The Other Side of Sleep: An Anthology of Narrative Poems

What started as a complaint about the '40-line rule' in much of the poetry world has turned into an anthology that not only breaks that rule, but stomps all over it. Featuring 25 poems which break the rules - these are long, narrative, but by no means traditional poems, by contemporary voices.

Themes both great and small are explored in narrative poems that pack a punch. Human interactions from conversation, storytelling, lending and borrowing, theft, prayer, memory, shopping and a long walk, right through to sexuality, time travel, truce negotiations, disappearance, natural disaster, violence and death are all explored, many of them rooted in landscape and place. These lie alongside equally rooted mythological and historical tales drawn from Greece, Turkey, Africa, Scandinavia and Britain.

What draws all these themes together is the strength of the storytelling. Emotions as diverse as frustration, disappointment, embarrassment, hope, nostalgia, anger, and fear are channelled through spectacular poetry in many different forms into truly satisfying work.

Kate Foley is a widely published, prize-winning poet and former president of Suffolk Poetry Society. She has read in many UK and European locations. Her first collection, Soft Engineering was short listed for best first collection at Aldeburgh.

Her working life has ranged from delivering babies to conserving delicate archaeological material. She became Head of English Heritage’s scientific and technical research laboratories. Although she has always written poetry it wasn’t until she gave up the day job that she began to publish more widely.

She now lives with her wife, between Amsterdam and Suffolk, where she performs, writes, edits, leads workshops and whenever possible works with artists in other disciplines.

Anne Macaulay was brought up in rural, northern Scotland but, since meeting her husband in the 70s, has embraced urban life in East London. Proud mother of two grown up children, with 30 years immersed in Education, she now wants to focus more on her writing and loving the Arts!

She has had several poems and a short story published in the last 3 Loose Muse anthologies.

Anne has poems in The Other Side of Sleep and Menopause: The Anthology

Anne is one of 6 poets featured in Vindication for which she provided the title.

Emma Lee was born in South Gloucestershire and now lives in Leicestershire. Her poems, short stories and articles have appeared in many anthologies and magazines in the UK and Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and USA,.

Emma has performed her work at The Poetry Cafe in London, all three Leicestershire universities, at LCFC, the Jam Factory in Oxford, Hatherley Manor in Cheltenham, amongst other venues. She's also read poems for BBC Radio and EAVA FM and joined panels organised by the University of Leicester's Sociology, Communications and Media department to talk about artistic responses to the refugee crisis arising from her co-editing of "Over Land, Over Sea: poems for those seeking refuge" and curation of Journeys in Translation.
Emma Lee's poems have been translated into Chinese, Farsi, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Romanian.

Currently she is on the committee of Leicester Writers' Club and the steering group for the Leicester Writers' Showcase and has experience in organising poetry readings and live literature events. She has given workshops for Leicester Writers' Club, Leicester Poetry Society and the Local Writers' Fair. Emma Lee also reviews for five poetry magazines and blogs at http://emmalee1.wordpress.com.

Jennifer A. McGowan lives in Oxford. Despite being certified as disabled with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome at age 16, she became a semi-professional mime artist and performed until the disability became too much. Recently she has worked as researcher, editor, and writer for a UK company in 'devil’s advocacy'. She has taught both under- and postgraduates at several universities, across English, history, and heritage studies.

Jennifer’s first full collection 'With Paper for Feet' was published by in 2017, and her follow up HOw to be a Tarot Card (Or a Teenager) in 2021 She has poems in Arachne anthologies 'The Other Side of Sleep' and 'No Spider Harmed in the Making of this Book'.

Jennifer’s poems have also appeared in literary journals on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Connecticut Review, Gargoyle, Storm Cellar, Envoi, Acumen, and Agenda; her chapbooks, 'Life in Captivity' and 'Sounding' are available from Finishing Line Press. Her work has been anthologized in 'Birchsong' (Blue Line Press, 2012), 'A Moment of Change' (Aqueduct Press, 2012), and Arachne Press’ 'The Other Side of Sleep'. Her songs have been recorded on several labels.