Creative Writing Anthology - Water

We are delighted to launch our 2023 (adult) Creative Writing Anthology, with its theme of Water. 

View Anthology here

Poet and editor Janet Sutherland shortlisted entries for this anthology. 

She talks about that process: 

'What a pleasure it was to be asked to choose the poems for the Sussex Wildlife Trust anthology on water. Water is so intrinsic to life, and we experience it as mist, as ice, as cloud, as rain, as river, as sea – we experience the creatures that live in it, on it or near it every day – from tiny Zooplankton to birds, mammals, enormous Whales – so the ways to explore the brief were many and varied and the poems certainly reflected that. They explored all aspects of water with many looking at global warming, fears for the environment, flooding. All the poems showed a deep concern for the environment, a love of nature and a delight in close description.

The poems I chose often took a slant way to look at water. Zoë Sîobhan Howarth-Lowe’s poem Bufo bufo in a nesting box gave us a toad when she was expecting a bat, the leathery skin of both creatures and the light in the eye of the toad was particularly pleasing. John Connor’s Brief Lives considered the water gathered in the rut left by a vehicle in a forest and the tiny creatures that lived there briefly. Dr Celia Hunt took us to a dew pond high up in the Downs and reminded us about joy. The forms the poets used to write the poems ranged from three line haiku to sonnets. 

I hope you will enjoy the poems in the anthology.'

Read it here

Janet is about to launch her fifth book, The Messenger House. Find out more about this and all her work here. 

List of contributors who have been included in the anthology:

• Millie Brand
• Kate Cameron
• Cat Clarke
• John Connor
• Mary Dawson
• Miriam Day
• Helen Forester
• Caroline Garland
• Steve Geliot
• Chloe Gerhardt
• Wendy Green
• Bronwen Griffiths
• Diana Hills
• Michelle Hill
• June Hale
• Orlando Holmes
• Marion Horton
• Zoë Sîobhan Howarth­-Lowe
• Elizabeth Hughes
• Dr Celia Hunt
• Laura Jazwinski
• Alex Josephy
• Hannah King
• Laura Marrinan
• Philip Parker
• David Paynter
• Jenny Quest
• Noah Rutter
• Fay Sallaba
• Suzanne Stronge
• Sian Thomas
• Philippa Walter
• Maggie Weir-Wilson