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Issue 34
The 34th Edition of the Impspired Magazine.
According to numerology, the number '34' symbolizes new beginnings and is associated with good luck in career matters. Let's hope that this is no coincidence! Psalm 34 includes the line “I will bless the Lord at all times” - which feels overly optimistic if you’ve ever dealt with website migration. And 34 in dog years is… well, let’s not depress ourselves.
So whether you’re here out of curiosity, loyalty, or because you clicked the wrong bookmark and decided to stay - thank you for being part of Issue 34, the first issue on our new digital home.
Click a writer’s name and see what they’ve got for you this time.
Sam Knox - Issue 34
(First Time Published Slot) Having worked in local Government in Northern Ireland for forty-three years within the Environmental Health Profession, during my last 10 years in the profession, I served Southern Group Environmental Health Committee as its Group Chief Environmental Health officer. During my career I was made a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and more recently served as its President in Northern Ireland. One of the highlights of my career
Charlie Cawte
5 min read
Afra Ahmad - Issue 34
Afra Ahmad is a writer, poet, artist, and calligrapher. Based in Taiwan, she holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature. She writes about everything under the sun, from dark societal issues to problems faced by teenagers, imparting chunks of wisdom through her poems, stories, and write-ups. Her works have appeared in various magazines, including Iman Collective, MYM, Rather Quiet, Ice Floe Press, Olney Magazine, The Malu Zine, The Sophon Lit, Blue Minaret, Melbourne Cult
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Anthony Ward - Issue 34
Anthony loves the way words sound through silence. He is inspired by the nature of the world and the expression of art as humanity decrees to discover itself. He writes to express the overwhelming beauty of the natural world with the inspiring admiration of artistic creativity. He has recently been published in, Jerry Jazz Musician, Literary Yard, Shot Glass Journal , and Dear Booze, amongst others. Overcast The weather forecast headlines rain Though it’s only rain at nine Th
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Charles Rammelkamp - Issue 34
RammelkampJC@Gmail.com Doomed Diva Théophile Gautier coined the phrase. The poet called Giulia Grisi, the Italian opera singer, circa 1830s, “goddess” to describe her sublime talent, her soaring arias for Bellini and Rossini. Since then the word’s been used to label any fierce, passionate performer – Maria Callas, Beverly Sills, Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Beyoncé, and more: Martha Stewart, Serena Williams. But Grisi? Killed in a train accident on a trip to Saint Petersburg jus
Charlie Cawte
2 min read
Gareth Nurden - Issue 34
Gareth Nurden was born in Newport, Wales in 1988 and has been writing poetry since his teenage years and has shifted his focus over recent years on the writing of Japanese micro-poetry in the styles of haiku, senryu and haiga. Gareth has had large success with having over one-hundred-seventy pieces published so far in seventeen countries worldwide in journals, websites, e-zines and blogs such as Modern Haiku, Presence, Hedgerow, Under The Basho, Wales Haiku Journal, Tsuri-Dor
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Robert Allen - Issue 34
Robert Paul Allen lives on a lake near the coast of Maine. He is surrounded daily by the state’s rugged beauty. He has been a serious poet for the past ten years and has published over 50 poems. His second chapbook, Full Circle , was published in June 2025. I Am Green You encounter me everywhere: a lush pasture’s verdant beauty, the lustre of paper money, a treehugger’s passion. The color you turn before you empty the whiskey sours from your stomach into the porcelain throne.
Charlie Cawte
3 min read
Claude Chabot - Issue 34
Claude Chabot has published over 20 short stories and has produced four radio plays based on his own stories. He addresses the conflicts and changes his characters experience while traveling, and also writes ghost stories, mysteries and myriad others. He has written one novel and is at work on two others. Hidden Crickets Tom sleeps with nothing but his blond hair curled around his shoulders in the sultry springs and humid summers of New York. Now during the damp winter he ha
Charlie Cawte
10 min read
Charles Robinson
Hello, I am an aspiring poet from North West England. I have won two Koestler Arts awards, including a platinum award (which was won for the poem “Birds Revisited”) and have been published in an anthology from 2023. I have been writing poetry since I was 17, it is a great passion of mine and I hope you will accept these poems for publication. Thank you for this opportunity. Afternoons I’ve always hated afternoons That smug grimace smudged across the clouds Relentless limbo be
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Zara Lenon - Issue 34
Zara Lenon is an artist, poet and writer who is based in London. Her work has appeared in magazines and publications such as Anima Loci or The Anansi Archive, in relation to their sixth anthology, The Nine Lives of Billy Nightjar. She has a sharp eye for detail and a weird way with words; the aim being to create vivid worlds for the reader to lose themselves in, and craft colourful, memorable characters to populate them. Positive Pineapple Smiling nonchalantly on the counter
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Sean Hannaway
S.P. Hannaway is drawn to the weird and wonderful. His stories have cropped up in journals such as Lighthouse, Neon, The Interpreter’s House, Ambit, Stand, and The Pomegranate London . His work was selected for the Bristol Story Prize ’21 anthology and the Crossing the Tees Story Prize ’24 anthology. He lives in London. Come the Fox His face, McBane can’t find his face. It isn’t there. Where is his scowl? Buff it! Work it! In his smalls, he trips round the mattre
Charlie Cawte
10 min read
Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal - Issue 34
Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal was born in Mexico. His lives in California and works in the mental health field in Los Angeles. His poetry has appeared in print and online since the 1980's. His work has appeared in Blue Collar Review, Fixator Press, Impspired, Ink Sweat and Tears, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Mad Swirl, and Unlikely Stories. His books and chapbooks have been published by Alternating Current Press, Deadbeat Press, FourFeathers Press, KendraSteiner Editions, New Pol
Charlie Cawte
2 min read
Peter Lingard - Issue 34
Peter Lingard, born a Briton, sold ice cream on railway stations, worked as a bank clerk, delivered milk, laboured in a large dairy and served in the Royal Marines. He has also been a barman, an accountant and a farm worker. He lived in the US for a while and owned a freight forwarding business in New York. He came to Australia because the sun often shines here and Australians are a positive bunch who speak English. Peter ( plingaus@bigpond.com ) is a member of the Phoeni
Charlie Cawte
11 min read
Colin Dardis - Issue 34
Colin Dardis is the author of ten poetry collections, most recently with the lakes (above/ground press, 2023) and What We Look Like in the Future (Red Wolf Editions, 2023). A neurodivergent poet, editor and sound artist, his work has been published widely throughout Ireland, the UK and USA. Colin is co-host of the long-running open mic night, Purely Poetry, held in the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, and editor of the poetry blog, Poem Alone. I Have Looked For Inspiration
Charlie Cawte
2 min read
Catherine Kay - Issue 34
Catherine Kay lives in Inishowen, Donegal. Her writing was performed in the Waterside Theatre and at Ten x 9. She was highly commended in the Frances Browne Festival 2023. Her poetry has been published in the Storms Journal Anthology 4, Caught Alight: An Anthology (publisher: Impspired) and Dark Winter Press. Missing the 212 The door of the bright, welcoming Mona cafe swished shut behind Molly as she carried her coffee into the weak light of that dull Saturday. Making it a
Charlie Cawte
4 min read
Maureen Sheridan - Issue 34
Maureen Sheridan was born and raised in a small farming community just outside the village of Portglenone in Co. Antrim, N.Ireland. Life in the early nineteen fifties in that close-knit rural community was very different from the thrust and frenzy of today. Having studied English Language and Literature at Queen’s University Belfast, in the late nineteen seventies, I went on to spend the next forty years in teaching in the south of England. My final position was as Principal
Charlie Cawte
2 min read
Houdi McCabe - Issue 34
I was born in Clones Co. Monaghan in 1962. At 19 years old I joined DUNNES STORES as a management trainee in Dublin and five years later I ended up in Belfast as a Branch Manager where I meet my wife Carole Robinson from Portrush, where we now live. I worked in most areas east of northern Ireland and as an adult student I achieved an MSc in management change communication from Queen’s University in 2001. I have ran 10 marathons and I have a passion for Darts. I have three gr
Charlie Cawte
4 min read
Ronan O’Neill
Ronan still lives in the same small Armagh village where he was born in the early 1970s, and like almost all others reared in the wee North during that period had a soul indelibly smelt to a certain temper. Having studied and worked in Dublin and Glasgow, hes happy to be home again among the thriving descendants of the rabbits, ragwort and wynds of his youth. As long as the days keep coming, Ronan appreciates more and more the survival instincts of other abler civil servants
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Alice Hutchinson - Issue 34
Alice is originally from Belfast and now lives and works on the North Coast. She has contributed to various Tenx9 storytelling events and enjoys writing about the intersection of the magical and the everyday. The Latin Name for Pigeon First week: new job. Familiar Campus: new role, blending the known and the new. Day one: lunch break. Walking through automatic doors, outside to in. Entering calm from wind. To meet a flash of wings within. Trapped in the hallway, high-ceilin
Charlie Cawte
3 min read
Angela Graham - Issue 34
Angela Graham is from Belfast. Culture And Democracy Press published her poetry collection, Star in 2024 and next year will bring out Exposure, 75 poems on media and war. Seren Books published her 2022 poetry collection, Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere , and her short story collection, A City Burning , 2020 which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. She was a finalist in this year's Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing. She won the Poetry Prize in the inaugural
Charlie Cawte
2 min read
Elizabeth Healey - Issue 34
I am a 24-year-old amateur writer currently based in Portstewart, Northern Ireland, where I’m completing a PhD in Geography. Originally from Derry, I studied at Ulster University in Coleraine and have remained on the North Coast to pursue both academic and creative work. My research focuses on place, memory, and emotional geographies — themes that often find their way into my prose. My writing explores the quieter edges of human experience: displacement, belonging, mental noi
Charlie Cawte
4 min read
Paul Girvin - Issue 34
As a senior barrister then as a judge Paul Girvan wrote extensively on legal matters during a long career and he now enjoys the freedom of creative writing particularly poetry which is often inspired by his travels, by nature, by his sense of place, history and time and by his career in law. A keen amateur artist his work is influenced by an artist's eye for colour, form and atmosphere. He contributed a prose piece Affairs of the Heart to The Heart of the Matter Imspired P
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Johanna Gallagher - Issue 34
Johanna Gallagher is a Belfast-based playwright, performer, and former nurse whose work explores contemporary issues through a rich blend of lyrical language, folklore, and realism. After seven years working in healthcare, Johanna transitioned into full-time theatre making - in January 2024, and has since been creatively active and gaining recognition across the Northern Irish theatre scene. Her debut solo show Queen of the Bees had its debut run at The Sanctuary Theatre –
Charlie Cawte
3 min read
Gary Devenney - Issue 34
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 romanti
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Avery Bowser - Issue 34
Avery was born in Canada and grew up in London, with Northern Ireland his adult home. He studied philosophy and literature at Ulster University (Coleraine) before becoming a social worker. Active in his profession and the voluntary & community sector, he currently leads a fostering service for a national children’s charity. Avery is a member of Portglenone Writers, having joined online during lockdown, and much preferring the face to face world that has returned. Writing poet
Charlie Cawte
2 min read
Phillip Boyce - Issue 34
My name is Phil Boyce and I live in Belfast, Ireland. In my mid-40s I decided to attempt to fulfil a lifelong dream of becoming a writer. I’d been writing a website called the OiNK Blog for a few years about a classic 80s humour comic which proved a success and so I began to diversify to cover other titles. Through this I’ve got to know lots of individuals in that industry whose positive feedback on my work inspired me to take the next leap. I am currently co-writing a book a
Charlie Cawte
4 min read
Heidi Edmundson - Issue 34
Heidi Edmundson is originally from Portrush As a child she loved telling stories and always wanted to be a writer when she grew up. She studied medicine at Dundee University and currently works as an Emergency Consultant in London. She also spent one summer trying to be a stand up comedian. Both things have equipped to performing in front of a hostile audience. She has had two books published. One , a crime novel called Darkness in the City of Light, is a classic Whodunnit se
Charlie Cawte
6 min read
Ken Gosse - Issue 34
Ken Gosse generally writes light poetry using simple language, meter, and rhyme in verses filled with whimsy and humor. First published in The First Literary Review–East in November, 2016, his poetry is also online with Academy of the Heart and Mind, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Home Planet News, Spillwords, Impspired, and others. He is also in print anthologies from Pure Slush, The Coil, Truth Serum Press, Peking Cat, and others. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, he and his wife
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Richard Hanus - Issue 34
Had four kids but now just three. Zen and Love.
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Michael Igoe - Issue 34
Michael Igoe, neurodiverse, city boy, Chicago, now Boston. Numerous works appear in journals and anthologies( available at amazon.com , lulu.com , barnesandnoble.com ). National Library of Poetry (Owings Mills, MD) Editor's Choice 1997; Best of the Net nomination 2023. Twitter(X) MichaelIgoe5. Dialogue Revisited
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
Morgan Laidler - Issue 34
Morgan Laidler is a junior at Boston College studying Secondary Education, English, and Creative Writing. However, she will be spending the year abroad, studying at Manfield College at the University of Oxford. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and then moved to Parkland, Florida, where she began writing poetry and prose. She has been published in The Laughing Medusa, Stylus, The Wilderness House Literary Review, The Crossroads Review, Mouthful of Salt, and Girls Right The Wo
Charlie Cawte
1 min read
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