We’re launching Ceri’s collection, ‘Unstuck’, next week and we hope you can come along!

To whet your appetite, we asked Ceri to tell us about her writing journey and sources of inspiration.

The use of AI is a hot topic in the writing space.

Here, we set out our current thinking and invite you to share your thoughts and responses. (You can email us at ditheringchaps@gmail.com).

The focus, in this blog, is on what we are expecting of you. However, just as important is what you can expect of us…

We asked Tom McLaughlin to give us the inside gen on his collection, ‘In Rooms of Falling Rain, our latest pick for publication. This ambitious poetry sequence will be out from Dithering Chaps next November.

Tom shares his sources of inspiration and we find him writing his blog in one of the rooms that is central to his poetry: in 'The Elizabeth Bishop House' (or 'The Bulmer House'), in Great Village, Nova Scotia.

Bridgette James is the latest poet we have chosen in our First Collections category. ‘Gestating Creatures’ spoke to us with its uncanny mix of the personal, the biblical, the scientific and the cultural.

Here, Bridgette answers the questions that we were dying to ask. Look out for her collection later this year…

David and Gena Herring, editors at Dithering Chaps press, are often asked what they look for in a submission. What makes your sample pages leap to the top of the pile and, ultimately, become our pick for the next publication slot? Read this month’s blog to find out!

What a year it’s been for Dithering Chaps.

Three more of our books in the National Poetry Library. (As you can see, we went along to check!)

Thanks to everyone who has bought our books or submitted their poetry this year. We couldn’t do it without you!

We’re posting today’s blog to show solidarity with the UK’s small press publishing industry which is facing hard times.

The main participants in this sector have circulated an open letter to raise awareness of the pressures publishers are facing and to seek suggestions for improving matters.

Dithering Chaps is grateful that key players in this space are being proactive and seeking solutions.

We reproduce the circular in full for those reading this blog who haven’t come across it elsewhere.

Christopher James, whose collection we will be publishing later this year, shares with us how he came to write his Shackleton-inspired sonnet sequence.

We’ve just emailed out our latest (twice-yearly, upbeat) newsletter to our subscribers.

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Paul Nield, winner of the Bournemouth Writing Prize for Poetry, shares thoughts about his writing journey.

Here he is performing his winning poem, First Love, at Bourn Jammy, part of the Bournemouth Writing Festival.

What happens after you submit poetry to a publisher? This behind-the-scenes diary follows just over a month in the life of Dithering Chaps’ editors, from reading submissions to judging the Bournemouth Writing Prize. The newest entries appear at the top, so if you’d like to read chronologically, start at the bottom and work your way up.

Photo Credit: Solid Imagery at the BWF 2024

We interviewed Nicole Durman to find out what inspired her to write poetry about her career as a nurse in A&E and hospice care.

This was no ordinary interview. To quote Nicole, “Some poems flow out of you like magic. Sometimes, it feels like you’re pulling your own intestines out.”

Photo Credit: Solid Imagery at the BWF 2024

We’re delighted to announce that we have chosen Nicole Durman’s poetry collection, ‘Ghosts of Nightshifts Past’, for publication in 2025. Her poems rose to the top of our submissions shortlist.

Photograph: Solid Imagery

Our submissions window was a great success.
Here, we announce our shortlist of the poets we are considering for publication in 2025.

Dithering Chaps are proud to announce the imminent opening of our submissions window, to find poets to publish in 2025.

Introducing our latest recruit!

Our very own D G Herring was invited to lead a writing exercise on the subject of trees, as part of C W Blackburn’s Words for Wellbeing writing workshop. As you’ll see, David was very impressed by the creativity he found there …