The Hedgehog Poetry Press

Well, even by my own standards, this one has taken longer than planned. As many of you know, life has somewhat gotten in the way of my ill-paved patio of plans, but I am verily pleased to say that the final Crimson Spine Competition can now be unveiled, even if a month or two late (ahem).

And I am rather chuffed then to announce that the shortlisted poets are:

1. 1. Emeline Winston (Highly Commended)
   2. Gillie Robic
   3. Richard Hugh (Commended)
   4. Gary Day
   5. T.A. Martin
   6. Anne McMaster (Highly Commended)
   7. Phillipa Ramsden
   8. Dawn Rhodes-Shaw (Highly Commended)
   9. Lesley Curwen
   10. Cath Kansara (Commended)

But there can only be One Winner, and I am so pleased to say that this time it is:

T.A. Martin

for

“Liking it”

Many thanks to everybody who took part – and of course, congratulations to Thomas and all that made the Shortlist :)

Well, I am so verily chuffed to say HAPPY LAUNCH DAY to the rather brilliant Margaret Royall, on the Book Birth Day of her latest collection, Hemlock & Honey.

Signed First run, First Edition copies are still (just about) available direct from the lady herself, so don’t delay, order today…

Order Signed Copies Direct From Margaret Royall HERE

As I approach my three score years and ten I have been thinking back over the past decades and analysing the memorable events that stand out for me most, reflecting on those that have exerted the greatest influence on my life. Indeed, there have been traumatic times, when life was turned upside down and huge changes were forced upon me. On the other hand I now understand, with the benefit of hindsight, that these have encouraged positive changes and led to hobbies, interests and new friendships that have greatly enriched my life. Without the trauma there could not be the rapture!  In these poems I have therefore tried to explore both facets of life. Part One details the negatives and Part Two the positives, thus aiming to provide a balanced overview. I do not seek the sympathy card or see myself as a victim, nor do I want to suggest that life now is totally perfect. It’s a case of moderation in all things.

I have chosen the sonnet form in many poems, having always enjoyed writing in form and particularly using sonnets. Recently I took a course with distinguished poet Anna Saunders on writing sonnets for contemporary times, which I greatly enjoyed. This then naturally followed through into my latest work. It has been a huge challenge to write in this concise poetic form that uses rhyme, but to do it in a non-intrusive way. I hope that in some small way I have succeeded and brought the reader with me on my journey. My wish is to demonstrate that despite life throwing us curve balls, with patient determination we can find solutions, coping strategies that enable us to emerge as stronger, more hopeful and better human-beings.

Margaret Royall

Order Signed Copies Direct From Margaret Royall HERE

“In Hemlock and Honey we are introduced to traumas ‘burying themselves….worm-like in salted skin’ and Margaret Royall questions whether this is a ‘Gift or curse?’ Powerful sonnets and other forms give moving and honest accounts: the traumatic deaths of both parents and others close and the harrowing challenges that follow. We are taken through dark childhood memories, illnesses and a longing for peace, at home and in the world. In the section: ‘Honey’, the joy starts to return. We are eyes open in the natural world, where ‘trees spread guardian wings.’ This is a stunning collection you will find yourselves in.”

Julie Stevens

“With her new collection Hemlock & Honey, Margaret Royall is in fine form. The poems in the first part of this lovely book speak of loss, grief and the traumas and challenges of real life, while the second part speaks lyrically of nature’s healing qualities and the power of connection. Strong imagery and sensual details bring us inside each experience, each moment. We see, feel, understand and empathise – not just words but emotions. The poet retains a beautiful lightness of touch with many sonnet forms which delight. Through the darkest moments there is light, hope, and a determination to move forward somehow. The second half is a quest to seek ‘newer shrines… / kintsugi for lost shards’. Of course, what is lost might never truly be found again. But what remains can be enjoyed once more, a balm for the soul provided by nature, music, love and memory. Add to this the healing honey of language itself and you have a magical collection to be treasured.”

Lucy Heuschen

“Margaret Royall’s poetry probes the deep recesses of our souls in the poisonous hemlock of human experience as well as the sweet honey of redemption. Here is a modern Labours of Hercules in the challenges that punctuate our lives, calling us to witness, accept and adapt. Beyond those labours we taste the sweetness of the world and find our own ‘heart-home’, sculpting a restorative beauty and grace in the spirit of connection and renewal. This collection reflects tenderly on the multiple triggers that shock, repulse and etch us: point-sharp moments of chronic illness, loss and grief, and the disconsolations of this world. And though cut, disfigured or defined we can be freed to immerse ourselves in the warm embrace of sense-laden encounters, wrapped in the embrace of life’s wellspring and our new wings of wonder. This is an appealing and resonant collection with a vulnerable and sensitive heart that is fully deserving of a wide readership.”

Glenn Barker

About Margaret Royall

Margaret Royall Margaret is a poet and short story author with seven published books to her name: a micro chapbook Singing The Earth Awake (Hedgehog Press 2019), two poetry pamphlets, Earth Magicke and Immersed in Blue, both from Impspired , 2021, two poetry collections, Fording The Stream (2017, independently published), Where Flora Sings (2020, Hedgehog Press) and a memoir in prose and verse, The Road To Cleethorpes Pier (2020, Crumps Barn Studio).

She has been shortlisted for several poetry prizes, won the Hedgehog Press’ Full Fat collection competition (May 2020) and Where Flora Sings was then nominated for the Laurel Prize. She has been widely published in journals and online, including Impspired, Dreich, Black Bough Poetry, Indigo Dreams, Sidhe Press, Eat The Storms, Hedgehog Press, Yaffle Press and many others.

She was recently chosen by Erbacce Press as one of four featured poets for 2024 and her poetry plus in-depth interview was showcased in their autumn quarterly journal. Her publications in 2024 featured a new collection from Hedgehog Press, Toccata & Fugue with Harp, and a chapbook from Dreich, Owl Fetish.

For the past three years Margaret has been assistant poetry tutor alongside distinguished poet and author Angela Locke MA on the annual Iona Creative Writing retreat. She has also been a panel judge for the U3a’s annual National Short Story Competition.

• • X: @RoyallMargaret
  • Author page: www.facebook.com/margaretbrowningroyall
  • Instagram and Threads: @meggiepoet
  • Bluesky: meggiepoet@bsky.social
  • Website: https://margaretroyall.com/my-books

Product details

Well, I have to say that I am extremely delighted to be able to announce, that the rather wonderful Margaret Royall’s latest collection, has a little Hedgehog logo on the cover, and that Pre-orders are OPEN.

Officially released later this month, I think this is Margaret’s finest collection to date and I am really rather proud that after the bumpiest of roads, it is finally seeing the light of day.

Order Signed Copies Direct From Margaret Royall HERE

As I approach my three score years and ten I have been thinking back over the past decades and analysing the memorable events that stand out for me most, reflecting on those that have exerted the greatest influence on my life. Indeed, there have been traumatic times, when life was turned upside down and huge changes were forced upon me. On the other hand I now understand, with the benefit of hindsight, that these have encouraged positive changes and led to hobbies, interests and new friendships that have greatly enriched my life. Without the trauma there could not be the rapture!  In these poems I have therefore tried to explore both facets of life. Part One details the negatives and Part Two the positives, thus aiming to provide a balanced overview. I do not seek the sympathy card or see myself as a victim, nor do I want to suggest that life now is totally perfect. It’s a case of moderation in all things.

I have chosen the sonnet form in many poems, having always enjoyed writing in form and particularly using sonnets. Recently I took a course with distinguished poet Anna Saunders on writing sonnets for contemporary times, which I greatly enjoyed. This then naturally followed through into my latest work. It has been a huge challenge to write in this concise poetic form that uses rhyme, but to do it in a non-intrusive way. I hope that in some small way I have succeeded and brought the reader with me on my journey. My wish is to demonstrate that despite life throwing us curve balls, with patient determination we can find solutions, coping strategies that enable us to emerge as stronger, more hopeful and better human-beings.

Margaret Royall

Order Signed Copies Direct From Margaret Royall HERE

“In Hemlock and Honey we are introduced to traumas ‘burying themselves….worm-like in salted skin’ and Margaret Royall questions whether this is a ‘Gift or curse?’ Powerful sonnets and other forms give moving and honest accounts: the traumatic deaths of both parents and others close and the harrowing challenges that follow. We are taken through dark childhood memories, illnesses and a longing for peace, at home and in the world. In the section: ‘Honey’, the joy starts to return. We are eyes open in the natural world, where ‘trees spread guardian wings.’ This is a stunning collection you will find yourselves in.”

Julie Stevens

“With her new collection Hemlock & Honey, Margaret Royall is in fine form. The poems in the first part of this lovely book speak of loss, grief and the traumas and challenges of real life, while the second part speaks lyrically of nature’s healing qualities and the power of connection. Strong imagery and sensual details bring us inside each experience, each moment. We see, feel, understand and empathise – not just words but emotions. The poet retains a beautiful lightness of touch with many sonnet forms which delight. Through the darkest moments there is light, hope, and a determination to move forward somehow. The second half is a quest to seek ‘newer shrines… / kintsugi for lost shards’. Of course, what is lost might never truly be found again. But what remains can be enjoyed once more, a balm for the soul provided by nature, music, love and memory. Add to this the healing honey of language itself and you have a magical collection to be treasured.”

Lucy Heuschen

“Margaret Royall’s poetry probes the deep recesses of our souls in the poisonous hemlock of human experience as well as the sweet honey of redemption. Here is a modern Labours of Hercules in the challenges that punctuate our lives, calling us to witness, accept and adapt. Beyond those labours we taste the sweetness of the world and find our own ‘heart-home’, sculpting a restorative beauty and grace in the spirit of connection and renewal. This collection reflects tenderly on the multiple triggers that shock, repulse and etch us: point-sharp moments of chronic illness, loss and grief, and the disconsolations of this world. And though cut, disfigured or defined we can be freed to immerse ourselves in the warm embrace of sense-laden encounters, wrapped in the embrace of life’s wellspring and our new wings of wonder. This is an appealing and resonant collection with a vulnerable and sensitive heart that is fully deserving of a wide readership.”

Glenn Barker

About Margaret Royall

Margaret Royall Margaret is a poet and short story author with seven published books to her name: a micro chapbook Singing The Earth Awake (Hedgehog Press 2019), two poetry pamphlets, Earth Magicke and Immersed in Blue, both from Impspired , 2021, two poetry collections, Fording The Stream (2017, independently published), Where Flora Sings (2020, Hedgehog Press) and a memoir in prose and verse, The Road To Cleethorpes Pier (2020, Crumps Barn Studio).

She has been shortlisted for several poetry prizes, won the Hedgehog Press’ Full Fat collection competition (May 2020) and Where Flora Sings was then nominated for the Laurel Prize. She has been widely published in journals and online, including Impspired, Dreich, Black Bough Poetry, Indigo Dreams, Sidhe Press, Eat The Storms, Hedgehog Press, Yaffle Press and many others.

She was recently chosen by Erbacce Press as one of four featured poets for 2024 and her poetry plus in-depth interview was showcased in their autumn quarterly journal. Her publications in 2024 featured a new collection from Hedgehog Press, Toccata & Fugue with Harp, and a chapbook from Dreich, Owl Fetish.

For the past three years Margaret has been assistant poetry tutor alongside distinguished poet and author Angela Locke MA on the annual Iona Creative Writing retreat. She has also been a panel judge for the U3a’s annual National Short Story Competition.

• • X: @RoyallMargaret
  • Author page: www.facebook.com/margaretbrowningroyall
  • Instagram and Threads: @meggiepoet
  • Bluesky: meggiepoet@bsky.social
  • Website: https://margaretroyall.com/my-books

Product details

I am so very pleased to be able to say HAPPY LAUNCH DAY!

So don’t be shy – Katrina Moinet’s stunning wee Pocket Broadsheet, Lessons in Language Learning is now officially available direct From The Lady Herself.

To get your own, Limited Edition Signed Copy CLICK HERE

Pocket Hedgehogs are beautifully formed wee poetry collections for you to love and collect.

Coming in two varieties, Pocket Books and Pocket Broadsheets, this the first in the series of the latter, and collects four beautifully formed Lessons in Language Learning from the uber talented Katrina Moinet.

Order Signed Copies Direct From Katrina Moinet HERE

“’Portrait of a Young Girl Falling’ is the feminist poetry I want for my train journey, my bath, my coffee, and my life. Katrina is in control of her themes yet shows a sensitivity to the subjects within her poems, and this gives power. This is why I read poetry. We need poetry like this, unexpected as it is confident, hard at times, messy, bodily, but alive with women.”

 Wendy Allen, Plastic Tubed Little Bird

“From the outset, Katrina Moinet’s debut collection pulls us into the world of the ‘she/i was told to be’ with honest and rich poems that explore feminine trauma and healing. We are led from the chilling ‘Out of Harm’s Way’ through to the fighting ‘Vivisection’. We can stand with the emerging ‘pretty seen-and-now-heard’, bear witness with the ‘We’ in the ‘Wrong state’ and listen to the ‘I have a voice’ that should be heard.”

Ness Owen, Moon Jellyfish Can Barely Swim

“All too often, women exist in the negative space of language; we are defined by what we are not. Moinet, with her dexterous and remarkable poetry, captures this and revolts against language itself, unveiling the trauma that inevitably follows a life lived in patriarchal shadows. ‘Portrait of a Young Girl Falling’ is intense, visceral, and will leave its teeth in you for a long time after reading. It is a staggering accomplishment.”

Briony Collins, The Birds, The Rabbits, The Trees

“If ‘Portrait of a Young Girl Falling’ looks back on the vulnerability that its title suggests, it does so with accumulated strength, verve, and a visceral rage that is also a form of love, both for those it holds close and for those to follow in potentially changed futures. The lively inventiveness of these poems is part of the work of making space for new ways of thinking and being, for developing ‘star-stuffed ears’ that might attune us differently to others and to the world.”

Zoë Skoulding, A Marginal Sea

About Katrina Moinet

Katrina Moinet’s debut Portrait of a Young Girl Falling shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2025. State of the Nations is out with Atomic Bohemian and The Art of Silence is a Hedgehog winning pamphlet. Katrina hosts Versify open mic, and was BBC Radio Cymru Bardd Y Mis. Words in: Poetry Wales, iamb, Raw Lit, Black Iris, Ffosfforws, Mslexia Best Women’s Short Fiction. 

@KMoinetwrites ; katrinamoinet.com

Order Signed Copies Direct From Katrina Moinet HERE

Product details