Poems in 2 Arachne Press publications

I’m delighted to have a poem accepted for 2 publications by Arachne Press : A470 and Words From The Brink.

An Irishwoman is Introduced to the Major Roads of Wales will appear  in March next year in the anthology  A470

Because I Have Been Complacent About Climate Change will appear in the anthology Words from the Brink and at the Solstice Shorts Festival this December.

A470

This road runs between the north and south of Wales. My poem is about how my eyes were opened to what road layouts can tell us about power within a country. Major roads go to and from places that matter to the people with influence. It could be argued that the best roads in Wales, for centuries, went east to west.

It’s particularly pleasing that this is a bilingual anthology. As an Irishwoman who’s a Welsh-speaker I look forward to the translation of my poem and to rendering the odd bit of Ulster-Scots tucked in there!

Another poem, Because I Have Been Complacent About Climate Change will appear in the anthology Words from the Brink and be performed at  performance at Solstice Shorts 2021, a celebration in December.

Words from the Brink: Climate Crisis Poems and Stories for Solstice Shorts 2021

I have a soft spot for Solstice Shorts, Arachne’s annual celebration of the short story. (It usually focuses on the theme of Time and this yeat will celebrate poetry and story.)  When I was writing my first short stories, Arachne’s editor, Cherry Potts took the time and trouble to write to tell me that  the panel had not selected my story as a finalist but then she went on to tell me the good things she saw in my entry.

I knew that story was a complex one and that I hadn’t got the most out of it. It didn’t deserve to be a finalist. But I appreciated Cherry’s thoughtfulness. After a  lot of refinement  it eventually appeared, entitled Repair in my debut collection. This is currently longlisted for the edge Hill Short Story Prize.  A City Burning (Seren Books, 2020)

Longlist revealed for Edge Hill Short Story Prize