Israeli soldiers using sexual assault to force Palestinians out of West Bank, report says Experts say attacks, also carried out by settlers, are leading girls to quit school and enter early marriages

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

‘Playback’ by Lorraine Carey You set off with a duck stance, feet snug in fins and an underwater camera strapped to your freckled brow. You turn with a double thumb gesture, then slip under like a cormorant. I abandon my book …

You set off with a duck stance, feet snug

in fins and an underwater camera strapped

to your freckled brow. You turn with

a double thumb gesture, then slip under

like a cormorant…

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/04/17/p...

Poet of the Month, April: Lorraine Carey The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For April, we are delighted to publish three new works by Lorraine Carey. The first of these, ‘A Year of…

‘The mountain light’s a beautiful bruise.
Ling, bell and cross leaved heath brush hills
burgundy and damson. Snow cloud pillows

fill sky with slate, marl and gunmetal
slush…’

Lorraine Carey is our #poetofthemonth. Read A Year of Mountain in full here:

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/04/06/p...

Short Story of the Month: ‘Tricklebones’ by David Frankel The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by David Frankel. It looked like an old tool box…

‘It looked like an old tool box, handmade from planks, screwed together at the corners. A cloth cover, stiff with grime, failed to contain the disconcertingly sweet reek of rotting meat.’

Read our #shortstoryofthemonth by @daveyfrankel.bsky.social

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/04/06/s...

Short Story of the Month: ‘Tricklebones’ by David Frankel The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by David Frankel. It looked like an old tool box…

I love @thelonelycrowd.bsky.social . Since they started a few years ago, they've published some fantastic writing, so I'm delighted that my short story, 'Tricklebones' is their new story of the month. Free to read on their website, so fill yer boots! 👇👀👇
thelonelycrowd.org/2026/04/06/s...

Short Story of the Month: ‘Tricklebones’ by David Frankel The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by David Frankel. It looked like an old tool box…

The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by David Frankel.

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/04/06/s...

Poet of the Month, April: Lorraine Carey The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For April, we are delighted to publish three new works by Lorraine Carey. The first of these, ‘A Year of…

Poet of the Month, April: Lorraine Carey
The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For April, we are delighted to publish three new works by Lorraine Carey. The first of these, ‘A Year of Mountain’, is published today

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/04/06/p...

Media association condemns ‘violent assault’ on CNN crew by Israeli soldiers CNN team detained while reporting on aftermath of attack by settlers in West Bank, Foreign Press Association says

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Christopher Cornwell Tribute: ‘Incomplete Text’ by John Lavin (For Chris)   ‘Brilliance is a category of exclusion as much as any other abnormality’ – Christopher Cornwell   I don’t complete poems very often – and never quickly – So ple…

thelonelycrowd.org/2024/04/19/c...

A Tribute to Christopher Cornwell Christopher Cornwell’s dazzling debut collection, Ergasy, was published by The Lonely Crowd. Here, his fellow writers pay tribute to an exceptional talent who will be sorely missed by all who knew …

Unbelievably, it’s two years since our friend, the talented poet Chris Cornwell left us. Here are some of the tributes that other writers paid him at the time.

Photo by Jo Mazelis.

thelonelycrowd.org/2024/04/19/a...

Hugely grateful to John @thelonelycrowd.bsky.social for featuring my Gwen John story this month. Please do give it a read if you have time. Just discovered yet another GJ biography (Susan Chitty). Not that I'm obsessed or anything...

Story of the Month, March: ‘A More Interior Life’ by Mike Fox The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by Mike Fox. Gwen awoke to the rustle of leaf mu…

‘She loved the forest. It contained her spirit. In the unshielded open, vividness was everywhere, and crowded in.’

Don’t miss @polyscribe70.bsky.social’s #shortstoryofthemonth about Gwen John, ‘A More Interior Life.’

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/06/s...

Poet of the Month / Essay: Nigel Jarrett Our Poet of the Month for March is Nigel Jarrett. Here, Jarrett discusses his approach to the creative process. It’s often easier to define what poetry is by adducing examples of what it isn&…

Our Poet of the Month for March is Nigel Jarrett. Here, Jarrett discusses his approach to the creative process.

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/20/p...

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says torture 'has effectively become state policy' in Israel

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says torture 'has effectively become state policy' in Israel https://aje.news/ggypil

Poet of the Month / Essay: Nigel Jarrett Our Poet of the Month for March is Nigel Jarrett. Here, Jarrett discusses his approach to the creative process. It’s often easier to define what poetry is by adducing examples of what it isn&…

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/20/p...

‘Cymmer’ by Nigel Jarrett Through the window and as still as a fist pulled and held in abeyance, the old pithead is an ink drawing beside her framed print of Klimt’s The Kiss and above that photo of the survivors he&#…

Through the window and as still as a fist

pulled and held in abeyance, the old pithead

is an ink drawing beside her framed print

of Klimt’s The Kiss and above

that photo of the survivors he’d dragged

from the roof fall, the matchstick props...

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/13/c...

‘Cymmer’ by Nigel Jarrett Through the window and as still as a fist pulled and held in abeyance, the old pithead is an ink drawing beside her framed print of Klimt’s The Kiss and above that photo of the survivors he&#…

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/13/c...

A beautiful piece by Mike @polyscribe70.bsky.social. Found the opening especially vivid. I hadn’t seen Gwen John’s work before, so it was interesting reading this without context and then searching online. Another great story on The Lonely Crowd.

Hi Isabella, thanks for your interest. I’m afraid I’m not sure at the moment but it will be a little while off. I will announce it when Issue 15 comes out at the beginning of June. All the best, John

Poet of the Month, March: Nigel Jarrett The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish three new works by Nigel Jarrett. These poems are all meditations on th…

The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish three new works by Nigel Jarrett. ‘Deluding the Hens’ is published today, with the next two poems to follow throughout the month.

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/06/p...

Story of the Month, March: ‘A More Interior Life’ by Mike Fox The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by Mike Fox. Gwen awoke to the rustle of leaf mu…

The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by @polyscribe70.bsky.social

Painting: ‘Street at Night, Meudon’ by Gwen John (National Gallery of Art)

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/06/s...

Very honoured that my Gwen John story, A More Interior Life, appears today as @thelonelycrowd.bsky.social Story of the Month. A favourite, this one. Am hoping to get to her current exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff.

Poet of the Month, March: Nigel Jarrett The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish three new works by Nigel Jarrett. These poems are all meditations on th…

The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish three new works by Nigel Jarrett. ‘Deluding the Hens’ is published today, with the next two poems to follow throughout the month.

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/06/p...

Story of the Month, March: ‘A More Interior Life’ by Mike Fox The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by Mike Fox. Gwen awoke to the rustle of leaf mu…

The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For March, we are delighted to publish a new piece by @polyscribe70.bsky.social

Painting: ‘Street at Night, Meudon’ by Gwen John (National Gallery of Art)

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/03/06/s...

‘Gulls’ by Amanda Rackstraw From beneath the cliff, a sudden din and these flattery-chatterers take off, thicken the channel with threads. A black lace veil lifts and swirls in the glare, risking scorched feathers.   Fro…

The final poem from our February Poet of the Month

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/02/26/g...

‘The Dish’ by Amanda Rackstraw I broke a dish today, a little blue dish just large enough to hold in the cupped palm of my hand.   The colour, soft aqua blue. A good colour, cool yet warm to receive yoghurt, soup, all kinds…

The second new poem by our #poetofthemonth is ‘The Dish’

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/02/13/t...

First review of Exposure: war, media, democracy by @cjwagstaff.bsky.social. @liamcarson.bsky.social @richardwynjones.bsky.social @katrinanaomipoet.bsky.social @thelonelycrowd.bsky.social @eatthestorms.com

How I wrote ‘Wolf Moon’ / Amanda Rackstraw Our February Poet of the Month reflects on the composition of her piece, ‘Wolf Moon’. Interesting to come back and close read this poem. Written a year ago, it could have been written i…

Our February Poet of the Month reflects on the composition of her piece, ‘Wolf Moon’.

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/02/11/h...

Short Story of the Month: ‘Heartwood’ by Glyn Edwards The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout 2026. For February, we are delighted to publish a new piece by Glyn Edwards. There was once a boy who bec…

‘The woman seemed known to him somehow. Familiar. She reminded him of a woman, long ago, who gave him charms to hang at Christmas, & showed him where to see the goshawks’ nests in the canopy. He shook away the memory.

‘Where is your magic tree?’’

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/02/06/s...

Poet of the Month / Amanda Rackstraw The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2026. For February, we are delighted to publish three new works by Amanda Rackstraw. The first of these, ‘Wolf…

Wolf Moon

‘It is a clear, cold night

in January when I stand

away from brittle lights,

out on the green,

wrapped in winter ghosts…’

thelonelycrowd.org/2026/02/06/p...