BIOGRAPHIES

Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He’s had over two hundred fifty stories and poems published so far, and six books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories, where he sits on the review board and manages a posse of six review editors. twitter.com/bottomstripper www.instagram.com/edwardahern1860/ www.facebook.com/EdAhern73/?ref=bookmarks/

Ruth Aylett teaches and researches computing in Edinburgh. She has published widely in magazines and anthologies -including The North, Prole, Interpreter’s House,Agenda, Envoi, Southbank Poetry, Scotoa Extremis and Umbrellas of Edinburgh. Joint author of Handfast (Mother’s Milk 2016), her first single-author pamphlet, Pretty in Pink (4Word), is due out in 2021. For more see http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/writing.html

Matthew J. Andrews is a private investigator based in Modesto, California. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Sojourners, Red Rock Review, The Dewdrop, Jewish Literary Journal, Amethyst Review, Braided Way Magazine, The North American Anglican, and Spirit Fire Review, among others.

Robert Beveridge (he/him) makes noise (xterminal.bandcamp.com) and writes poetry in Akron, OH. Recent/upcoming appearances in Blood and Thunder, Feral, and Grand Little Things, among others.

Paula Bonnell has a poem nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. Poems appear in APR, The Hudson Review, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, and in Canada, the U.K., India, Australia, and in four collections: Ciardi Prize book Airs & Voices, Message, and two chapbooks: Before the Alphabet and tales retold. Awards for a sestina from the New England Poetry Club, and Albert Goldbarth’s selection of “Eurydice” for a Poet Lore narrative-poetry publication prize. w: paulabonnell.net@paulabonnell1

Tim Bosley is a fledgling poet from North Shropshire. Despite a rather formal education, he has always takena philosophical and creative approach to life. A postman for twelve years, now retired, he is known in Market Drayton for his long, brightly-coloured dreadlocks and irreverent sense of humour. Poetry is a recent interest. His poems are intensely personal, sometimes bleak, sometimes humorous, and sometimes both, reflecting the emotional complexities of the human condition.

Olivia Brookfield is still enjoying walks in the countryside, notebook and camera to hand, whilst endeavouring to stay active in body and mind, learning to speak French, and being very grateful for a happy retirement. She is finding it easy to write copious descriptions, but less so to edit her ideas meaningfully. She is an 68

active contributor to her village magazine, which is published monthly, and an avid reader with eclectic tastes.

Marian Christie was born in Zimbabwe and travelled widely before moving to her current home in Kent. When not writing or reading poetry, she looks at the stars, puzzles over the laws of physics, listens to birdsong and crochets gifts for her grandchildren. She blogs at www.marianchristiepoetry.netand can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marian_v_o.

Clive Donovan devotes himself full-time to poetry and has published in a wide variety of magazines including The Journal, Agenda, Acumen, Poetry Salzburg Review, Prole, Sentinel Literary Quarterly and Stand. He lives in the creative atmosphere of Totnes in Devon, U.K. often walking along the River Dart for inspiration. He is hoping to entice a publisher to print a first collection.

Pat Edwards is a writer, reviewer and workshop leader. She hosts Verbatim open mic nights and curates Welshpool Poetry Festival. Pat’s debut pamphlet, Only Blood, was published in 2019 by Yaffle Press. Her next, Kissing in the Dark, has just been released from Indigo Dreams.

Rona Fitzgerald has poems in UK, Scottish, Irish and US publications, in print and online. Highlights include featured poet in the Stinging Fly 2011, Aiblins: New Scottish Political Poetry 2016, Oxford Poetry XVI.iii Winter 2016-17. Ten poems in Resurrection of a Sunflower, Pski’s Porch 2017. Recent publications are Poems for Grenfell Tower, Onslaught Press 2018 and #Me Too, Fair Acre Press, 2018.

Kate Garrett is a writer, editor, and mama of five with witchy ways and an obsession with history and folklore. Her work has been widely published online and in print, and has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Born in rural southern Ohio, Kate moved to the UK in 1999, where she still lives -currently in an off-duty vicarage on the Welsh border.

Stephanie L. Harper is a recently transplanted Oregonian living inIndianapolis, IN. A Pushcart Prize Nominee and 2019 Judge of the AWP Intro Journals Prize in Poetry, Harper is the author of the chapbooks, This Being Done and The Death’sHead’s Testament. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Slippery Elm literary Journal, The High Window (Featured American Poet), Panoply, Isacoustic*, Riggwelter Press, Dust Poetry, Whale Road Review, and elsewhere.

SM Jenkin , Chatham-born, has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines including Anti-Heroin Chic, Blithe Spirit, Boyne Berries, City Without a Head, Confluence magazine, Dissonance Magazine, The Interpreter's House, the Mermaid and Please Hear What I Am Not Saying. Her debut collection Fire in the Head is available from Wordsmithery.

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Kevin Jones believes in the power of poetry to promote healing and inspire social change. He is Assistant Professor of Social Work at University of Portland (Oregon, USA) conducting research on the therapeutic effects of poetry writing for youth who have experienced trauma. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Juniper, Two if by Sea, The Ekphrastic Review, Ayaskala, Bamboo Hut, Lilliput Review, and more. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

John Kaprielian: a nature photographer and photo editor by occupation, brings a keeneye for natural history to his poems, which often are triggered by his observations. He studied creative writing at Cornell with the poet A.R. Ammons while getting his degree in Russian Linguistics. His work has been published in The Blue Nib, Minute Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, and other journals. He lives in Putnam County, NY, with his wife, teen son, and assorted pets.

Sarah Law lives in London and is a tutor for the Open University and elsewhere. A published poet, she edits the online journal AmethystReview for new writing engaging with the sacred.

Charles Leggett: a professional actor based in Seattle, WA, USA.His poetry has been published in the US, the UK (As Above So Below Issue 5, Magma Poetry, The London Reader, Firewords Quarterly, The Poet and Creative Writing Ink), Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Nigeria. Recent publications include Ocotillo Review, The Poet, Communicators League, Galway Review, and Heirlock Magazine; work isforthcoming in Volney Road Review, Eunoia Review, and Poetica Publishing's Mizmor Anthology.

Maggie Mackay loves family history which she winds into poems published in print and online. One of her poems is included in the award-winning #MeToo anthology. Others have been nominated for The Forward Prize, Best Single Poem with one commended in the Mothers’ Milk Writing Prize. Her pamphlet The Heart of the Run is published by Picaroon Poetry. Her full collection A West Coast Psalter comes out early 2021. She is a reviewer for https://www.sphinxreview.co.uk/.

John McCullough's latest collection of poems, Reckless Paper Birds (Penned in the Margins), won the 2020 Hawthornden prize for literature and was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. He teaches creative writing at the University of Brighton and lives in Hove with his partner and two cats.

Rowan Middleton teaches English and creative writing at the University of Gloucestershire. He has written articles on teaching English and creative writing, and the poetry of Thomas and Alice Oswald. His pamphlet The Stolen Herd is published by Yew Tree Press.

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Cristina M. R. Norcross is based in Wisconsin (US). She is the author of 8 poetry collections and was the editor of Blue Heron Review (2013-2020). Her latest book is Beauty in the Broken Places (Kelsay Books, 2019). Her works appear in numerous anthologies and journals. She has led community art and poetry projects, workshops, and has also hosted open mic readings. Cristina is the co-founder of Random Acts of Poetry and Art Day. www.cristinanorcross.com

Robert Okaji is a displaced Texan seeking work in Indiana. He once won a goatcatching contest, but has never received a major literary award. The author of five chapbooks, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art, The High Window, Indianapolis Review, Vox Populi and elsewhere.

Abigail Elizabeth Ottley’s poetry and short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines, journals and anthologies including The Lake, The Atlanta Review, Blue Nib, Fragmented Voices and Gnashing Teeth. In 2019 a selection of her poetry was translated into Romanian for Pro Saeculum and Banchetal. Abigail is a former English teacher with a lifelong interest in history. She is primary carer to her elderly mother.

Jenny Robb worked in Mental Health services, lives in Liverpool and has been writing poetry seriously since retiring. She has poems online and in print in: The Morning Star; Writing at the Beach Hut; Nightingale and Sparrow; An Insubstantial Universe, Anthology (Yaffle Press); As Above So Below; Bloody Amazing, Anthology (Yaffle/Beautiful Dragons Press); Mookychick (forthcoming); Lockdown Anthology, (forthcoming, Poetry Space); Love, (forthcoming, Fragmented Voices Press), and York Spoken Word Anthology, (forthcoming, Stairwell Books).

Ruth Sabath Rosenthal is a New York City poet, well published in the U.S. and, also, internationally. In October 2006, her poem “on yet another birthday” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Ruth has authored 6 books: Facing Home, Facing Home and beyond, little, but by no means small, Food: Nature vs Nurture, Gone, but Not Easily Forgotten, and Of My Labor. Ruth’s online sites: https://bigapplepoet.com https://poetrybyruthsabathrosenthal.com https://newyorkcitypoet.com

Ian C Smith’s work has been published in Amsterdam Quarterly, Antipodes, BBC Radio 4 Sounds, cordite, The Dalhousie Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, The Stony Thursday Book, & Two-Thirds North. His seventh book is wonder sadness madness joy, Ginninderra (Port Adelaide). He writes in the Gippsland Lakes area of Victoria, and on Flinders Island.

Rachel Stanworth lives in North Shropshire and has only recently begun to write poetry. In the past, however, she has published on the relationship between metaphor, spirituality and end of life care with the Oxford University Press (Recognising Spiritual Needs in People Who are Dying). She is trained in art psychotherapy and interested in the interface between creativity and Ignatian spirituality. 71

Mackenzie Stapleton is a writer and poet from Vancouver, Canada. She enjoys reading and writing fictional stories relating to the supernatural and time travel that broach important yet sensitive topics.

Rex Sweeny is a poet living in Leith. He reads his work at spoken word events in Edinburgh including Shore Poets and The Heretics, gets published here and there and organises Leith Festival’s annual poetry night.

Mark Tulin is a retired therapist from Philadelphia who now lives in California. His books are Magical Yogis, Awkward Grace, The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories available at Amazon. Mark has been featured in Amethyst Review, Strands Publishers, Fiction on the Web, Terror House Magazine, Trembling with Fear, Life In The Time, Still Point Journal, The Writing Disorder, New Readers Magazine, among others. Mark’s website, Crow On The Wire.

Tricia Waller has recently had work published in Vamp Cat online magazine and Coin Operated online online Zine She has contributed to the Hertfordshire Heritage My Story festival for the second year and has also been a part of the Hug Hertford Theatre Campaign.

Russell Willis (ethicist and online education entrepreneur), emerged as a poet in 2019, beginning with the publication on January 2 of three poems in The Write Launch. Russell grew up in and around Texas, was vocationally scattered throughout the Southwest and Great Plains for many years, and is now settled in Vermont with his wife, Dawn.

Susan Zeni lived in the East Village, Chinatown, and Harlem for five years, Seattle for ten, and recently returned home to Minneapolis. Publications/honors include: a Lucille Medwick Award for a poem with an humanitarian theme, “Black Angel,” in the New York Quarterly; a Seattle Weekly “Portrait of Ralph and Mary” removed from their downtown hotel by the Seattle Art Museum; “Social Distance” in Poetry in the Time of Coronavirus and “Thin Spun Thread” in Windfall.

COVER ART: Jen Hawkins is an Aromatherapist, lover of words and teacher. She lives in the county of Shropshire, where the natural outstanding beauty inspires her and influences her writing. Her poems have been published in Prole magazine, in Diversifly, and more recently in the anthology Bloody Amazing.

EDITOR: Bethany Rivers was shortlisted for the Overton Poetry Prize and the Snowdrop Poetry Competition in 2019. Off the wall, from Indigo Dreams (2016). the sea refuses no river, from Fly on the Wall Press (2019). Fountain of Creativity: ways to nourish your writing, fromVictorina Press, (2019). She has taught creative writing for 14 years and continues to mentor writers. www.writingyourvoice.org.uk

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