Damsel Staff

The Fat Damsel – Jane Burn

Jane Burn is a North East based writer. She was a member of 52, the North East Women Writing Collective, the Black Light Writing Group and the Tees Women Poets.

Her poems have been published in magazines such as three consecutive issues of Butcher’s Dog, Ink Sweat & Tears, Nutshells and Nuggets, Alliterati, Lunar Poetry, The Rialto, The Stare’s Nest, The Screech Owl, The Linnet’s Wing, Obsessed With Pipework, Loch Raven Review, Deseeded Volume 3, the Black Light Engine Room Literary Magazine, I am not a silent poet, Synaesthesia, Long Poem Magazine, Zoomorphic, Skylark Review, Slim Volume, Poeming Pigeon, Ground, Synaesthesia, the Maligned Species project and Writers for Calais. She was also day five on the New Boots and Pantisocracies project.

Her work was long-listed for the Canterbury Poet of the Year Award, the National Poetry Competition and was commended in the Yorkmix 2014. Her work has been featured in two Emma Press anthologies and four Kind of a Hurricane Press Anthologies. She also had a single poem nominated for the 2014 Forward Prize. She was longlisted in the 2015 Poetry Space competition.

Her first pamphlet, Fat Around the Middle was publised in 2015 by Talking Pen.
Her second pamphlet, Tongues of Fire was published in 2016 by the Black Light Engine Room Press.

Take Ten Editor – Catherine Ayres

Catherine Ayres is a teacher. Her poems have appeared in print and online journals, including Ink Sweat and Tears and The Moth. She recently came third in the Hippocrates Prize and later this year a selection of her poems will be published in pamphlet form by The Black Light Engine Room.

Pod Editor – Beth McDonough

Beth McDonough was a silversmith, a art teacher and then she jumped plumply into an M.litt at Dundee University. Her work may be read in Gutter, Antiphon, New Writing Dundee, Poetry Bus, The Interpreter’s House and many other fine places. Currently, she is writer in Residence at Dundee Contemporary Arts.

Assistant Editor – Louise Larchbourne

Louise Larchbourne was published first a long time ago in the West Midlands, where she had a presence as a local performing poet. She became interested in and explored the difference between poetry for reading and poetry for reading out loud. In the past year or two she has returned to the acting career she left for motherhood also a long time ago. She has enjoyed being involved in Jo Bell’s 52, and Poetry at the Ashmolean, now Ekphrasis. From both these practices of making regular and to some extent prescribed poetry she has learned more about writing than at any other comparable period.

Invaluable Assistant – Judi Sutherland

Judi Sutherland is a poet who lives in Barnard Castle, Durham. She’s also the editor of The Stare’s Nest. http://www.judisutherland.com

Facebook Helpmate – Kim McDermottroe

Kim McDermottroe is a freelance costume designer / maker under the business name Greener Lavelle. She specialises in museum, theatre and carnival costume, bespoke puppets, illustration and facilitates workshops. In 2003 she won young entrepreneur of the year at the women in business awards and has produced costumes for the 1770 festival in Australia. www.facebook.com/greenerlavelle

Tweety-Bird – Holly Magill

Holly Magill is a poet from Worcestershire. She has a BA in Creative Writing from University Of Birmingham and has had poems published in various publications, including Nutshells and Nuggets, Ink, Sweat & Tears, The Stare’s Nest and Poetry Bus. She is fond of cats, snoods and strong tea above most things.

Guest Editors

Julie Pellowe
Julia Webb
Zelda Chappel
Rachael Clyne
Julie Hogg

Artwork by Jane Burn