The editor of the bi-annual poetry magazine Butcher’s Dog has warned that it faces closure after 10 years of publishing unless sales improve. Jo Clement said on Twitter: “With a very heavy heart and a reluctant shout out for help, I'm sorry to announce that from our eighteenth issue, if sales don't improve, we can no longer stay in print.”

Butcher's Dog, based in the north-east, was voted poetry magazine of the year in last year’s indie Saboteur awards. Jo Clement added: “The Dog's print model uses sales from one issue to cover costs for the next. Prior to and throughout the pandemic I've subsidised what are increasing budget shortfalls, using funds from my freelance work. This really can't continue, for a number of reasons.”

She added: “From admin, packing orders, doing post runs, managing social media, hand numbering issues, selecting guest editors, reading poems, proofing the mag, sourcing artwork, designing the website, running bookstalls: I've been managing the press on my own for the past five years.”

She has appealed to potential new supporters to take out subscriptions, and/or buy up remaining copies of previous issues to help with cash problems. The website also includes a donation facility.