origami poems and towering stories

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Poetry comp winner John Gallas heads the poetry section with How to Make a Chough – an origami poem, Mandy Pannett’s It was easier then points to the dilemma of the writer in a grieving society; others have dark thoughts about towers, old and new. Some escape into the garden, out into the wild or into the night of the city. We have familiar guides such as Jocelyn Simms, Roger Elkin, Andria J Cooke and AKS Shaw, and newcomers to our lists offering intriguing perspectives. William Wood and Brian Charlton use long-familiar images from the art gallery to present a new world.

Birds flash in and out of sight throughout the poetry pages, from Indigo Buckler’s Estate Birds to Roger Elkin’s missing dead. Follow them if you can, through this folding of ideas and paper into the realms of flash fiction, where Jonathan Page, this year's Flash Fiction Comp winner, heads the collection with his brilliant Horseplay; and the game of ‘how short can a story be?’ is won by John Holland, at 31 words, others pack marvels of comedy or philosophy into 100.

The poets: John Gallas, Mandy Pannett, Jocelyn Simms, Lorna Liffen, Brian Charlton, Indigo Buckler, Danny Kent, Matthew Adamo, Ion Corcos, Sean Gibson, Elaine Beeby, Sue Kauth, Roger Elkin, Caroline M Davies, Andria J Cooke, Philip Burton, Glen Wilson, AKS Shaw, Abigail Elizabeth Ottley, Ruth Hanchett, Cecile Bol, Jennifer Richards, Richard Smith, Nico Volkerts, Christopher James, William Wood, Harvey Martin

The flash fiction writers: Jonathan Page, Cecile Bol, John Holland, Cedrick Fox-Kirk, Ben Howels, Caroline Deacon, Jacqueline Winn, Catherine Perrins, Lisa Donoghue, Sharon Boyle, Jonathan Page, Supie Dunbar, Eirlys Chui, Laura Besley, Cedrick Fox-Kirk

Cover art by Jim Littlejohn