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This episode of Season 7 aired first on Saturday 15th July 2023, produced and hosted by Damien B. Donnelly. Below are details and links to the guest stars…
Elizabeth M Castillo
Collection of the Week
Elizabeth M Castillo is a British-Mauritian poet, writer, workshop teacher, and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Paris with her family and two cats, where she runs a variety of different businesses, writes a variety of different things, in a variety of different languages, and under a variety of pen names. In her writing Elizabeth explores the different countries and cultures she grew up with, as well as themes of race & ethnicity, motherhood, womanhood, language, love, loss and grief, and a touch of magical realism. Her writing has been featured in publications and anthologies in the UK, US, Australia, Mexico and the Middle East. Her bilingual, debut collection “Cajoncito: Poems on Love, Loss, y Otras Locuras” is for sale on Amazon, and her debut chapbook “Not Quite an Ocean” is out now with Nine Pens Press.
Follow Elizabeth on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EMCWritesPoetry
For all things Castillo follow https://www.elizabethmcastillo.net/
Lennart Lundh
Lennart Lundh is a poet, short-fictionist, historian, and photographer whose work, including more than two dozen poetry titles, has appeared internationally since 1965. His most current books are two self-published volumes in the Poems Against Cancer annual series, which has raised funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation since 2014; Pictures, Postcards, Letters (Kelsay Books, 2020); and The River Singing (Workhorse Writers Press, 2019). Lennart’s books can be found at his Etsy store, and on Amazon.
Follow Lennart on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lenlundh
You can find Lennart’s books on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/visionswords, and Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Lennart-Lundh
Lennart’s readings are archived on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVop7qstg59vLG3VaAQWW_g
Angela Graham
Angela Graham is from Belfast. She is an award-winning producer in TV and film. She now lives in Ballycastle and Cardiff. Her collection of poetry, Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere (Seren Books, 2022) considers Sanctuary in relation to the environment, the spiritual, war, the self within the body, and enforced population movements. The book itself is a kind of sanctuary since, in addition to her own work, she asked 4 poets to collaborate with her in the writing of a poem each, and her mentor for the collection, Glen Wilson also contributed a poem. Her poetry is widely published. She won First Prize for Poetry in the inaugural Linen Hall Ulster-Scots Writing Competition 2021 and her writing in Ulster-Scots was the subject of a documentary by NVTV this year https://vimeo.com/786683887. Angela currently has a poem about the Irish Civil War in the all-Ireland Poetry as Commemoration project, in a curation in Derry and Limerick until July https://www.poetryascommemoration.ie/2023/05/19/new-poetry-jukebox-commemorates-complex-shared-history-in-derrylondonderry/.
Angela’s short story collection A City Burningcame out from Seren Books in 2020 and was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. She is currently editing a prose/poetry hybrid on place and displacement.
Follow Angela in Twitter at https://twitter.com/AngelaGraham8
Find out more about Angela at https://angelagraham.org/
Fin Hall – Janine Rae – Arya Rae
Fin Hall, AKA Like A Blot From The Blue, has work in print in over 40 different publications in China, India, USA, Canada as well as UK. and about 10 online. Including 2 solo collections He is also a filmmaker, producer, publisher and collaborative artist. He has appeared in various podcasts and radio stations. His latest collection is called Headspace. Which is a collaboration with his daughter Janine Rae and granddaughter, Arya Rae. Available from Amazon or from Like A Blot From The Blue @ likeablotfromtheblue@gmail.com
Janine Rae has always scribbled words and is always” writing “ in her head. She only started really keeping them in a collection the past few years, only sharing them recently when her dad got her involved in his poetry.
Arya Rae is a fledging poet, but had her first poem, Snow, displayed at her primary school aged 10. She has also had a piece in Joined Uo Writing. 100 Voices.
Follow Fin Hall at https://www.facebook.com/fin.hall.14
AJ Akoto
A.J. Akoto is a writer living and working in London. Unmothered is her first collection of poetry. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge, with particular focuses in Latin literature, and Visual Culture. Her debut collection is Unmothered published by Arachne Press.
Unmothered: A Debut collection from Black British poet A J Akoto. When is a mother a myth, and when is she a monster? In an intimate and unflinching collection, A J Akoto tracks the complex bind of mother-daughter relationships. Through separation and attempts to mend, longing, and the fluidity of myth/story-telling in defining histories and identities, she collapses the elision between womanhood and motherhood/daughterhood, bringing to the forefront that which usually remains unspoken.
Unmothered by A.J. Akoto is published by Arachne Press (£9.99 pb; £4.00 eBook) and is available here: https://arachnepress.com/shop/Unmothered-by-AJ-Akoto-p521052369
“Motherhood never looked like this before” —Afrori Books
John Hewitt International Summer School
Host and producer Damien B. Donnelly is one of this year’s recipients of a full bursary for the John Hewitt Summer School. For all details check out the website and get your tickets now… https://johnhewittsociety.org/summer-school/
Damien B Donnelly, Producer, Host and Poet
Damien B Donnelly is a 47-year-old Irish, adopted, gay writer and podcast producer who spent 23 years living in Paris, Amsterdam, and London forking in the fashion industry, returning to Dublin at the end of 2019. He is the host and producer of the poetry podcast Eat the Storms and the editor-in-chief of The Storms, a journal of poetry, prose and visual art. His debut pamphlet, Eat the Storms, published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press, nominated for a Pushcart Prize and featured on the Poetry Book Society Winter List 2020/21, followed by a Pushcart Prize nominated Stickleback (micro collection) and In the Jitterfritz of Neon, a conversational pamphlet co-written with Eilín de Paor. His first full collection Enough! was published by Hedgehog in August 2022. His poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous journals, both online and in print. His 2nd full collection is due out in Spring 2024 with Turas Press
The Storms journal is available at https://eatthestorms.com/the-storm-shop/
He is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/deuxiemepeau and instagram at both @damiboy and @weshallalwayshaveparis
You can purchase his pamphlets and collections at his website https://deuxiemepeaupoetry.com/
Backing music for Eat the Storms is from Purple Planet Royalty Free Music, with thanks…
https://www.purple-planet.com/
You can find us on many platforms including Spotify and here is the link…
Storm Shelter 