KEILAN COLVILLE is a first-year English student at Ulster University Coleraine in Northern Ireland. He has been writing poetry since secondary school. He obtained 2nd place in the senior section of the Patrick Kavanagh Student Poetry Award.
He is influenced by his home of Ireland, its nature and many Irish poets and writers, particularly Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney and Derek Mahon. He is also a musician and teaches beginner’s guitar. He lives in County Fermanagh with his parents, his brother and his dog. He hopes to go on to work in publishing and to continue having his own writing published. |
LUCA GOATEN was born in East Yorkshire in 1996 and grew up in Hull. He is a poet, writer, and student. He recently graduated from his undergraduate degree in Italian and English Literature MA at the University of Edinburgh, and he is currently reading Comparative Literature MPhil at the University of Cambridge. His poetry has been published in various poetry magazines in both English and Italian.
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ANDREW GOOCH is 24 years old and has been writing and performing spoken word for the last two years in and around the Hull area. He has been part of BBC's Contains Strong Language and various local literature festivals. His work is primarily centred around the theme of anxiety and depression and how it effects young people in the modern day.
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ELEN GRIFFITHS is a 30 year old poet living in London, by day a charity lawyer. This year her poems have been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and for publication in Magma, and longlisted for the Brotherton Prize. In the past, she has been named as a Commended Poet in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year award.
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APRIL HILL is a Chinese/British lesbian poet and writer concerned with intimacies, and has previously been published in We Were Always Here by Queer Words Project Scotland, Multiverse by Shoreline of Infinity, and the second edition of Umbrellas of Edinburgh by Russell Jones and Claire Askew, as well as by magazines 404 Ink and Zarf Poetry.
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REBECCA KANE is a 19 year old poet from a little town outside of Glasgow called Airdrie. Rebecca only started writing poetry around the start of 2019. Poetry has helped her overcome depression and body dysmorphia which are ideas and themes present within her work. Rebecca takes what she has struggled with and made it into something beautiful. Her work falls into the category of the grotesque and strange with heavy body image mixed with the whimsical.
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SIAN MITCHELL is a poet working in the heritage sector. Born in Coventry, she studied at the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford, where she read nineteenth-century literature. In Oxford she developed her love of weird, wonderful and quirky historical buildings, and she has worked in heritage education at Blenheim Palace, Coventry Cathedral and Worcester Cathedral. Sian has been writing poetry for several years, and was a finalist in the Worcestershire Poet Laureate competition in 2019.
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VAISHNAVI PARIHAR is a firm believer of bringing change in the society with a pen and a smile. Vaishnavi is a seventeen year old artist, book addict and an impulsive closet writer residing in India. Her poems question norms and portray naked truth, sometimes subtle, sometimes clearly evident. She loves the ocean and it's breeze as much as she loves metaphors, surrealism and the colour blue.
Vaishnavi took up writing as a means of escape and never looked back. She's on a constant lookout for lost souls like her own, giving voice to the unheard and painting pictures of the unseen are her favourite pastime. To read more of her poetry and prose, feel free to drop by her blog! https://midnightbluesx.wordpress.com/ |
LAUREN RANSON is a poet based in Hull who, starting as a bedroom rapper, discovered poetry by attending workshops led by Toby Campion and performing at the Regional Heats of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam 2019. Since then, she has gone on to perform for BBC Introducing Humberside and at various events around the country in places such as London, Exeter, Leeds, and Halifax.
She has performed at Freedom Fest, Contains Strong Language and Engage 4 Change, and her work has appeared in Bonnie’s Crew. She was recently selected by Apples and Snakes to attend the Writing Rooms workshop series with Jacob Sam-La Rose. She is a Co-Founder of the Hull-based Young Poets Collective No Larkin About. |
NIA WYN ROBERTS is a writer and poet who grew up in North Wales. Her Welsh roots heavily influence her poetry and her passion for language, both Welsh and English.
Niâ has a degree in Film Production, and currently lives in East Manchester. During the day she is the Senior Underwriter for a European Insurance company. |
GRACE ROYAL is a recent university graduate who writes both poetry and prose. Her work focuses on the everyday, the small details of life and the presence of the internet and social media in the contemporary world.
She likes to experiment with form while also drawing inspiration from classic literature. Grace has completed an undergraduate degree in English and Creative Writing and a Masters in English Literature at Royal Holloway. |
HESTER ULLYART was born in Hull and educated at Wyke College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. With a background in the Hull and London alternative music scene (The City Ghosts, Night Flowers) and professional theatre, she is now developing her own voice through the writing and performance of original plays, prose and poetry.
She performed her debut play The Ballad of Paragon Station in London, Edinburgh, Hull and New Zealand in 2017 and 2018, soon followed by Paragon Dreams (Hull Truck 2019). A national tour of Paragon Dreams is scheduled for 2020. More about Hester can be found at www.hesterullyart.com |