Author profile: New Contexts 6

Alex M Barry is a Bristol-based architect with a love of poetry. First prize Coverstory books 2022 poetry competition. Numerous poems played on BBC Radio Bristol’s “Upload” with Adam Crowther.
Dawn-Michelle Baude is a poet, author and art writer based in Provence, France. Everything she writes is absolutely true.
David W. Berner is the award-winning author of several books of fiction and memoir. He’s been honored as the Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, FL. 
Margaret Beston is the author of two collections: Long Reach River; Timepiece, a pamphlet, When the Ground Crashed Upwards and founder of Roundel in Tonbridge.
Ama Bolton lives in Somerset with a sculptor and a hen. An e-chapbook Ninesis forthcoming from Snapshot Press.
Helen Boyles has poetry collections published by Indigo Dreams and Palewell Press and is Co-chair of the South Devon-based community of Moor Poets.
Jakob Brønnum’s latest book is The Road to Tremonte (Cyberwit.net 2024). He contributed to New Contexts 4. He has written around 50 books in his native Danish.
A stompdancer, storyteller, teacher of Mvskoke/Scottish heritage, Deidra Suwanee Dees works at the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and the University of South Alabama.
Philip Dunkerley is active in poetic circles in South Lincolnshire, where he lives. His poems quite often sneak past editors, and he loves inflicting them on all-comers at open mic events.
A Sunday Times competition took Polly East, aged 18, to Fleet St. and Hollywood. Later – and with children – she taught in challenging London schools. She has been long-listed for the National Poetry Competition.
Muriel Floresta is an Anglo-Brazilian poet and linguist based in London. She arrived in London aged 17 and still enjoys the clash and dance of cultures which often find their way into her poetry.
Isabel Footring writes poetry inspired by the natural world. Her short stories explore the ways folk legends still resonate. She is writing a play based on a dark Russian tale.
Simon French has two poetry collections – Joyriding Down Utopia Avenue and The Deadwing Generation. His work has appeared in magazines and been placed in competitions. He works full-time to help people secure social housing. 
Ian Gouge has been writing for many years with nearly thirty books to his name. In June 2023 he performed his poetic monologue Crash at the Ripon Theatre Festival. He also mentors at writers’ retreats.
Patrick M. Hare is a writer from near Cincinnati, OH, USA but he can often be found at pmhare.wordpress.com.
Rosalie Hendon (she/her) lives in Columbus, Ohio. She is published in Ravens Perch, Quibble Lit, Blue Bottle, and Willawaw, among others.
Diana Hills is a Sussex lady who performs and writes for local open mic nights and writing groups – when she has time.
Alison Hramiak is a part-time poet and part-time teacher/educator living and working in Yorkshire. She is published in several Forward Poetry anthologies, New Contexts 4, and on various poetry web sites.
Richard Knott’s latest books are All-India and Down Under and a second poetry collection.  He also edited a book of verse by the artist Clive Branson.
Thomas Larner has been writing poetry since 2018 and has been published by Coverstory books, The Littoral Magazine, The Cannon’s Mouth and many others.
Richard Lister draws you into stories of intriguing characters, images and places. In his collection, Edge & Cusp, his poems ‘capture life like a vibrant painting’.
Penny McCarthy has published books on Shakespeare and the Sidney circle. Her poems have previously appeared in New Contexts, Stand, Ambit, Poetry London.
Carol Park teaches ESL. For joy she writes, hikes, reads, and volunteers in a jail. She studied writing with Seattle Pacific University. Find links to her fiction and poetry at http://www.CarolPark.us.
Jonty Pennington-Twist will publish his first collection this year and has just completed a commission for the RSPCA.
Susan Perkins lives in North Yorkshire and is a member of Ripon Writers Group. She writes fiction of various lengths, and poetry in both traditional and experimental forms.
Based in Ashbourne, Janet Philo has two solo pamphlets, and work in anthologies and online. She enjoys mixing spoken poetry with her husband’s guitar music. 
Jenna Plewes was a potter and still is a gardener. Her collections The Underside of Things, The Salt and Sweet of Memory, A Woven Rope and A Lick of Loose have all raised funds for charity. She and her husband live in Worcestershire.
Stephen Poole is a retired policeman. His poems have appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Poetry on the Lake, and LPP Magazine. New Contexts: 6 is the ninth anthology to publish his work.
David Punter is a poet and academic. He has published nine collections, the most recent of which are Those Other Fields (Palewell, 2020), Stranger (Cinnamon, 2021) and Ship’s Log (2022).
Jenny Robb, from Liverpool, is widely published in magazines and anthologies. Her debut collection, The Doll’s Hospital (Yaffle Press) was published in 2022.
Graeme Ryan, Poet, playwright, naturalist, lives between Exmoor and the Quantocks, member of Somerset’s Fire River Poets. His Valley of the Kings was published in 2022.
Barbara Sapienza – inspired by granddaughters – writes Anchor Out (2017), The Laundress (2020), The Girl in the White Cape (2023). She dances, paints and does tai chi.
Susan Shaddick is a writer of poetry and fiction, as well as a multimedia artist.  Inner and outer travels inspire her work.
Mark Saunders is a performer, director, writer, walker and gardener. He worked for many years at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has published several pamphlets on walking, the need for hope, and dreams.
Dave Smith’s debut collection, Standing Alone, Leaning Against, was published in 2022 by Coverstory books.
Travis Stephens is a tugboat captain who resides with his family in California.  His book of poetry, skeeter bit & still drunk, was published by Finishing Line Press.
Kate Swann’s first poetry collection, Ripples Beyond the Pool, was published in 2019 by Coverstory Books. She has subsequently published a gritty, family biography, Phyll to her Friends.
Debra Tillar has been an archaeologist, a teacher, and a travel and food writer. Her stories have been included in anthologies and literary journals. She grew up in New York City but now lives on the Seacoast of New Hampshire.
Owen Williams is a retired teacher, a winner of several eisteddfodau and a guest poet at the 2023 Aberareron Literary Festival.
Keith Willson lives in East Sussex, where he performs his poems and songs. Last year, he completed his MA in creative writing. His story “Lead City” appeared in New Contexts: 5.
Charlotte Wilson writes in Ripon, North Yorkshire, about nature, spirituality and how we find meaning and connection in our ordinary – or extraordinary – lives.