Poems by Jane Thorp

Jane Thorp has had many poems published in magazines. She won the Yeovil Literary Prize for Poetry in 2023. She was shortlisted in The Plough Poetry Prize 2013, children’s category, and has been commended and shortlisted in other poetry prizes.

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Poems by Debi Knight

Debi Knight is a Neuro-diverse poet and short story writer based in West Yorkshire who considers herself a lifelong student. She writes the life she sees and feels around her – exploring connections between humans, nature and the effects of modern life on all.

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Poems by Sarah Ziman

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 has poems in The Caterpillar, The School Magazine, The Toy, PaperBound, Paper Lanterns, Tyger Tyger, Little Thoughts Press, The Dirigible Balloon, Cricket, and anthologies by Macmillan and Pomelo Books.

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Poems by Leigh Manley

Leigh Manley is a new poet from Wales. He likes watching rugby, drinking cups of tea, acting silly, and making up fun words and sentences! He is currently part of Literature Wales’ ‘Representing Wales’ writers’ development programme for 2023/24 and he’s had work published with The Dirigible Balloon. He is working on his first poetry collection for curious children and the young at heart.

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Poems by Eibhlís Carcione

Eibhlís Carcione is a bilingual poet and children’s author from Cork, Ireland. Her three poetry collections in Irish, Tonn Chlíodhna (2015), Eala Oíche (2019), and Bean Róin (2023), are published by Coiscéim. She has won numerous awards for her poetry.

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Que Será Será by Kathy Hoyle

As I push open the high wooden gate, blue paint peels off into me palm. I let the flecks fall to the ground and go into the back yard. Mrs Walker’s old tabby prowls along the wall overlooking the alley. She flops down and gives me a filthy look before closing her yellow eyes for a nap.

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Poems by Carole Bromley

Carole Bromley lives in York. Winner of 2022 Caterpillar Prize, she also has poems in Tyger, Tyger, Paper Lanterns, The Toy, Little Thoughts Press, Paperbound, The Dirigible Balloon, in anthologies from MacMillan, Emma Press and Nosy Crow as well as in her Smith/Doorstop collection for children, Blast Off!

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Poems by Charlie Bown

Charlie Bown is a children’s poet and author. She has two children’s anthologies published through Magic Daisy Publishing and two of her poems appear in the Chasing Clouds anthology from The Dirigible Balloon. Her debut children’s chapter book is due to be published by Ventorros Press in 2023.

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Poems by Eleanor Brown

Eleanor loved writing poetry as a child and now enjoys writing poems for others to enjoy. She is a doctor by day, working to help children with developmental difficulties. Eleanor has had poems published by The Dirigible Balloon and Tyger Tyger Magazine.

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Poems by Catherine Olver

Catherine Olver is a writer and researcher with a PhD in children’s literature from the University of Cambridge. She has special interests in LGBTQ+ poetry and in how literature can help humans participate in their environments (whether urban or rural) with sensitivity and joy.

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Lost and Found by Amanda Thomas

Tom pulled out a screwdriver, weathered from a lifetime of use, and waved it in my face. With one foot on the dustbin and one flat against the wall he hauled himself onto the windowsill and slipped the screwdriver into a small notch in the frame.

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Greenbooth Boggart by Karen F. Pierce

It wasn’t fair, he hadn’t done anything! Joe stomped up the stairs to his bedroom. Sent to his room “without dinner or devices” as his mum had said. Which was a laugh as he didn’t have any ‘devices’ and a stale cheese barm barely counted as dinner.

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Future Perfect by Katie Kent

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.

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Poems by Rhiannon Oliver

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. 

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The Lantern Man by SF Layzell

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.

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Ownback by Em Kittow

‘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.

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Sally by Jenny Moore

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.

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Poems by Sarah Ziman

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’.

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