Author profile: New Contexts 1

Moira Andrew has written poetry for children, and books on the creative arts for teachers. Her most recent collections of poetry are Geese and Daughters, (IDP), Looking through Water, (Poetry Space) and Imagine a Kiss, (D&W).
Phil Askham is an academic writer of text books, research papers and professional magazine articles. Upon retirement in 2012, Phil took up writing poetry as therapy. 
Lizzie Ballagher’s work has appeared in magazines and webzines on either side of the Atlantic. Find her blog at https://lizzieballagherpoetry.wordpress.com/
Alison Batcock graduated with an M.A. in Creative Writing from Chichester University. She writes flash fiction, short stories and novels, but poetry remains her first love.
Denise Bennett is widely published and has three collections – Planting the Snow Queen and Parachute Silk (Oversteps Books), and Water Chits (Indigo Dreams).
Margaret Beston is widely published, the author of two collections – Long Reach River (2014) and Timepiece (2019) – and also the founder of Roundel in Tonbridge.
Zanna Beswick‘s poetry has been published in The Independent, The International Times, The French Literary Review, Resurgence etc., in several anthologies, and read on R4’s ‘Poetry Please’.
Penny Blackburn is based in North Tyneside and writes poetry and short fiction around her day job as a teacher in FE.
Nick Boreham is inspired by Vorticism and the poetry of George Oppen. Currently he is working on a series of noir crime novels. Find Nick at www.nickborehamauthor.com.
Christina Buckton lives near Cambridge, and started writing poetry in her eighties. So far she has two Guernsey awards and has poems published in The North, Orbis and Stand. 
Philip Burton’s many poetry publications will soon include Gaia Warnings (Palewell Press 2021). Raised in Ramsgate, he has been a hippie, and a Lancashire head teacher. Find him at www.philipburton.net 
Richard Carpenter has been writing poetry since retiring. He worked as a GP in York, where he still lives. He is a member of York Stanza.
Joseph Chaplain is a new writer currently living in the Peak District. His short fiction has been published by Crystal Peake in their Dark Folklore anthology.
Brian Clark is an ex-BBC-tv and radio, editor and writer. His poems have won awards and been published internationally. He founded The Poetry Society’s North Yorkshire Stanza.
Annemarie Cooper lives in Tower Hamlets and has had poems in various magazines. She has two published pamphlets: Seeds (Flarestack) and The Flight of Birds (Soaring Penguin). She loves walking and gardening.
Adele Cordner’s poetry has been placed in numerous international competitions. Her poems have been published in magazines and anthologies including Red Poets Magazine, Ways To Peace and Poems For Grenfell Tower.
Sara Davis is a member of Roundel poets in Kent. Her poems have been published in South Poetry and in the collection Links in the Chain. She is joint winner of the Sir Philip Sydney poetry prize 2020.
Philip Dunkerley runs the Stamford Poetry Stanza and his poems have appeared in magazines, webzines and anthologies. He likes to inflict his poems on others whenever possible. 
Journalism took Polly East to the USA. Later, she taught for 30 yrs in challenging London schools. She was long-listed for the 2017 National Poetry Competition. She now lives in Brighton.
Amanda Fleming is a Welsh-born, Midlands-based creative, fledgling in her career. She enjoys creating worlds on the page, and authoring small personal histories of no one in particular.
Lara Frankena won second prize in the 2020 Slipstream Poet’s Open Poetry Competition. Her poems have appeared in Poetry News, Butcher’s Dog and The Guardian. 
Jim Friedman lives in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. On retirement he took up writing poetry again. He is a member of the Derby Stanza group.
From a young age Manjeet Ghatoray loved reading books and writing. Words have been her passion and poetry her outlet. She also writes short stories, children’s stories and sketches.
A published novelist and poet, Ian Gouge is the creator of Coverstory books and the driving force behind New Contexts.
Roger J Gould is a long-time writer, poet and lover of humanity. “I hope you have enjoyed what you have read and that we meet again in print. Thank you.”
Pauline Hawkesworth has four publications: Dust and Dew (Mitre Press), and booklets/pamphlets Developing Green Films, Bracken Women in Lime Trees, Life-Savers on All Sides. She is President of Portsmouth Poetry Society.
Nigel Hutchinson studied Fine Art until brushstrokes became keystrokes. His collection The Humble Family Interviews is published by Cinnamon Press.
Most of David King’s writing is a farewell to things lost, both from personal and public life.  He’d be more optimistic if he could, but things never seem to go that way.
Gill Learner’s poetry has been widely published and won several awards, including the Hamish Canham Prize 2008. Her third collection, Change (Two Rivers Press) is due in September 2021.
Marilyn Longstaff is the author of five poetry books. She is a member of the Vane Women collective and lives in Darlington.
Lisa Lopresti feels thrilled to have various poems published and many broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol. A featured spoken word poet (though she shakes a lot) Lisa likes to convey poems to portray this life.
Penny McCarthy, commended in Poetry Business and Poetry London competitions, has published one pamphlet, The Stealing Shadow, and poems in Ambit, LRB, Stand.
M. E. Muir is a London based Scot with work published in Dawntreader, Morphrog, London Grip & Porridge. Her collection EX SITU is published by Dempsey & Windle.
Jenny Palmer returned to Lancashire in 2008 after working abroad and in London for forty years. She joined Ribble Valley Poetry Stanza and started writing poetry inspired by the Pendle area where she lives.
Eventually, Chris Pearson came again to poetry with his discovery of the space that is between memory and imagination. “Today, the trust we misplace in memory has important ethical implications.”
Born in French-speaking Montreal, Ann Pelletier-Topping now lives in Devon. She won second prize in the National Poetry Competition (2019) and has been published in Moor Poets’ anthologies.
Janet Philo is published online and in print. Her two pamphlets include: Cheap Fish for Kings (Black Light Engine Room, 2020). See also: Under-hedge Poethttps://soundcloud.com/user-839667062
Stuart Pickford lives in Harrogate and teaches in a local comprehensive school. He is married with three children. His second collection, Swimming with Jellyfish, was published by smith/doorstop. 
Colin Pink has published two collections of poetry: Acrobats of Sound (2016) and The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament (2019). Another book is due in 2021.
Jenna Plewes loves collies, the sea and the moors. She’s selling her award winning collection The Underside of Things published in 2020 in aid of Childline and the Samaritans. Find her on Facebook.
Stephen Poole is a retired policeman. His poems have appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Poetry on the Lake, and The Strand Book of International Poets 2010.
Cat Randle is a performance poet in the UK and is published with Scholastic & Random House. She is also a creative writing workshop teacher. Find her on You Tube; Cat Randle, @CatRandle on Facebook & Instagram.
Mary Reval has lived in a remote corner of North Yorkshire for nearly twenty five years. She grew up in Germany, then travelled the world, and has lived in many different places.
Tom Richardson continues his exploration into what words can do, despite continued bafflement. “Delight follows despair, and sometimes satisfaction follows repair. Endure.”
Jenny Robb, from Liverpool, has been writing poetry since retiring. In 2020 she was published widely in both online and print magazines, and in anthologies.
Gillie Robic was born in India and lives in London. Her collections, Swimming Through Marble and Lightfalls, were published by Live Canon in 2016 and 2019.
Jessica Taggart Rose has published poetry in the Letters to the Earth anthology, Confluence Magazine and online platforms. She runs the Margate Stanza.
Jane R Rogers is a published graduate of an OU Creative Writing course, member of Greenwich Poetry Workshop, Meantime Stanza. She is currently writing, A Gram of &s, series.
Sally Russell’s poetry mainly examines social relationships and family, and her work has appeared in several publications. She is a member of Winchester Muse and the North Hampshire Stanza.
Graeme Ryan was born in Lancashire, and now lives in West Somerset. For many years he taught Drama and has written many plays for young people. He won the Teignmouth Festival Open Poetry Competition 2018.
Jane Salmons lives in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. She has been published in a variety of journals and anthologies, most recently in Poetry Salzburg Review.
Marina Sánchez is an award-winning and widely published poet and translator of Native American/Mexican/Spanish/British origins. Her pamphlet Latinx Mix (Verve) is out in Spring 2021. Please find her work on poetrypf.co.uk
Dave Smith, a retired English teacher, is certain that the perceptive fellow-poets in Derby Stanza have been vital in helping him to find his voice.
David Smith lives and writes in North Yorkshire where he conducts Creative Writing classes. His work has appeared in The Sid Chaplin Short Story Anthology, Red Squirrel Press and Assent. His third collection is The Stencil Room (2018).
Angus Strachan is a playwright and poet (Strix, Stand, Factory, Red Planet). Winner of the International James Joyce Award; completing an MA (Goldsmiths, London)
Kate Swann is a Northern, rural poet with an eye for detail.  Family, friends and travel are important to her life and none escape her pen when she is writing.
Antonia Taylor is a British Cypriot writer, poet and communications expert. She lives in Reading and is currently working on her first collection.
David Thompson lives in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire. His poetry has been published in Orbis and The Seventh Quarry.
Julia Usman has had numerous poems and articles published.  She writes with groups in Yorkshire and Cumbria and is in the process of compiling her debut collection. She lives in Swaledale.
Frank Webber is a retired Architect who has been writing poetry for 25 years. His friend Adrienne gave him the key and the sensory ambience in Shisha Starlight.
Richard Westcott, now a happily retired doctor, lives in Devon. His pamphlet is published by Indigo Dreams and he blogs at richardwestcottspoetry.com
Owen Williams, a graduate of Loughborough University and a teacher by profession, has always enjoyed reading poetry and has been writing seriously for about six years.
Eileen Wiltcher was born in London’s East End, and has written A Spanner in the Works (2017) which spans 1850-1940’s in the area now known as Docklands. She is a member of the Stanza Group of Greenwich.
Jacquie Wyatt’s poetry is in Ink, Sweat & Tears, South, Clear, and High Windowamongst others. She recently abandoned a Marketing career and dwells in deepest, darkest Kent.