edible: Winner of Laurence Sterne Prize 2021

by Jane Ayres, Michelle Moloney King (Cover Art), Beir Bua Press (Editor)

UK based neurodivergent writer Jane Ayres re-discovered poetry studying for a part-time Creative Writing MA at the University of Kent, which she completed in 2019 at the age of 57. She is fascinated by hybrid poetry/prose experimental forms and has work in publications including Confluence, Postscript, Dissonance, Lighthouse, Streetcake, The North, Crow & Cross Keys, Kissing Dynamite, ubu, (mac)ro(mic), Sledgehammer, Punk Noir Magazine, Selcouth Station, Crow of Minerva, Acropolis and The Forge. She was longlisted for the 2020 Rebecca Swift Foundation Women PoetsÕ Prize. In 2021, her poem Neurodivergent Cake Dream was nominated for Best of the Net by Streetcake and she was shortlisted for the 2021 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. Introduction Putting together this collection, I was gobsmacked to discover how my anxieties about hunger, appetite, food, eating (in various forms) popped up (or stubbornly insinuated itself) in my work, even when I thought I was writing about my hysterectomy / female ageing / relationships / loss / childhood memories. ThatÕs what I love about poetry - themes hiding and manifesting unconsciously, creating emotional connections, revealing things that were always there, you just didnÕt see them. IÕm fascinated by the freedom of experimental writing and hybrid forms, the way words sound and look on the page, playing with juxtapositions. I used to compose music and for me writing poetry is like writing music. I am naturally drawn to the beauty of dissonance Ð both smooth or jagged Ð so perhaps this reflects my dyspraxic brain. IÕve always had a difficult relationship with food, which feeds (ha!) into every aspect of my life. Writing helps me process and explore my dissonant thoughts, which lend themselves to experimental forms. IÕm grateful I continue to be hungry for words.

46 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2022

About the author

I've always loved animals, especially horses and I had my first short story published in a UK pony magazine at the age of 14. Since then, 40 books for children and teenagers, plus hundreds of short stories (including award winners), comic strips, poems and articles have been published internationally.

I'm a supporter of animal charities, and donate all my author royalties from my e-books of the Matty Horse and Pony Adventures to Redwings Horse Sanctuary. I donate author royalties from my e-book Coming Home, an emotional story of the journey of two Norwegian Forest cats, to Cats Protection.

My books and stories have been translated into 9 languages and short stories and articles have appeared in print and online in the USA and UK.

Find out more about me by checking my blog http://www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/

Reviews

[CY Weeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing, funny, moving, honest poems. A great collection.