Who doesn't love dipping into an anthology to discover new names and enjoy familiar ones? It's been a pleasure leafing through The Fig Tree's Women's Poetry Anthology, in which I have two poems, to find reflections on women's lives by poets new to me like Mel Tibbs, Ruth Hobson, Kimneet Kaur Dhatt and Dawn Kirby, alongside the usual gifted suspects including Rachel Burns, Sarah James, Emma Lee, Hannah Stone, Sarah Wimbush and Jackie Wills.

Playing catch-up, I'm proud my poem 'The Pea' was a Poetry Society Members' Competition winner earlier this year, chosen by Clare Pollard on the theme of fairy tales. She also selected poems by Ramona Herdman, Tom Nutting, Rob Walton, Tony Vowels and Patrick Baxter. All six poems appeared in Poetry News (Spring issue). You can read 'The Pea' here:

Join us for a poetry event by three different modern poets.

Pedestrian in the Multiverse: Claire Booker, Waterloo Press

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New PM Andy Burnham pledges to end rough sleeping. Let’s show him there’s massive public support.

Claire Booker Pedestrian in the Multiverse book cover Claire Booker uses a poet’s eye to create intimate explorations of recognisable situations. She is also a strong, unsentimental nature poet. Me…

Zoe Peterssen (photocredit: Facebook) On one of the benches punctuating the avenue of limes leading from Christ Church College’s Meadow Building to the Thames, a lady sat drawing. The wheeled…

I'm happy to have poems in three lively on-line lit mags this summer. I always look forward to receiving the latest cache from each of them via the convenience of email. Atrium Poetry is the love child of Claire Walker, who careful selects two new poems per week. London Grip's poetry section is curated by Michael Bartholomew-Briggs with a full magazine's worth of poems to get stuck into every quarter.

on seeing Turner’s Lake: Fighting Bucks at Petworth House A gang of toddlers, held back by ropes like the deer outside, sit cross-legged or belly-down  under the painting, entranced by each other’s ne...

My amazing friend Zoya is 100 today! She’s lived a century of turmoil but still thrives. She survived the horrors of war and dictatorship before coming to England, where she married, worked, raised a family. A hundred poems couldn’t sum her up, but here’s one I prepared earlier which The Spectator published last year. Here's the poem 'Survivor' below.

with Featured Poet Stephanie Bowgett

Another exquisite issue of Jan Heritage's Finished Creatures is out in the world, with 'trespass' as its theme. I'm chuffed that my poem 'Heartsease' in the previous issue inspired this issue's theme. Jan ensures a subtle link each time by printing a poem from the previous magazine on the inside cover, to set the new theme and create a connection between issues.

Music is the theme for The Alchemy Spoon's 17th issue, with poems from Charlie Baylis, Claire Booker, Carole Bromley, Anthony Mair, Fokkina McDonnell, Shivpreet Singh, Paul Stephenson, Judith Wozniak and Veronica Zundel, among others. "Without music, life would be a mistake" wrote Nietzsche, and these poems give a range of insights into why. The featured poet, Sarah Mnatzaganian, weaves cellos and cello-making into three poignant and vivid poetic images.

Dieu et Mon Droit Two of us at least are gagging for a fag after three hours locked in the jury room on tepid tap water. It all hangs on a word. I’ve slipped the Judge a note asking her to define terms. She claims sure is a word we’re all familiar with. We must sharpen our minds to ice picks, breathe the clean air…

Gratitude to Gerry Cambridge for publishing my poem on Lady Macbeth in his fine biannual journal The Dark Horse. All things Scottish and literary meet here, although the spread of interest is wider still, thanks in part to its joint editorial base in New York run by Jennifer Goodrich. Writers in this bumper 48th issue include Claire Booker, Jim Carruth, Polly Clark, Geraldine Clarkson, Mave Fellowes, Sean O'Brien, Gerald Mangan, Maitreyabandhu, William Palmer, Amy Rafferty, Tim Relf and Julie Sheridan.

Brighton-based poet and nature lover. Click to read Claire Booker, a Substack publication. Launched 9 months ago.

Join us for the World Launch 10 November 19:00 GMT A selection of poets will read their own and others’ poems.

I'm delighted to have three new poems in Dreamcatcher's 175 page bumper issue, which includes poetry, short stories, an interview with Northern Gravy's Ralph Dartford about 'Recovery' poetry and prison workshops, book reviews and eye-catching visuals from featured UK artist Kimbal Bumstead. Writers in this issue include Jean Atkin, Paul Bavister, Claire Booker, Angela Brodie, Pamela Coren, Jennifer Harrison, Hilaire, Barbara Howerska, Rosie Jackson, Phil Knight, Jet McDonald, Jane Newberry, David Olsen, Tom Ratcliffe, John Scarborough, Clare Starling and Tom Vaughan.

The 18th edition of Poetry & All That Jazz was launched at the Chichester Festival, featuring sixty poets including renowned figures like Michael Bartholomew-Biggs and Naomi Foyle. Edited by Barry Smith and published by Focus Arts in collaboration with the Poetry & Jazz Cafe, copies are available at various festivals and online. Next year's anthology will accept submissions starting in April 2026. Additionally, the website Words For The Wild, created by Amanda Oosthuisen and Louise Taylor, promotes local nature awareness and fundraising, showcasing poetry, including a piece by the author on War and Peace, alongside other contributors.

I'm super chuffed my poem 'Whitsun Kids' is a winner in The Poetry Society Members' Poems Competition this summer, alongside poems by Jill Hopper, Tim Kiely, Alex McCrickard, Laura Mizrachi and Jane Wilkinson. A big thank you to judge Andre Bagoo for selecting it. And as if publication in Poetry News wasn't enough, I opened the Poetry Society's on-line newsletter to discover 'Whitsun Kids had been made poem of the month.

This month I have poems in two magazines with a definite fondness for rhyme. It's good to know there's a corner of the poetry world that welcomes what some consider old-fashioned sonic tricks. That said, my two poems in Orbis don't use end-rhyme, and the poem in Light Up Online is only four lines long! Orbis, edited by Carole Baldock, is as much a community as a literary magazine.

I'm delighted to have a poem in Channel's 12th issue, with its exquisite cover by Angela Duffy and a lithesome array of fine poetry and prose. Highlights for me include stunning work by Patrick Deeley, Mai Ishikawa, Catriona Lane, Rhona McAdam and Niamh Twomey. In Notes from the Editors, Cassia Gaden Gilmartin explains that "Channel is born, in part, from the conviction that there is no absolute divide between the political and the aesthetic.

Issue 97 of Pennine Platform is out, with three of my poems and excellent work from poets such as Anna Bowles, Rachel Carney, LB Jorgensen, Kate Noakes, D A Prince, Ed Reiss and Paul Stephenson.

The Slowdown is a daily podcast of poetry and reflection hosted by poet and academic Major Jackson, who recently included my poem Cinema Paradiso. His gorgeous reading voice, together with his insightful editorials on each poem, make this a delight to welcome into your inbox each day.

My poem 'Kimono Recycled' appeared in The Spectator earlier this month. A big thank you to Hugo Williams for choosing it. You can read it here at: The Feb 1st issue contains poems by Stewart Conn, Jamie McKendrick and Claire Booker. It's heartening that poetry can still appear in mainstream publications. The Books & Arts section in particular is consistently strong, including pieces on Plato's…