Congratulations to the six shortlisted poets who will be appearing in the Write Out Loud Beyond the Storm competition anthology. They are, in alphabetical order: Deborah Ballantyne, Newly Qualified;  Ruth Beddow, Dungeness;  Paul Francis, Short-term investment; Caroline Griffin, Occupation: Lockdown April 2020; Lawrence Illsley, Corn Chandelier; and Paul Williams, Wet Washing.

Congratulations also to the longlisted poets, whose names we can reveal today. The poets and poems are:

Stephen W Atkinson, The thief of breath and hugs; Peggy Bain, Quiet days; Ruth Beddow, Heatwave; Alison Blair, Blue dusk; Helen Boden, Distancing; Belinda Bradley, Mother’s Day in the Time of the Coronavirus; Carole Bromley, Archive, Review of 2020; Sue Burge, With Love From Lockdown; Sandra Burnett, Disturbance in the night; Diana Cant, All This, Blue; Maria Castro Dominguez, Feeding Magic To The Lockdown Child; Gaia Clark Nevola, The metamorphosis of demarcation; A C Clarke, Flowering Cherry Spring 2020; Isobel Clarke, The Year That Never Was; Rachael Clyne, The Book Of Covid; Lucy Cowles-Brooks, Home Sweet Home; Janet Critchley, No Goodbyes; Ralph Dartford, Waiting for Geraniums; Sarah Davies, Artist; Olga Dermott-Bond, Working from home; Lucy Dixcart, When Lockdown Begins; Ken Evans, A New Finisterre, Haikus For A Silent World, Lifting Up; Mag Feeney, All that he is; Mark Fiddes, Rite of Spring, When I Get Back; Suzanna Fitzpatrick, May; Darcey May Gillham, distance; Wendy Goulstone, Lockdown Guilthink; Bex Hainsworth, Hamster, Quarantining; Oz Hardwick, Manifesto, The Prize; Carol Harte, Shrinks; Chris Heath, A State-Approved Morning Walk; Jonathan Humble, Sitting in a Semi; Annette Iles, Bridal; Sarah James, The Cat Café; Alex Josephy, Out of the Box; Kate Karko, International Call 22.3.20 Duration 55:03; Helen Kembery, Letter from Earth; Jeff Kemp, Faith and Hope; Nicky Kippax, Leaven; Wendy Klein, The Latin for Pigeon; Sue Lewis, Revival; Marilyn Longstaff, Visitng Mum At Christmas; Mervyn Lynford, Artless; Claire Lynn, Passing; Mandy Macdonald, Birthday Party, Downward; Beth McDonough, The Privilege of Space; Nicholas McGaughey, Buying a Camper; Isabella Mead, Lockdown Dawn, Vines; Julie Meredith, Key Walking; K M Miller, Unseen; Jenny Mitchell, Caribbean Service; Mogs, Lockdown Haircut; Robert Nesbitt, Accented Cushions; Mary-Clare Newsham, Sonnet 357; Jilly O'Brien, Love and laundry; Liam Osaneo, One; Matthew Page, Laocoon and His Sons; Ilse Pedler, All the Empty Pubs; Jacqueline Pemberton, I need a hug; Oshadha Perera, Unseen; Camille Poole, Nature Valley Granola Bars; Martha Quirke, First Day of Summer; Jacqui Rowe, The Final Sentence; Tom Sackey-Ambler, Pressure Washer; Abhilipsa Sahoo, Spring in the Pandemic; Sarah Salway, Social distance; C M Strong, Mounring Cloaks; Richelle Sushil, I can smell the soap; Ruth Taaffe, Earth Shakes Out a Brown Hawk Owl; Ruth Taaffe, Sticky Patch; Patrick Taylor, Wheathampstead, VE Day 75; Sian Thomas, One Piece Missing From The Edge; Lucy Wadham, Lockdown Nightingale, Mother-In-Law; Brian Wake, Exaggerate; June Wentland, Learning Birds by Heart; Kathryn Wharton, Daily exercise in Roberts Park; Jay Whittaker, Laptop As Hagioscope; Richard Whting, Finlay; Hamish Wilson, Tuesday, 21st April, 2020; Michele Witthaus, Retirement Planning; Anna Woodford, 2020; Kate Young, #birdstakeovertheworld,  The Easing

The anthology concludes with Philippa's Atkin's poem In the Time of Quiet. 

Remember: You can pre-order copies of the anthology here