2023 Anthology Contributors

Kiran Wade

Poem: Starbucks

Kiran Wade is a writer and performer originally from Yorkshire, currently living and studying creative writing at university in Lincoln. Exploring the world in the form of poetry, spoken word, and playwriting with a sincere brand of wit has earned him much recognition over the last few years. He has staged two Edinburgh Fringe shows, been accepted into the National Youth Theatre, been published and platformed globally including at diversity and protest events, and won Young Student Of the Year 2021 for his creative exploits. As you may guess, despite his humorous style, he doesn’t shy away from political issues, regularly writing on topics of disability and mental health as well as writing through his own gender transition.

Kiran has thought long and hard about whether or not he’s a political creative and he has determined that, due to his personal experience running through it all, he’s just a teenager, documenting his mistakes, struggles, and growth, and calling it art. It’s not just that, though, he’s also written on the equally serious issues of magical milkshakes, goose invasions and monstrous dental disasters.

Val Horner

photo of an elderly, white woman with short, lightly curling silver hair, staring directly at the viewer with large, blue eyes. She is wearing a dark-blue, collared shirt and is smiling slightly, the cream, interior walls behind her showing a couple of framed pictures. At the bottom right-hand corner is the date 02/07/2021 in orange type.

Poem: March Sun – Boscombe

Val Horner was born in Portsmouth, married a scientist, and helped raise a family of three. She worked in the Adult and Further Education sector, lecturing in Philosophy, Literature and Psychology. Now retired, she lives in central York on the banks of The River Foss. Her poems have appeared in a variety of periodicals and anthologies. Two of those performed during the evening come from her collection Gooseberries, illustrated by Tina Horner and published by Stairwell Books.

Elmien Wolvaardt

Poem: Ladder People

Elmien Wolvaardt is a bilingual, multi-neurodivergent poet and editor living in York, United Kingdom. Her sparse yet resonant poems reflect on – and occasionally rebel against – the gentle and not-so-gentle oppressions of life, love and parenthood.

“Elmien Wolvaardt’s writing, and warm presence in performances, are deeply moving. Gorgeous, well-wrought work.” – David Leo Sirois, Canada

Rose Drew

A slender, bespectacled, white, middle-aged woman with very long, blonde hair, stands spotlit on a dark stage in a dynamic, side-lunging pose with one hand raised in a loose fist and the other out to one side, holding a small, black device. Behind her is a bookcase and a cut-off word on a banner which ends in "ington".

Associate Editor; Poem: After the Storm

Rose Drew, from York UK via Miami, is a performance poet, publisher, teacher, and anthropologist. She writes about death & skeletons, love & grief, nature & disability, and presented a TEDx talk on performance poetry in 2015 but she swears she doesn’t bang on about it anymore. Really. Rose is tall on the inside.

Find out more here.

Fay Roberts

A slender, white, goatee bearded person with curly, shoulder-length heair of an indeterminate colour is standing, spotlit, gesturing broadly on a darkened stage behind a microphone and a basic music stand with an ereader on it. They give the impression that they're expanding on a difficult point.

Editor; Cover artwork and design; Poem: Cartography

Fay Roberts is a performance poet, musician, storyteller, events host, accidental voice actor, Artistic Director for Spoken Word at PBH’s Free Fringe, and an enormous geek. During weekdays, ze persuades people to make lists and say no to shiny things. For every role, there is a different hat, and a spreadsheet to match. Zir first full collection, Spectral, came out with Burning Eye in March 2022, and ze describes it as “a kind of poetry concept album, with illustrations”.

Find out more here.