The Storms Issue 5 Contributors

Below is a list of all the contributors to The Storms, issue V, launched 1 Nov 2025.

For this issue, we present 89 contributors from 13 different countries.

Adrienne Pope Fagan is a landscape artist who works in oils and soft pastels. Her inspiration comes from the natural world and especially the beautiful scenery surrounding her. She lives in Co. Wicklow and loves to paint the sea, mountains and sky. She has exhibited in The Signal Arts Centre, The Mermaid Arts Centre , Ardgillan Gallery and The Boatyard Gallery, Greystones.

Aisling Keogh is a writer and psychotherapist, who lives in County Galway. Her short stories and poetry have been published with The Irish Independent, The Honest Ulsterman, Crannog Magazine, Wordlegs, Ropes, Bangor Literary Journal, A New Ulster, and in several anthologies. Her first published short story was shortlisted for the Hennessy Irish Literary Awards 2011, and she has also been shortlisted for the Doolin Writers Weekend Short Story Competition. She is currently working on her second novel.

Alan Murphy is an artist and poet. He is the award-nominated writer and illustrator of four collections of poetry for children and teenagers. He has contributed art and poetry to numerous digital and print journals and anthologies in Ireland, the UK and the US, and exhibited throughout Ireland and abroad. Examples of his visual art have graced the covers of poetry journals Riggwelter Press and Drawn To The Light. He lives on a crow-infested housing estate in Lismore.

Angela Graham’s poetry collection Star was published in 2024 by Culture And Democracy Press. Her collections of poetry, Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere, 2022 and short stories, A City Burning 2020 are published by Seren Books. She is an award-winning film maker and BAFTA Cymru-nominated screenwriter. angelagraham.org  @angelagraham.bsky.social angelagraham.org 

Annick Yerem is a poet and the EIC of Sídhe Press. She has been published in places she truly loves, among them iamb, The Storms, The Dirigible Balloon and DREICH. Her heart and work as a publisher is now centered around Palestine.

Ann Marie Dunne lives in Co. Kildare. She is pursuing a Masters in Poetry in Queens. Her poems have been published in Washing Windows V, Sidhe Press, The Apiary, The Ogham Stone, The Storms, Apricot Press, and The Honest Ulsterman. She loves books, boats and hiking.

Asa Williams is a writer and academic whose work explores the intersections of folklore, music, and history. Currently completing a PhD at the University of East Anglia, Asa’s research traces the influence of Arthur Rimbaud on twentieth-century protest music. His writing has appeared in The Razor, NARC Magazine, and The Gay & Lesbian Review. A former Merky New Writers Prize finalist, he also curates activist events and lifts historic stones across the British Isles.

Ashish Kumar Singh (he/him) is a queer Indian poet with a Master’s Degree in English Literature. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Wales, The Stinging Fly, Frontier Poetry, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Fourteen Poems, The Texas Review, Atlanta Review, Foglifter Press, Diode Journal, and elsewhere. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at University of Lucknow.

Beatriz Silva is a Brazilian writer and gender equality advocate. She has a MA in Gender, Politics and International Relations from University College Dublin. When she is not buried in her academic work, you will find her word-vomiting about something else. You can find her creative writing work in her Substack or published by the Malala Fund.

Belinda Subraman is a mixed media artist. Her art has been featured in Beyond Words, Epoch, Unlikely Stories, Eclectica, North of Oxford, Raw Art Review, El Paso News, Litterateur RW, Setu, The Bayou Review, Red Fez, Chrysalis, Ghost City, Maintenant 16,19 and many others. In November 2022 she won 2nd Place in the Sun Bowl Exhibit, the longest running art show in the Southwest since 1949). She also won Best of Show in 2024 at the Crossland Gallery’s show called Precious Things. She also runs a GAS Facebook group and GAS literary journal. Belinda’s art features on our bookmark for this issue.

Bello Taiwo Victoria is a dental student and a writer based on Nigeria. She has works published in Brittle Paper, Afrocritik and elsewhere. 

Billy Fenton writes fiction and poetry. His work has been widely published including – The Rialto, Irish Times, Cyphers, Banshee, Poetry Ireland Review, The North, Acumen, Orbis, Crannóg, Four-Faced Liar, Abridged, and many others. He was chosen for Poetry Ireland Introductions 2025

Brian Malachy Quinn uses watercolors, pen and ink, digital media, block prints, and etchings.  He is compelled to create art every day and finds it as a way to put aside his worries and stresses and produce “good brain chemicals”. Brian is our issue V cover artist.

Carolyn Schlam is an award winning artist and author of four books on art: THE CREATIVE PATH, THE ZEN OF ART and the JOY OF ART series of books.  Her artwork has been exhibited in many museums and galleries and has graced the covers and interiors of many magazines.  It is in the collection of several prestigious collections including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.  Carolyn resides and has her studio in the Hudson Valley of New York. Carolyn is our featured visual artist for issue V

Catheryne Gagnon (she/her) lives in Tiohtià ke / Montreal and works in communications in the humanitarian field. Her poetry has been published in Black Fox, Rust+Moth, The Deadlands, Roi Fainéant Press, and more. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for the Jack McCarthy Prize.

Catriona Murphy was previously awarded third place by the Dublin Sports and Cultural Council for her short story. She’s been published in Sparks journal, Fresh Words International Literary journal, Literature Today and was long-listed for the Wexford Bohemian magazine. A previous participant on the Writing Foundation program at the Irish Writers Centre in 2024, she’s performed at the Dublin Book Festival and the International Literary festival.

Chidera Solomon Anikpe is a young, queer, Nigerian storyteller and student. He is currently in his final year of studying Literatures in English at the University of Jos, plateau state, Nigeria. He can be reached via Twitter at @Dera_writes or via email at chideraanikpe@gmail.com

Nwuguru, Chidiebere Sullivan (he/him/his) is an MFA candidate at the university of Nevada, Las Vegas, a speculative writer of Izzi, Abakaliki ancestry; a multiple finalist for both the Rhysling and Ignyte Awards, a nominee for the Forward Prize, Pushcart Prize, and Best of The Net Award; a data science/analyst techie, and a licensed Medical Laboratory Scientist. He was the winner of the 2025 Tamarack Prize, 2024 Rhonda Gail Williford Award for Poetry, and the 2021 Write About Now “Cookout” Literary Prize. He tweets @wordpottersull1.

Chris Jones was born in New York, grew up in co. Kerry and now lives in Dublin. His work has appeared in the anthologies Writing Home: The New Irish Poets and The Book of Life, Poems to Tide You Over by Dedalus Press, The Irish Independent: New Irish Writing, Responses to Pale Blue Dot and Responses to Hidden Colours 1988 Felix Gonzalez-Torres: by Pilot Press London. The Stony Thursday Book, Fourteen Poems and The Maternal Gaze: Irish Museum of Modern Art. When you open your Door to a Mountain a collaborative project with Eleanor McCaughey at The Kevin Kavanagh Gallery. He was shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2022.

Courtney Darby writes from the West Coast of Ireland. She holds a Creative Writing degree from the University of Galway. She graduated with first-class honours and as a University Scholar. She is currently undertaking a merit-funded MA in Writing. She was a featured poet for Lime Square Poets and has read her poetry at Cúirt International Festival of Literature. She is a Gaeilgeoir and her next endeavour is to start writing poetry as Gaeilge.

Danielle Gilmour lives in Gloucestershire with her family and other animals. Her work is published in Poetry Wales, Propel, The Broken Spine, Dreich, and elsewhere. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and was recently highly commended in the 2025 Gloucestershire Writers’ Network competition. She is working on her first collection. Amateur gardener, occasional runner. Can’t cook without lemon. Find her in the potting shed, forest, or nearest body of water. @mummy_juice_writes

David Hanlon is a poet based in Cardiff, Wales. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Rust & Moth, Barren Magazine, and trampset. His latest collection, Dawn’s Incision, was published by Icefloe Press. You can follow him on Twitter @davidhanlon13

Doryn Herbst, a former water industry scientist working in Wales, now lives in Germany. Her writing considers the natural world and themes which address social issues. Poetry in print and online, including: The Wild Word, Ink Sweat & Tears, Mugwort Magazine and Poetry Wales. She is a staff writer intern at Poetry Wales. Doryn has a collection coming out with Yaffle Press in spring 2026 called A Barbed and Twisted Place.

Elizabeth Fevyer lives in Cardiff, Wales and has been writing poems since she first learned to write.  She is a mother and a lawyer.  Her poetry has been published, or is upcoming, in The Broken Spine, Dreich, Aeos Magazine, Scapegoat Review, and The Alchemy Spoon, among other places. She is currently studying for the Diploma in Creative Writing part-time at the University of Oxford. 

Ellen Harrold (She/Her) is an Irish artist, writer, and editor-in-chief of Metachrosis Literary. She uses painting, drawing, text, and textiles to explore anatomy, physics, and ecology. She has exhibited her art with IMMA (Earth Rising, 2024), Lido Stores Margate (If Heaven Falls, 2025), and Newcastle Arts Centre (Confluences, 2024). She has recently published art in The Prescription, An Áitiúil, and Orion. She has a website: ellenharrold.art, an Instagram: @ellenharroldart, and a Bluesky: @ellenharrold

Emily Cullen is the Meskell Poet in Residence at the University of Limerick where she lectures on the MA in Creative Writing and MA in English. Her third collection, Conditional Perfect (Doire Press, 2019), was included in The Irish Times round-up of “the best new poetry of 2019.” Twice nominated for the Pushcart prize, Emily’s poetry explores themes of history, social justice, cultural memory, ecology, music and the female experience.

Eóin Flannery is a writer and critic based in Limerick, Ireland, where he is Associate Professor of English Literature at Mary Immaculate College. His poetry has appeared in The Honest Ulsterman; Rochford Street Review; Rust & Moth; The Summerset Review; The Belfast Review; Juniper; The Tiger Moth Review and in many other international publications.

Erin Emily Ann Vance is a Canadian poet currently based in the Orkney Islands. Her first collection of poetry, A History of Touch, was published by Guernica Editions (Toronto) in 2022. Erin is a graduate of the UCD School of Irish, Celtic, and Folklore Studies and an alumna of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry Summer School.

Fiona O’Rourke is a Pushcart nominated author/Arts Council Ireland funded writer. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies, broadcasted and translated. She is a first generation university attendee and holds an M.Phil. in Creative Writing (Trinity College Dublin). She was subeditor of The Storms Issue IV. She facilitates writing courses and organises literary events for Gaza. fionaO.substack.com

Fionn Andrews is a writer from Dublin, Ireland and a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. He was a Poetry Ireland Introductions Series participant in 2024. His work has appeared or is forthcoming with The Waxed Lemon, Skylight 47 and Poetry London.

Francesca Leader is a writer and artist originally from Western Montana. She has poetry and flash CNF published or forthcoming in BULL, Broadkill Review, Hooligan, Club Plum, Identity Theory, Nixe’s Mate, Pinhole Poetry, Poetry New Zealand, and elsewhere, receiving nominations for Best of the Net and Best Spiritual Literature. Her debut poetry chapbook, “Like Wine or Like Pain,” is now available from Bottlecap Press. (https://bottlecap.press/products/likewine)

Georgia May is a UK-based filmmaker and journalist from the South East. Several of her poems and short stories have been published (in-print and online) and she’s been both judge and selectee of film festivals around the globe, mostly for feature scripts, experimental short films and documentaries.

60-something Georgina Titmus has had poems published in The Pomegranate, The Caterpillar, The Moth, Orbis, The Frogmore Papers, The Journal, South, Briefly Write, Fenland Poetry Journal, Full House Literary and others. She’s twice been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. She lives in Cornwall, has a degree in Philosophy (taken as a mature student) and is a ‘seer’ for her sight-impaired husband. 

Gerry Stewart is a poet, creative writing tutor and editor based in Finland. Her poetry collection Post-Holiday Blues was published by Flambard Press, UK. Her poetry is widely published in journals and has appeared as part of Poetry Archive‘s World View, iamb poetry and on the Eat the Storms poetry podcast. Her writing blog can be found at http://thistlewren.blogspot.fi/.

Helen Laycock is a Pushcart-nominated poet, winner of Black Bough Poetry’s Chapbook contest and shortlistee of The Broken Spine’s Chapbook competition. Her collection ‘FRAME’ was chosen as Book of the Month at the East Ridge Review. Other collections include ‘ELEMENTAL’ ‘BREATHE’, ‘13’ and ‘RAPTURE’. She also writes short children’s books.

Holly Castleton has a MTh in Religion and Literature, an MSc in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh, and is headed to Texas A&M for a PhD in English Literature starting September 2025. Her poetry has appeared in Rue Scribe by Underwood Press, From Arthur’s Seat, Gently Mad Literary Magazine and is forthcoming in Inscape Magazine. 

Jack Donahue is a poet, short story writer and playwright. Numerous poems and short stories have been published in journals and magazines worldwide. His book of poems Inside/Out was published in 2020. Two poetry books and a short story collection are scheduled for publication Several plays and a musical have been staged in regional theaters. His first novel LOST ON CHERRY STREET was launched in June, 2024 by Willow River Press. His second novel, DIVINE INTIMACY is under contract with Guernica World Editions. He is married to Carol Donahue, a children’s book author, and resides on Long Island, New York.

 Jack Kennedy is from County Kerry and lives in Dublin, working as a biochemist in a hospital laboratory. He is the winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition 2024 and is due to be published in Southward in 2025. He has been published in the Storms and New Irish Writing.

JC Alfier’s (they/them) most recent book of poetry, The Shadow Field, was published in 2020 by Louisiana Literature Press. Their journal credits include The Brooklyn Review, Faultline, Notre Dame Review, New York Quarterly, Penn Review, River Styx, and Vassar Review. They are also a collage artist after the styles of Francesca Woodman, Deborah Turbeville, Laurence Briat, and especially Katrien De Blauwer. They are founder and co-editor of Blue Horse Press and San Pedro River Review.

Jo Morrigan Black (they/them) is a Paris-born performance poet. Their writing dwells in journals such as Poetry Ireland Review, Skylight 47 and Abridged. Jo has worked with indigenous leaders in Colombia, left stray feathers in Berlin and now stalks the streets of Dublin as a vampire. Showcased by Culture Ireland at Edinburgh Fringe 2025, their poetry drag show Carpet Muncher combines Spoken Word, physical theatre and surrealist costuming to celebrate the unknowable in us all.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, River And South and The Alembic. Latest books, “Bittersweet”, “Subject Matters” and “Between Two Fires” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Rush, White Wall Review and Flights.

John Jeffire was born in Detroit.  His novel Motown Burning won the 2005 Mount Arrowsmith Novel Competition and the 2007 Independent Publishing Awards Gold Medal for Regional Fiction.  Detroiter and former U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine called his first poetry collection, Stone + Fist + Brick + Bone, “a terrific one for our city.”  In 2022, his novel River Rouge won the American Writing Award for Legacy Fiction.  

Jonathan Chibuike Ukah is a Pushcart-nominated poet living in the United Kingdom. His poems have been featured in Pangyrus Lit, The Pierian, Propel Magazine, Atticus Review, The Journal of Undiscovered Poets and elsewhere. He won the third Prize in the Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest in 2024 and the Alexander Pope Poetry Award in 2023. He was the Editor’s Choice Prize Winner of Unleash Lit in 2024. He was the Second Poetry Prize Winner at the Streetlights Poetry Prize in 2024 and Winner of the Poet of the Month December-January 2025 at the Literary Shark Poetry Contest.

Jordan Cobb (she/her) is a queer American poet raised across the south & Midwest. Previously an oncology nurse, she completed her MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Shore, The Storms Journal, The McNeese Review, Rise Up Review, wildscape. literary journal, Outcrop Poetry, Chouette Literary, Gently Mad Literary Magazine, Wrong Directions, & the 2024-2025 edition of the anthology series From Arthur’s Seat.

Julian Day is a poet, currently based in Surrey, UK. His work has been published in The Storms journal, and featured in two Blackbough Poetry Anthologies,  as well as The FolkHeart Press, and Patricia’s Pen. Julian’s poetry has also been presented on A Thousand Shades Of Green, as a featured writer, and many times as a guest reader on Eat The Storms podcasts.  He has also been nominated for a Best Of The Net. 

Karan Chambers (she/her) is a poet, tutor, and former English teacher. Karan has poems published (or forthcoming) in The London Magazine, Under the Radar, 14 Magazine, and Banshee. Her pamphlet ‘woman | folk’ is available from Salò Press and her second pamphlet will be published by Atomic Bohemian in 2026. Karan just completed her first year of a Creative Writing Masters at Royal Holloway. She lives in Surrey with her husband and three lively children.

Karen Pierce Gonzalez is an award-winning intuitive artist. To date, 75+ of her works have been published in a range of literary journals. Her work also appears in four hybrid manuscripts, including Moon kissed, Earth wrought, Vision drunk (BottleCap Press). A National Arts Program (USA)  2022 feature artist, her mixed media and assemblage works have shown in several Pacific West Coast galleries and museums. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kate Young’s poetry has been published in journals including Fly on the Wall, Alchemy Spoon and Poetry Scotland. It can also be heard on Words for the Wild and the Podcast Poetry Worth Hearing. The poem Fear was placed 2^nd in The Canterbury Poet of the Year Competition, 2022. Her pamphlets A Spark in the Darkness and Beyond the School Gate have been published by Hedgehog Press and Laying Down Bones will be published by them next year. Find her on X @Kateyoung12poet or her website kateyoungpoet.co.uk

Kristin Fouquet is a photographer, collage maker, and writer in lovely New Orleans. Her photography appears in online journals and magazines, on chapbook and book covers, on album artwork, in galleries, and in private collections. When not behind the camera, Kristin writes short literary fiction. She is the author of seven books. One of her collages was included in a recent New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery exhibition. Please visit Le Salon- https://kristin.fouquet.cc

Lesley Curwen is a poet, broadcaster and sailor who lives by the sea in Plymouth. She often writes about family trauma and damage done to the ocean environment. Her pamphlets ‘Rescue Lines’  and ‘Sticky with Miles’ are published by Hedgehog Poetry Press and HybridDreich. She has been widely published in magazines and anthologies and her poems have been nominated for Forward and Pushcart Prizes. Lesley has recently been working with a chemist, Dr Stephen Paul Wren, on ‘Permanence’, a poetic collaboration about microplastics, to be published by Atomic Bohemian.  

Lorraine Caputo’s artwork and photography are in private collections. They have also been exhibited in the US, Ecuador and Peru, and published internationally in over 50 journals. Her poems and travel narratives also appear internationally, in over 500 journals, and 24 chapbooks – including In the Jaguar Valley (dancing girl press, 2023). She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee. Ms. Caputo continues journeying south of the equator.

Maeve O’Sullivan’s poetry and haikai have been widely published, anthologised and translated. She is the author of six collections from Alba Publishing, the latest being Where All Ladders Start (2024), which received an Agility Award from the Arts Council. Maeve is a professional member of the British Haiku Society and the Irish Writers’ Centre. She leads workshops in haiku. www.maeveosullivan.com

Máire T. Robinson is a writer, and occasional workshop facilitator, living in the West of Ireland. Her debut novel Skin Paper Stone was published by New Island in 2015 to critical acclaim. More recent work includes short stories in Southword, Ropes, The Waxed Lemon, and SANS Press; and creative nonfictionin Banshee, and Trasna. 

Margaret Royall has 7 poetry books plus a memoir. Her 3rd collection ‘Toccata and Fugue with Harp’ appeared with Hedgehog 2024 plus a chapbook from Dreich, ‘Owl Fetish’. She was also chosen as a featured Erbacce Prize poet,  showcased in their Autumn journal. Her pamphlet ‘Hemlock & Honey’ is due out 2025. She is a creative writing retreat tutor and leads a Nottinghamshire women’s poetry group. Website: Margaretroyall.com

Maria Isakova-Bennett, an artist and writer from Liverpool, has a Poetry Society Peggy Poole and New North Poet Award, and is Writer-in-Residence teaching for Mersey Care, NHS. Maria also creates the hand-stitched poetry journal, Coast to Coast to Coast, publishing poets from the UK and Ireland. She has six pamphlets, the latest are Subcutaneous (Wayleave Press, 2025), an o    an x, and Painting the Mersey in 17 Canvases (Hazel Press, 2023 and 2022)

Marie Marchand is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Ellensburg, WA. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Crannóg Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, California Quarterly, and Tikkun Magazine. She is the author of Gifts to the Attentive (2022) and Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things (2025). She is a graduate of Naropa University and The Iliff School of Theology where she studied psychology, religion, and peacemaking. 

Mary O’Donnell has written award-winning poetry, novels, short fiction collections and dynamic essays. In 2023 she received an An Post/Irish Book Award for her poem ‘Vectors in Kabul’. In 2026 Wake Forest University Press will publish her ninth poetry collection, ‘Tenderness’. A short fiction collection, ‘Walking Ghosts’ was published this year by Mercier, and short stories in Spanish—‘Nomadas’—will appear in Argentina next year. Her new novel will be published in late 2026 by Époque Press in the UK.

Maudie Bryant is a Pushcart-nominated poet and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, identity, and the disquiet beneath the surface. A graduate of the University of Louisiana Monroe (M.A. in English), her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Progenitor, Welter, and 3Elements Review. Maudie lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she balances full-time work, motherhood, and creative practice with her husband and two young sons.

Merril D. Smith is a Pushcart nominated poet who writes from southern New Jersey. Her work has been published widely injournals and anthologies. Her full-length poetry collection, River Ghosts (Nightingale & Sparrow Press) was Black Bough Poetry’s December 2022 Book of the Month. Her new collection, Held Inside the Folds of Time is forthcoming in autumn 2025. Find her at Bluesky: @merrildsmith.bsky.social; Blog: merrildsmith.org 

Michelle Granville is a Sligo based mixed media artist. Her current practice combines printmaking and collage to explore themes of connection and disconnection—with nature, society, and the self. Her work has been published in Chestnut Review, Mayday Magazine, The Four Faced liar and Sonder Magazine among others. Find more of her work on Instagram @beleafmoon

Mo Schoenfeld’s work appears in The Storms, Irisi Magazine, Fevers of the Mind, Wombwell Rainbow, Haiku Crush’s Best Haiku 2021-2024 (Judges Grand Mention, 2022), Pure Haiku, Tiny Wren Lit, Sidhé Press’s ‘Our Own Coordinates: Poems About Dementia’ and ‘To Light the Trails: Poems by Women in a Violent World (guest editor and contributor for both) and ‘Glisk & Glimmer’ anthology (contributor), as well as the podcasts Eat The Storms and A Thousand Shades of Green.

Nuala O’Connor lives in Galway, Ireland. Her fifth poetry collection Menagerie (Arlen House) was published in 2025. She’s currently writing a memoir about late-diagnosed autism. She is a member of Aosdána.

Nuala McEvoy is an English/Irish artist and writer currently living between Germany and Spain.  Nuala paints places she has visited using her memory and her imagination.   Nuala has had two exhibitions in Münster, Germany, and  currently has an exhibition in Cavendish Venues, London.

Olive M. Ritch is an Aberdeen-based poet from Orkney. She is a recipient of the Scottish Book Trust Next Chapter Award and the Calder Prize for Poetry from the University of Aberdeen. She has also received commendations in the National Poetry Competition and the Hippocrates Prize, as well as being shortlisted in the Bridport Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published in many magazines, anthologies, and the Scottish Poetry Library. Her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut poetry collection will be published in 2026 by Drunk Muse Press.

Özge Lena is an internationally published poet who appears in The London Magazine, The Madrid Review, The International Times, and in numerous magazines across continents. Her ecological-themed poetry earned Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations and was shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, The Plough Poetry Prize, Ralph Angel Poetry Prize, and the Black Cat Poetry Press Nature Prize. Özge’s poetry has been featured in many worldwide anthologies and was showcased at Barnes & Noble for Poetry Month. Özge is our featured poet for Issue V.

Paul Ebube, is a mobile photographer, Ebube captures transient moments with sensitivity, complementing his expression through various art forms.

Peter Adair‘s poems have appeared in Abridged, Ars Notoria, The Bangor Literary Journal, Crannog, The Galway Review, The Honest Ulsterman, Howl, New Isles Press, Poetry Ireland Review and other journals.  He has been shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing. Calling Card, an e-pamphlet, is available from Amazon. He lives in Bangor, Co Down.

Pixie Bruner (HWA/SFPA) is a writer, editor, and cancer survivor. She is the 2025 Rhysling Award Chair. She lives in Atlanta, GA, with a doppelgänger and their cats. Her words are in the Elgin-nominated The Body As Haunted (Authortunities Press), Amazing Stories, Strange Horizons, Weird Fiction Quarterly, and many many more.

Ramiro Valdes is a poet residing in Miami. His works focus on themes such as love and nature. His works have been published in several magazines.

Rekha Valliappan is an internationally published multi-genre writer of prose and poetry. Her writing credits include Litro Magazine, The Tamarind Literary Magazine, The Blue Nib, The Cabinet of Heed, Bending Genres, The Wild Word, Wilderness House Literary Review, Boats Against the Current, Presence, The London Reader, and other venues. She has won awards and earned multiple nominations for her writing.

Robert Frede Kenter, a widely published writer, visual artist & publisher, Ice,, Floe Press (www.icefloepress.net) is 4-time Pushcart Prize & BOTN nominee & studied performance & art at Antioch College & experimental theatre in NYC with Wooster Group & Talking Band. Recently anthologies: Capitalism is a Death Cult (Sunday Mornings), Speaking in Tongues (Steel Incisors), Interpoem #1 & 2 (Sedserio). Poems: Cable Street, Storms Journal, Otoliths, VisualVerse, WatchYrHead, Pissoir, ballast,  Winged Moon & more. Books: Father Tectonic (Ethel Zine) Audacity of Form (Ice Floe Press).

Saheed Sunday, NGP V, is a Nigerian author, a Star Prize awardee, a Pushcart Prize nominee, a Best of the Net Prize nominee, a Best Small Fictions Prize nominee, and an HCAF member.

Sam Szanto is an award-winning, Pushcart prize-nominated writer. Her poetry pamphlet ‘This Was Your Mother’ was published by Dreich Press; ‘Splashing Pink’ was published by Hedgehog Press and was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice; her short-story collection ‘If No One Speaks’ was published by Alien Buddha Press. She won the Wirral Festival Poetry Prize, the Charroux Poetry Prize and the First Writer Poetry Prize. She is working on a PhD on mother-poetry and identity.

Sandy Seeber-Quayle is a German writer based in Malahide, Ireland. She writes poetry, fiction, and essays exploring themes of belonging, identity, and transformation. Her debut novel, Aus der Sicht der Dinge, was published in German in 2013, and her poetry has appeared in several anthologies. She now writes primarily in English and is actively submitting her work to literary journals.

Sarah Hirons was born in Birmingham, England. Forty-two moves and five countries later, she currently lives in the Boyne Valley, Ireland. When not oversharing with strangers in saunas, she writes about neurodivergence, womanhood and finding humour in dark places. Her work has been featured in The Storms Journal and by Globe Soup.

Satya Bosman is the founder and co-editor of the Black Cat Poetry Press. Publications include 14 Magazine, Suburban Witchcraft, Acropolis Journal, Seaside Gothic, The Lake and more recently in Porridge Magazine and Poetry Lighthouse. Her poetry won Third Prize in the Kent & Sussex Poetry Society annual folio competition 2025 judged by Ella Frears. Her debut collection, Dream Logic, will be published by Crumps Barn Studio in 2026.

S.C. Flynn was born in a small town in Australia of Irish origin and now lives in Dublin. His collections are “The Colour of Extinction” (Renard Press, October 2024) and “An Ocean Called Hope” (Downingfield Press, May 2025).

Scott Elder lived as a musician and mime artist before settling in Auvergne, France. Since 2014 his writing has been published on both sides of the Atlantic, placed or commended in numerous competitions in the UK and Ireland, and shortlisted in the Bridport, Fish, Plough, Aesthetica and Troubadour Prizes. His second collection ‘Maria” was published in 2023 by Erbacce Press. A third, entitled ‘My Hotel’, is due in 2026 by Salmon Poetry.  Website: https://www.scottelder.co.uk/

Seán McNicholl is an Irish GP and writer. His work has been shortlisted for the CRAFT Short Fiction Prize, placed 2nd in From the Well, and was a finalist in the London Independent Story Prize. He has appeared in Fahmidan, Raw Lit, Frazzled Lit, Belfast Review, and Intrepidus Ink, and has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, as well as for Best of the Net and Best Microfiction. He lives and writes in County Armagh. Seán is our featured prose writer for Issue V.

Shantell Powell is an elder goth/swamp hag raised in an apocalyptic cult on the land and off the grid across Canada. An Aurora finalist and Pushcart nominee, she’s a graduate of the Writers’ Studio at Simon Fraser University and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her work appears in Augur, The Deadlands, On Spec, as well as in numerous anthologies. She wrangles chinchillas and gets filthy in the woods. 

Sheena Hussain is a poet, writer, and essayist. A former lawyer who turned to poetry after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Watching a Green Fly was longlisted for the Leeds Poetry Festival Competition, 2022. No Thanks, a creative non-fiction was shortlisted for the inaugural Curae Prize, 2023. Feet was shortlisted for the Creative Future Awards 2024 & in the same year was commissioned as a New Northern Poet by Ilkley Literature Festival.

Shikhandin is the pen name of an Indian writer. Her books include The Woman on the Red Oxide Floor (Red River Story, India), Impetuous Women (Penguin-RHI), Immoderate Men (Speaking Tiger, India), Vibhuti Cat (Duckbill-Penguin-RHI) among others. She has won awards and accolades for her work in India and abroad. She is widely anthologised and published worldwide.

Sue Finch has written two poetry collections: Magnifying Glass, and Welcome to the Museum of a Life.  Her poems have been published in a number of magazines and journals and have featured on iamb, Eat the Storms and A Thousand Shades of Green. She loves the coast, peculiar things, and the scent of ice-cream freezers. The ‘coffee table book’, Vortex Over Wave, features a selection of her #ElasticBandPhotos and poems for the full moon. 

Susan Richardson is the author of three collections of poetry. In addition, her poems have appeared in Skylight 47, The Storms, Crannog, Door is Ajar, California Quarterly, Rust+Moth, Our Own Coordinates (from Sidhe Press) and Beautiful Little Fools (from The Broken Spine), among others.  Susan also writes the blog, Stories from the Edge of Blindness, and hosts the podcasts, A Thousand Shades of Green and Story Sessions.  

Terri Metcalfe has been published in journals such as Abridged, Skylight 47, Acropolis Journal and The Storms. Terri was chosen for the 2024 Open Window Mentorship programme, during which she worked with the poet Derek Coyle. She placed second in the 2024 ‘Poems for Patience’ competition with her poem, ‘January’ and read at the 2025 Cuirt festival as part of their New Writing showcase.

Thérèse Kieran is a Belfast based creative practitioner. Her work has been published in anthologies including: Washing Windows? Irish Women Write Poetry, Poetry Jukebox and Dark Angels: Three Contemporary Poets 2023. She is currently on the MA poetry programme at QUB and is Vice-Chair of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann.

Tobi Alfier’s credits include Arkansas Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Cholla Needles, Gargoyle, James Dickey Review, KGB Bar Lit Mag, Louisiana Literature, Permafrost, Washington Square Review, and War, Literature and the Arts.  She is co-editor of San Pedro River Review (www.bluehorsepress.com).

Vicky Allen is a poet, artist and spiritual director/retreat guide. She has been widely published online and in print, including several anthologies. Her poetry pamphlet ‘Broken Things and other tales’ and a Stickleback micro-collection were published by Hedgehog Poetry Press. ‘Wonder Lines’, her most recent work, is a collection of poems, stories and illustrations published by Black Agnes Press. Wonder Lines is also a performance piece with musicians Keith Mack and Jon Timms, which is being shared at festivals and venues across the UK.

Zach Keali’i Murphy is a Hawaii-born writer with a background in cinema. His stories appear in Raritan Quarterly, Reed Magazine, The MacGuffin, The Coachella Review, Another Chicago Magazine, The Vassar Review, FOLIO, and more. He has published the chapbook Tiny Universes (Selcouth Station Press). He lives with his wonderful wife, Kelly, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Issue V subeditor, Rhona Greene, a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer from Dublin, is published in several Black Bough Poetry editions and was shortlisted for the Dai Fry Mystical Award. She was featured prose writer in The Storms 2 and appears in the  Shine anthology 1. Online publications include:  iambapoet/wave nineteen, A Thousand Shades of Green, The Wombwell Rainbow, and Sarah Connors  Advent Poems. Rhona is ecstatic to be on board The Storms 5 as sub-editor!

Editor-in-chief, Damien B. Donnelly is the award-winning author of the poetry pamphlet Eat the Storms, a Stickleback micro-collection & the conversational pamphlet In the Jitterfritz of Neon, co-written by Eilín de Paor, all published by Hedgehog Poetry Press who also published his first full collection Enough! in August 2022. He’s the host & producer of Eat the Storms, the poetry podcast and EIC of The Storms, a printed journal of poetry, prose & visual art. His work appears in various journals, online & in print. His second collection, Back from Away, was published by Turas Press, May 2024.

Thank you to Fingal Arts, Fingal County Council, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council for their support which madkes the journal possible. And thank you to Walsh Colour Print in Co. Kerry for being the best printers!

The Storms, Issue 5, is available to buy at The Storms shop and at The Winding Stair Bookshop & Books Upstairs Bookshop, both in Dublin