This month’s featured writer is Clare Roberts, whose passions include wild water, music and mountains. Formerly a journalist, Clare now studies poetry, alongside her work teaching piano and singing. Her poem, ‘Tar Barrels of Allendale’ available to read here is one of two published in ‘Voices,’ a brand-new anthology of writing by the students and alumni of the University of Gloucestershire.

Clare says: ‘To hear different voices, we must listen. As a keen singer, the theme of the anthology conjures the idea of different melodies creating harmony. There will sometimes be dissonance, but that can make the waiting more poignant, and the resolution sweeter.’

Clare also writes radio programmes for Corinium Radio under the banner of Somewhere Else Writers, exploring themes including Inner and Outer Space, and Playfulness, using literature and music.

‘Voices’ is available through the university bookshop. You can also read ‘Tar Barrels of Allendale’ by clicking on the ‘Poem of the Month’ logo.

This month’s featured writer is Graham Bruce Fletcher, who was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and brought up between Yorkshire and Cirencester.  He has written for as long as he can remember, and hopes to continue to remember for as long as he can write. He has worked in many different fields, several offices (and other indoor locations), and travelled around Europe as a Marketing Director in the medical industry until he stopped inflicting himself upon employers to focus on writing both fiction and music, having retired at the age of fifty due to the opportunity he found in having survived cancer.

He is interested in almost everything, except reality TV shows, fashion and fast cars. He is a keen observer of other people’s behaviour, and an eavesdropper on private conversations with the intention of stealing ideas for his writing. He is particularly eager to hear the strange details of other people’s lives, a task he finds much easier now that people do not hesitate to hold intimate personal conversations loudly and in public on their mobile phones.  Any resemblance between real people and events and his stories is likely to be intentional.

Graham’s short story ‘The Way Ahead’ is featured in this month’s Cirencester Scene. You can read it by clicking on the story of the month logo on the Somewhere Else Writers’ website, or here

Sophie Livingston wrote this month’s featured poem, ‘Old Sodbury’, while walking the Cotswold Way with her husband Jo. She says: ‘We’d spent a lot of the 100 miles talking about the stress in our lives. Walking always helps us get things in perspective – but the moment described in the poem when we took tea in the graveyard was one of those miraculous ones when all your worries suddenly seem trivial.’

Sophie worked as a journalist for 15 years before turning to fiction. Her work appears in national magazines and has been broadcast on BBC Radio. She was long listed for the InkTears flash fiction competition in 2017, the Fish Short Story Prize in 2020 and the Bath Short Story Prize this year. She was also long listed for the Mslexia/Poetry Book Society Prize in 2019. Recent work has featured in ArtemisPoetry (sic) and two Black Bough Poetry anthologies. During lockdown she founded the ‘Improbable Book Cafe’ (www.improbablebookcafe.co.uk) a virtual coffee shop for people to unwind and listen to mood-lifting short stories and poetry. To read Old Sodbury click on the ‘Poem of the Month’ logo above. You can listen to a recording of Old Sodbury, plus other poems and stories by clicking here.

Sophie Livingston’s poem ‘Origin of the Species’ is featured in the latest edition of the Artemis poetry journal. The bi-annual print magazine aims to be a showcase for the best in women’s writing from established and new women poets. Each issue includes poetry, reviews, articles and artwork. To find out more click here.