Smiling faces in the salon

Here we are in our online salon again and our first reader is @dilyswt.bsky.social

Last call for our online salon tomorrow.

Come for fantastic readers including @susannacrossman.bsky.social, @dilyswt.bsky.social @nancyfreund.bsky.social @kplumhoff.bsky.social and many more

Stay for the super serious quiz....

Thanks for the opportunity!

After spending most of winter dealing with some health issues, I'll be coming out of my creative hibernation by reading a few poems and a flash piece at the next @saloneurope.bsky.social Online salon, run by @kiklodge.bsky.social. Book a spot at l1nq.com/p3ujhqq

I'll be reading at Published! Online alongside nine other writers from Women Who Submit, including writer friends from the WWS Europe chapter, Barbara Diggs (@bdiggswrites.bsky.social) and Augustine Blaisdell. Use the QR code below for info and tickets. Hope to see you there.

Thank you to @xraylitmag.bsky.social for giving "Bellybutton Baby" such a great home! I was told not to start a story with a dream sequence, so naturally, the contrarian in me had to give it a go. "Bellybutton" was also a winner of the Summer 2025 City Writes competition (@citystgeorges.bsky.social)

Thank you so much for giving my story such a great home!

Thank you @chestnutreview.bsky.social for publishing my poem "a museum of waxwings." I am told all poets have a poem about birds, and this is mine. It's also a poem for my mother, who has dementia. Working with @michaelimossan.bsky.social on edits was a joy. chestnutreview.com/dilys-wyndha...

Thank you @mlmcguinness.bsky.social‬ for sharing this poem. You are all kinds of wonderful.

Thank you so much for sharing this poem! 💚

Little poems to start the day at the @saloneurope.bsky.social in Brussels 😊

This was such a fun, nourishing session. Thank you @dilyswt.bsky.social 🙏

Thank you so much for choosing to attend. It was so lovely to meet you and talk all things writing and poetry.

🧡Thank you for a lovely afternoon (and listening to my deep dive into the history of speculoos...)

Someone needs to start a literary prize for short story collections. It seems really odd to me that we don’t have one in Ireland or the UK. Before everyone shouts about the Edgehill Prize, it doesn’t seem to be happening this year.

Thank you!

I'm so grateful that my golden shovel, “Titan[ic),” appears in issue 107 of @mslexia.bsky.social. It's an elegy to the victims of the Titanic and Titan, and I hope reads as a tribute to lives lost at sea. I also found out that today marks forty years since the wreck of the Titanic was discovered.

My golden shovel, “Titan[ic),” appears in this issue of @Mslexia. I wrote it as an elegy to the victims of the Titanic and Titan, and I hope it is a respectful tribute to those lost at sea. I also just found out that today marks forty years to the day since the wreck of the Titanic was discovered.

A huge thank you to the team over @chestnutreview.bsky.social for making my Monday brighter, and accepting one of my poems for their upcoming Autumn Issue. The poem is a favourite of mine, so I'm beyond grateful and excited! I'll share more once the issue comes out in October.

Too many amazing presenters to name, but we've got great sessions from @kitdewaal.com @desperatelit.bsky.social @dilyswt.bsky.social @drpragyaagarwal.bsky.social @kiklodge.bsky.social @mlmcguinness.bsky.social @norami.bsky.social @markabowles.bsky.social & so many more.

I've been selected to read a new story @citystgeorgesucu.bsky.social's City Writes Summer Reading tonight. It's online. It's free. There will be some amazing writers there. Join us. blogs.city.ac.uk/cityshortcou...

There really is something in the drinking water in Haarlem. For centuries, writers, poets, painters and sculptors have gathered here. I keep bumping into the most generous, creative people. Here's a sketch of me writing in Haarlem library gifted to me this weekend by the painter Walter van Dieren.

Glad I inspired this post. This session sounds unique, fun and thought-provoking. A great combo.

Thanks for trusting me with this one! I'm really looking forward to it.

I found out that I'll be running a haiga workshop at @saloneurope.bsky.social's annual conference this September. I'm so grateful! Haiku photography and haiga reignited my creative spark during the pandemic, and I'm hoping this fun morning workshop will help others find (even more) creative joy.

@wildroofjournal.bsky.social being one of the most supportive journals out there! Thank you.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone ‪@nffr.bsky.social for publishing "A Self-Portrait of Someone Else" in their Summer issue, alongside my audio. Full disclosure, the NFFR editors suggested I shorten the ending, and I think the piece is so much stronger thanks to their input. newflashfiction.com/self-portrai...

Thank you so much to everyone at NFFR for publishing one of my flash narratives in this issue. Working with your team was really helpful.

Syd Shaw and I are publishing ekphrastic poems written in response to art by Andreea Ceplischi in the latest issue of Beyond Words. We only realised last week. The three of us worked together at Passengers Journal, so today feels like an unexpected reunion. www.beyondwordsmag.com/online-store...

British novelists criticise government over AI ‘theft’ Richard Osman and Kate Mosse say plan to mine artistic works for data would destroy creative fields

Once more with feeling and a dollop of frustration … Taking our work without permission or payment is theft.

twww.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/14/b...