western Australia, and the Asian region. Westerly has a strong international reputation, and is listed

in some of the world’s major cultural indexes.' 

~

Westerly 68.1 will be launched by Tony Hughes-d'Aeth from 6pm on Thursday the 13th of July at

Bar Orient in Fremantle, WA. 

~

May 31 - 2023

~

Accepted for publication in Abridged 0-94 'Severin', edited by 

Gregory McCartney and Susanna Galbraith, in Northern Ireland.

 

'Abridged aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental

poetry plus contemporary art. We encourage poets/artists to investigate

the articulation of ‘Abridged’ themes. These themes focus on contemporary 

concerns in a rapidly changing society. We are offering an alternative

and complete integration of poetry, art and design. We experiment continually.

We also stray into the exhibition format producing contemporary, innovative

and challenging work accompanied by a free publication.'

 

Abridged 0-94 'Severin' will launch in Belfast in June.

~

April 6 - 2023

~

Shortlisted for The NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize 2023

~

Five manuscripts have been selected for the shortlist by Tina

Shaw and Cassie Hart.

The shortlisted writers are: Susan Elliffe, Melanie Kwang, Wes Lee,

Lee Murray, and Kathryn van Beek.

~

The shortlist judges commented: ‘The applicants for this year's NZSA

Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize showed a huge range of inspiring and

talented use of genres and styles. This made the selection of a shortlist

both exciting and challenging as Cassie Hunt and I read manuscripts

that ran the gamut of literary forms. We're pleased to be able to offer

a shortlist of five dynamic manuscripts that fulfil Laura's brief

of being 'unique and original.’

~

The winner will be announced May/June.

~

March 9 - 2023

~

'A Naked Wish' appears in the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2023 edited

by Tracey Slaughter, and launched by Massey University

Press at Poppies Bookshop, Hamilton. 

Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2023 can be purchased from independent

bookstores around New Zealand, or direct from Massey University Press.

~

January 28 - 2023

'Whitby' appears in the The AUB International Poetry Prize 2022 

anthology published by the Arts University Bournemouth in the UK,

and edited by Elizabeth Woodgate.

~

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