The Northern Gravy Podcast returns with a conversation between our Poetry Editor and raconteur extraordinaire Ralph Dartford, and novelist Stephen May, who kindly provided an article which accompanied the fifth edition of Northern Gravy. Look […]
Livvy and Hugh travelled by ferry from Nice to Calvi and rented a tiny bergerie in the northern mountains of La Balagne. It was high season, and the woman in the tourist office told them they were lucky to find anywhere.
HLR (she/her) is a prize-winning poet, working-class writer, and professional editor from North London. She is a commended winner of The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition 2021, and she also won The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2021.
I discovered I could travel back in time at about the same time that I realised I was into girls. Finding myself back at the start of the gym class I’d just struggled through proved the former; my all-consuming crush on my best friend.
Lying. Weeping. Falling. Sinking. Drying. Crumpling. Desiccating. Settling. That’s how it happened, the slow slip from stoved-in head to clean white bones. And now, here I am. Waiting.
Elinor Clark hails from Leeds in the UK. Her work has recently appeared in journals including AMBIT, The Blue Nib, The London Magazine and Lighthouse Journal. She is co-editor of Briefly Zine.
Rhiannon Oliver is an actress and poet from Cardiff. As an actress, she has worked with companies such as BBC, Sky 1, The National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, National Theatre of Wales and Manchester Royal Exchange, as well as off Broadway and on UK and International tours.
We had two special weekends coming up. Weekend one was Blackpool. Six of us. The lads only. Weekend two was Stig coming out of prison. Weekend one was excitement. Weekend two was dread.
Amanda Huggins is the author of two novellas: Crossing the Lines and the 2021 Saboteur Award-winner, All Our Squandered Beauty, as well as four collections of short stories and poetry.
Bram hissed as they checked the last of the traps. Empty.
Dory knew better than to correct his little brother’s anger. They would need some of that fire to warm them in the coming winter and Dory had none to spare. What Dory felt most was tired.
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn […]
Welcome. Happy birthday to us! You didn’t get us a card? Not to worry, we won’t take it personally. In fact, quite the opposite. We may have turned 1, but we have something for you instead.
Welcome. We are proud to present our fourth edition of Northern Gravy. Three pieces of KitLit, three pieces of Fiction and three selections from Poetry.
She can feel that Isabelle hasn’t shaved her armpits recently. This surprises her. The fuzz of it burns Kate’s hands as she drags Isabelle into the bathroom. It’s easier than expected. The hardest part is getting her over the side of the bathtub.
‘Oi, death girl!’ a familiar voice shouted.
My heart was in my throat. What were they doing here? A couple of lads from my year at school rounded the corner beside the church and up the pathway near where I was kneeling.
Step 1: Wash
Run a bath. Clean the bath first, because you’ve seen the criticism around baths. ‘Bathtubs are full of germs!’ and ‘you’re sitting in your own squalor!’. Yeah, you acknowledge, baths are kind of gross. Cover the tub in bleach.
Pavel’s hands were sticky with drink. His fist slammed the bar. Another pint.
“That’s how you kill a rabbit,” someone said.
The pronouncement, made in a loud baritone, broke through the haze of Pavel’s third ale.
Mike Farren is a Yorkshire-based writer and editor whose poems have appeared widely in journals and anthologies.
Lisa Coates is a multi-disciplinary artist based in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Lisa is mentored by poet, Helen Mort.
Genevieve Carver is a writer and performer interested in connectivity and discord between humans and the natural world.
The boy arrived at Elenya’s lighthouse a day before her first Rites, sailing through the haar as if drifting over clouds. She watched his approach eagerly from the lantern room.
Attie Lime likes walking in fields, playing UNO and making up words. She is currently working on an MG novel about brothers, magic, and a cat called Colin.
Today marks just past day number fifty-five of getting up at the crack of something (not quite dawn) in the morning to write from 5:55-6:55 AM every day. Five in the morning. Who would have thought it? Not me.
Ralph Dartford takes the wheel for an exciting interview with poet Oisín Breen, who kindly performs some of his exquisite poetry for us too. You can find Oisín’s collection Flowers, All Sorts, In Blossom, Figs, […]
It always starts with something small. I’m in the kitchen, putting away the shopping, when a raspberry tumbles from its punnet. Rolls across the granite kitchen counter. Drops onto the parquet floor. A shiver travels up my spine.
Ian Parks is the author of eight collections of poems, one of which was a Poetry Book Society Choice. He is the editor of Versions of the North: Contemporary Yorkshire Poetry and the Selected Poems of Harold Massingham.
Ten years. Oscar and I have been as thick as thieves for ten years.
We were both young, fairly decent looking fellows when we first met, with sharp eyes and white teeth that were still all there. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not completely decrepit now, but time hasn’t been generous to us.
‘Look at this.’
Maggie moved to see what Kai was pointing at, he was enjoying his new cool status with his big sister’s old iPhone. He was looking at the Magpies and Mochas account, the social media monster that Maggie’s mother had created.
Oisín Breen is a poet, part-time academic in narratological complexity, and financial journalist, Dublin born Oisín Breen’s widely reviewed debut collection, ‘Flowers, all sorts in blossom, figs, berries, and fruits, forgotten’ was released March 2020.
The road from school to Grandma’s house was treeless and the wind blew my skirt in every fierce direction. But when I got to the forest, it swallowed me.
‘Huh!’ said Kelvin Kea, squinting up at the sign by the hotel entrance. He treated the man bashing it in the ground to his best parrot-y stare. ‘We’re New Zealand’s only mountain parrot, if you please!’
Laura Strickland is originally from Shipley, but now lives in North Yorkshire. She has been writing poetry seriously for the last 2 years and is mentored by Kim Moore.
Welcome We are proud to present our third edition of Northern Gravy. Three pieces of MG/YA, three pieces of Fiction and three selections from Poetry. As we grow, the standard continues to rise and our […]
Most people hate their jobs. Not me. I love it. I love it because it’s shit. I go in. I ride a forklift truck around. I go home. No stress. Mostly nights. Suits me. I’m not much a day person anyway.
When my brother Simon went to university he left me his old fishing rod, a dog-eared copy of Wind in the Willows, and seven pounds fifty in change. At least he left them in his unlocked bedroom, which was pretty much the same thing.
In this episode we discuss our poetry editors new collection and the second edition. Plus, there is a fantastic interview with Martha Lane Featuring music by Luke Starling – find more at LukeStarlingMusic.co.uk
‘Seggy?’ Darren has made a daisy of orange segments on his big tedious hand. The hand is too close to my chest and, worst of all, my nostrils. Sweetness is invading my head, spoiling the […]
Sarah Ziman is a poet from Wales who likes cats, crisps, cake, reading and rhyme. She dislikes writing bios. She won the YorkMix Poems for Children Prize 2021, and enjoys annoying her own children by forcing them on nature walks or ‘dragging them into antique shops’.
Wendy Allen has ‘A Legitimate Snack’ coming out soon with Broken Sleep and is due to have poems appear in Atrium and Re-Side. She is starting an MA in creative Writing at Oxford Brookes in September and is mentored by Richard Scott.
Food is what you need. Water’s what you need. Help is what you need. A shit is what you need. Oxygen’s what you need. A mate is what you need. A good groom’s what you […]
Phil Burdett is a poet/ singer/songwriter from Westcliff, Essex. He has been writing for 45 years.
Bal Kishan is a hitchhiker standing by the motorway, waiting to hitch a ride. He is a young boy in khaki shorts and a t-shirt with a torn hem. A car stops. He opens the […]
“To sew is to serve” was the first life lesson my parents taught me. I’d chant it to the beat of my footsteps roaming around the city. I’d whisper it into my pillow to soothe […]
Laurie Bolger is a Writer and Facilitator based in London. Her work has featured at Glastonbury Festival, the Royal Albert Hall, TATE, Sky Arts and BBC platforms.
Living on Stamford Street, Stretford, us kids needed to be tough. Right enough, I had my big brother next to me – Eric – but still, I needed bigger. There was a war going on […]
For this article about writing, I would like to talk (type?) about not writing. A massive part of my writing life, which I now do full time as my job, is not actually writing. I […]
We are proud to present our second edition of Northern Gravy. Once again, we’re bringing three pieces of MG/YA, three pieces of Fiction and three selections from Poetry.
Welcome Aboard! In this episode you’ll learn about how Northern Gravy came to be, the realities of doing an MA in creative writing, the rigours of applying for Arts Council funding and hear an exclusive […]
