Leonie Jarrett lives in Melbourne, Australia with her Husband of more than 3 decades, 2 of her 4 adult children and her 2 Golden Retrievers. Leonie is a lawyer who has owned several businesses. Now that she is semi-retired, Leonie loves writing rivers of words. She hopes that the reader likes floating in her rivers! Broken Dreams “Well, Jess, you sure know how to wound me.” “Well, Rob, you sure know how to keep us broke.” “I just said that a client pulled out. Not all the clients. Just one.” “Rob, that client was the paying one. None of the … Continue reading Leonie Jarrett

One of the three winning Storytellers voted for by the audience at the First Flash Fiction Portrush Event (held in Portrush, Northern Ireland, on Friday 21st, March, 2025) Ben Austell is a Bristolian writer and teacher based in Derry. Growing up as a child of the theatre, he learned to appreciate the power of a story, a well-chosen word and a sympathetic audience from a young age. A lack of singing, dancing and acting talent may have scuppered his oscar-winning ambitions, but the enticement to tell stories has never left. Having lived and taught in England, South Korea, China and Colombia, … Continue reading Ben Austell

One of the three winning Storytellers voted for by the audience at the First Flash Fiction Portrush Event (held in Portrush, Northern Ireland, on Friday 21st, March, 2025) Heidi Edmundson was born and grew up in Portrush. As a child she was an avid reader and particularly loved fairytales, myths and legends. She also developed a love of detective stories especially Nancy Drew. Her love of reading became a love of writing and she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. She studied medicine at Dundee University and has worked as a doctor for the NHS ever since. She … Continue reading Heidi Edmundson

One of the three winning Storytellers voted for by the audience at the First Flash Fiction Portrush Event (held in Portrush, Northern Ireland, on Friday 21st, March, 2025) Paul Hutchinson is a Belfast boy who currently resides in Portrush. His book Between the Bells (2019) is a storied exploration of reconciliation. He is a regular contributor to Tenx9, a storytelling event where nine people have up to ten minutes each to tell a true story from their own life. Traffic Sir! You will never catch your plane. You should have left two hours ago. Look! See! At this time the traffic … Continue reading Paul Hutchinson

Sara Stegen is a Dutch poet, equity advocate, and non-fiction author who writes about family, neurodivergence, and the landscape she lives in. She has published in Spelt, Ranchlands Review, The Brussels Review. Sara has an MA in English from the University of Groningen and is a 2022 Rural Writing Institute alumnus run by best-selling authors Kathryn Aalto (Writing Wild) and James Rebanks (The Place of Tides). Home is a boulder-clay ridge in the northern Netherlands where her bike shed contains eight bicycles. Sara works for Research Centre Art&Society and is working on her first poetry collection and memoir about apples … Continue reading Sara Stegen

SwayamPrashant (pen name of Dr. Prashanta Kumar Sahoo) was born in the undivided Cuttack district, Odisha. He was formerly an Associate Professor of English at Sarupathar College, Assam, India. He has written seven books and two booklets. They are : Evaluation of Textbooks in the Teaching of English (based on his Ph.D. thesis); Values in Life (based on a research project on Vedic and Upanishadic writings); Knowledge Tree (miscellaneous prose writings); Haiku from the Garden of My Own (poetry); Live Like A Man (poetry); Premras Amrit (poetry in Assamese); Virgin Land Impregnated (a thematic study of Canadian folk songs); Joy … Continue reading Swayam Prashant

LB Sedlacek is the author of several poetry collections. Her most recent books are “Organic Soup” published by Bottlecap Press and “Unresponsive Sky” published by Purple Unicorn Press. Her short stories books include “The Jackalope Committee and Other Tales” and “Four Thieves of Vinegar and Other Short Stories” both published by Alien Buddha Press. Puppets from India A troupe of puppeteers fromIndia visited on June 5 thsome year long ago saysthe yellowed wrinkled newspaper clippingfound wadded up on thefloor the date and thename of the paper missingon the back is astory about pen pals inEngland meeting in Lebanon, thatcould be … Continue reading LB Sedlacek

Rick Blum has been chronicling life’s vagaries through essays and poetry for more than 30 years. His early works were published in several, now defunct, national magazines, whose fate he takes no credit for. He was a regular opinion columnist for eleven years for the newsweekly The Mosquito, which, surprisingly, is still in print. More recently, his writings have appeared in The Literary Hatchet, The Satirist, and WINK magazine, among others. He is also a frequent contributor to the Humor Times, and has been published in numerous poetry anthologies. Mr. Blum is a three-time winner of the annual Carlisle Poetry Contest. His poem, Tomfoolery, received honorable mention in The … Continue reading Rick Blum

I’m an unpublished would-be writer. My first attempt was at age 21, after leaving the Army, but life and career got in the way.  I left school in1944, at 14 and worked as assistant in retail jewellery until I was conscripted into the Army at 18, serving for 18 months. My career began when I rejoined H.Samuel, being promoted  to branch manager at 24 and working in many town throughout England & Wales. I left the jewellery business at 34 to work in Life Assurance and retired as Company Training Manager at 62 following a heart attack. Now at 94, … Continue reading Ralph Mannings

Gary Devenney is a poet whose journey with spoken word began during lockdown.Though life pulled him away from poetry, he found his way back to the page after the heartbreaking loss of his partner, Fiona, to whom he dedicates all his writing. His work delves into love, grief, and mental health, weaving raw emotion with the influence of Dermot Kennedy’s poetic intensity. Beyond poetry, he is the Head of Football Development, an avid reader of psychology, philosophy, and romantic fiction, and finds solace in long walks along the North Coast of Northern Ireland—especially Portstewart Strand, his safe haven. I Talk … Continue reading Gary Devenney – First Time Published