Fragmented Voices

An editors note from Natalie Nera. Thanks to our readers, authors and followers for continuing to support us! Our online magazine will begin again in September after our annual summer break. 🖤

Dear readers, writers and supporters, There is nothing more important than realising that you have to stay true to yourself.

On Friday at 7pm we are running a free one-hour Zoom workshop exploring the use of creative writing in teaching students with English as their second language.

A Zoom link will be sent to those who express an interest.

Contact us via email at [email protected] or DM us via our social media pages to sign up or find out more.

We are now closed for submissions to our online magazine. We reopen in September.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted and has supported our press 🖤 If you are still waiting for a response to a submission, you will hear from us soon.

This week we are excited to share a poem by Frances Mulholland, a regular contributor and supporter of our press 🖤 Frances Mulholland lives in Northumberland. Her chapbook, Indifferent Deserts, was published in 2022 by Bottlecap Press. Her work has previously been published in Paragraph Planet, Mslexia, Litro, and Horla Horror.

Phantasmagoria by Frances Mulholland I’m the edge of the joke You don’t know I’m making.

On 21 June we are running a free Zoom workshop exploring the use of creative writing in teaching students with English as their second language.

The workshop will be led primarily by Natalie Nera – author, ESL teacher (a grammar school in Prague, the Czech Republic), editor, a member of International Pen Club Prague.

Natalie Nera will be assisted by Natalie Crick, poet, editor, and academic consultant in the UK.

Are you interested in joining us?

A Zoom link will be sent to those who express an interest.

Contact us via email at [email protected] or DM us via our social media pages to sign up or find out more.

Today we present fiction by Gail Brown. Some of Gail’s works include Galataria’s Echoes and Concurrent Earths. Concurrent Earths is a collection of science fiction and speculative fiction short stories and poetry.🖤

A Fair Beginning by Gail Brown “Guess you don’t have anything either then. I’ll have to try to reach my parents again. Maybe they can send the rent and a few hundred more so I can go visit my girlfriends. Oh, a…

Today we are delighted to share a poem by Simon Alderwick.

Simon Alderwick lives in Oxford, UK. His pamphlet “ways to say we’re not alone” is available from Broken Sleep Books. 🖤

the party’s over by Simon Alderwick i’m staring at an empty page, wondering if i’ll ever write again,

Today we celebrate fiction by Debbie Robson.

Debbie Robson has published a novella with Alien Buddha Press and previously Crossing Paths: the BookCrossing Novel and Tomaree, a WWII love story. Her poems, micro, flash and short stories have been published internationally. 🖤

The Light and the Dark by Debbie Robson I notice her walking near the Willow Cafe, elegant in a long white dress and stylish hat.

Today we showcase poetry by Maeve McKenna.

Maeve McKenna lives in rural Sligo, Ireland. She is the author of two pamphlets, A Dedication to Drowning, and Body as a Home for this Darkness 🖤

Two Poems by Maeve McKenna how life resembles the aftermath of a disappointing storm once damage has passed overhead

This week we present prose by Tim Love.

Tim Love’s publications are a poetry pamphlet Moving Parts (HappenStance) and a story collection By All Means (Nine Arches Press). He lives in Cambridge, UK. His poetry and prose have appeared in Stand, Rialto, Magma, and elsewhere. 🖤

Forgiveness by Tim Love Outside, the cold surprises me. I wasn’t cold before.

Our featured poet this week is John Short. John Short lives near Liverpool again after a previous life in southern Europe. His fourth collection is, In Search of a Subject (Cerasus Poetry 2023) 🖤

Two Poems by John Short Outside this muted world through the window

This week we are showcasing the work of Kenneth Pobo, featuring not one but two flash fictions.

Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections. His work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Crannog, Ni**od, Orbis, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, and elsewhere.

Thank you for reading 🖤

Two Flash Fictions by Kenneth Pobo I want the sun to kidnap me from this over-carpeted room that smells like candy and perfume.

This week we are celebrating the work of Deborah Harvey. Deborah Harvey is co-director of The Leaping Word poetry consultancy. Her sixth poetry collection, Love the Albatross, will be published by Indigo Dreams in autumn 2024.

Thanks to all of our authors, readers and followers for continuing to support our ventures. 🖤

How to Manage Tidal Surge and Coastal Erosion by Deborah Harvey and acres of sea aster sea lettuce sea lavender stretched between us.

'Reading poetry always triggers many kinds of reactions.'

Following last week's interview feature with Alex Corrin-Tachibana, this week Natalie Nera reviews
'Sing me down from the dark' by Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana (2022: Salt Publishing Cromer) 🖤

Gaijins Have Blue Eyes by Natalie Nera Sing Me down from the Dark by Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana (2022: Salt Publishing, Cromer), available at Reading poetry always triggers many kinds of reactions. The first reaction is usually primal: …

'Nature often permeates my poems because it yields imagery in a very innate way.'

Enjoy this week's special interview feature with poet Alex Corrin Tachibana, speaking exclusively for Fragmented Voices about her creative process 🖤

Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana’s first collection, Sing me down from the dark, was published by Salt Publishing in 2022. She has been a teacher for 27 years and is a poetry tutor for The Writing School and The Writing Well. In 2023, she was highly commended in the Wi******er Poetry Prize and shortlisted for the Fish Prize and Leeds Poetry Festival Award. She lived in Japan for 10 years and has Master’s degrees in Writing Poetry and in Japanese Language.

Poetry between Languages ‘Nature often permeates my poems because it yields imagery in a very innate way. ‘

Happy Easter 🐰

Today's feature is 'Searching for the Wild Service Tree' by Tonnie Richmond.

Tonnie Richmond lives in Leeds and loves Orkney, archaeology and gin. She has had poems published by The Storms, Black Nore, Up!, Dreamcatcher, Dawntreader and others and in various anthologies. Her first pamphlet, Rear-view Mirror, was published by Yaffle's Nest Yaffle Press in November 2023.

Searching for the Wild Service Tree by Tonnie Richmond We stumbled on the pub by chance,The Chequers Inn, nestled in woodsa little off the beaten track. We talked about the Wild Service Tree —I told you how I’d searched for itin woods like these, so ma…

‘Song is a reminder they’re still here'.

Today we feature not one but two poems by Mark Connors, an award winning writer, creative writing facilitator and publisher from Leeds. His first full length collection, Nothing is Meant to be Broken, was published by Stairwell Books in 2017. His second poetry collection, Optics, was published in 2019 by Yaffle Press. His third collection After followed in 2021. He’s currently working on his third novel and a hybrid book of poetry and prose. He is a co-managing editor at Yaffle Press
and Yaffle’s Nest.

Two Poems by Mark Connors ‘Song is a reminder they’re still here.

'She didn’t really believe in the Centre or its practices, but came here, perhaps repeatedly, despite.'

This week we are showcasing fiction by Mike Fox. His stories have been nominated for Best of Net and The Pushcart Prize, listed in Best British and Irish Flash Fiction (BIFFY50), and included in Best British Stories 2018 (Salt Publishing). His story, The Violet Eye, was published by Nightjar Press as a limited edition chapbook. An illustrated collection of new stories is being prepared for publication by Cōnfingō Publishing in 2024.

Thanks to all of our authors, readers and followers for continuing to support our ventures.

Observing Solitude by Mike Fox She didn’t really believe in the Centre or its practices, but came here, perhaps repeatedly, despite.

'We are now. Me and you, at a picnic table...'

This International Women's Day we present the work of Alison Jones, a female poet widely published in journals like Poetry Ireland Review, The Interpreter's House and The Guardian. Her pamphlets, Heartwood (2018) and Omega (2020), were published by Indigo Dreams Publishing.

Outgrown by Alison Jones We are now. Me and you, at a picnic table…

'Mimi German understands very well that a task of good poetry is to find the words where others fail to verbalize their feelings.'

Today Natalie Nera reviews Where Grasses Bend Poems from Portland to Steens Mountain in the time of Plagues by Mimi German (2023: Eyepublishewe, 2023, San Francisco, First Edition)🖤

The Point of Poetry: a Review by Natalie Nera Mimi German understands very well that a task of a good poetry is to find the words where others fail to verbalize their feelings.

Today we are showcasing the work of Cara L McKee, a poet living on the west coast of Scotland. Her chapbooks are First Kiss (Maytree Press, 2020), and Little Gods (Roswell Publishing, 2023, featuring Escaping Pheasants) 🖤

Escaping Pheasants by Cara McKee I like it when the pheasants get away, I like to see their ungainly leap from fence or wall like how I imagine I would fly. I like it when they get across the road, not just walking down it like so…

Fragmented Voices is a team of two Natalies - editors and friends. Natalie Nera lives in Prague and Natalie Crick in the UK. Editorial communication for the press is usually done via Zoom and time together is rare and precious, but last week Natalie C was delighted to spend a week in beautiful Prague visiting Natalie N. Friends and editors across borders 🖤

Poetry is as necessary as air. Like water, we cannot live without poetry....

In this week's special feature, Romanian poet, translator and editor Mircea Dan Duta interviews Californian wordsmith Dane Ince, Poet Laureate of California, exclusively for Fragmented Voices 🖤

Meeting of the Minds Poetry is as necessary as air. Like water, we cannot live without poetry.

Our first featured poem this year is 'Care Report' by Jenny Robb, a writer from Liverpool. Jenny's debut collection is The Doll’s Hospital, Yaffle Press 2022.

Care Report by Jenny Robb It was the way they were herded, scolded.

Our submission window is now open 🖤

We accept prose, poetry, creative non-fiction, and essays. We also accept translations in all these genres.

See our submissions page:

https://fragmentedvoices.com/submissions/

Hello friends 🖤

An editorial update from us as we reopen for submissions again.✍️

Can anyone be ready for an ever-changing world of literature, unpredictable economic circumstances, world pandemics, wars, illnesses and personal issues that can affect what you are able to do and what you want to do?...

Editorial Can anyone be ready for an ever-changing world of literature, unpredictable economic circumstances, world pandemics, wars, illnesses and personal issues that can affect what you are able to do and …

BOOK SALE ✨

Our book sale ends on Sunday at noon (GMT)

We still have some copies of our second and third Big Books: ‘heart/h’ and ‘in•spire’. Both books are half price in our Winter Sale.

Take a look at our online shop fragmentedvoices.com/shop/

Merry Christmas to our writers, readers and followers 🎄✨

We still have some copies of our second and third Big Books: ‘heart/h’ and ‘in•spire’. For a limited time only, both books are half price in our Winter Sale.

Take a look at our online shop!

https://fragmentedvoices.com/shop/

Looking for Christmas gifts? ✨For a limited time only, our second and third Big Books: ‘heart/h’ and ‘in•spire’ are half price in our Winter Sale. 'in•spire’ is a poetry anthology featuring wonderful pieces like this one, written by Mary Mulholland.

Take a look at our online shop ✨https://fragmentedvoices.com/shop/

Our remaining Big Books are half price in our Winter Sale. The Big Books make perfect Xmas presents.

You can buy a book here 🩶 https://fragmentedvoices.com/shop/