Nightingale & Sparrow

Category: Chapbooks

  • All the Shades of Grief by Ellora Sutton

    All the Shades of Grief
    by Ellora Sutton

    Publication Date: 8 September 2020
    Nightingale & Sparrow Press

    Genre: Poetry

    Borrowing from nature, art, mythology, and personal memory, All the Shades of Grief represents an attempt to articulate the universal language of loss. From the death of a loved one to watching flying ants dying on the pavement, each poem in this chapbook seeks to confront grief and force it into the light as something we must all experience and exorcise.

    Some of the poems refer directly to the personally seismic event of the death of the poet’s mother, such as an honest rehashing of ‘The Five Stages of Grief’. Others deal with grief and loss in a more ‘everyday’ way, trying to encompass all the myriad shapes (or ‘shades’) of grief that we go through, the kind that can creep up and breathe down your neck with no warning whatsoever, the reverberations that never quite go away. Poems such as ‘Apollo and Hyacinth’ and the first-place prize-winning ‘Daphne’ translate death and loss from ancient mythology to modern-day relevance. This book doesn’t seek to tell you that everything will be alright, that the pain will go away – rather, it wants to hold your hand and feel it all right beside you, to whisper in your ear that you are not alone.

    All the Shades of Grief is part coping-mechanism, part moonlit-wondering, and a whole heart, trying to heal itself.

    Print | PDF | Kindle

    Zoom Launch

    [one_half]

    [/one_half]

    [one_half_last]

    From Ellora: “Please join me for an evening of poetry readings to christen my debut chapbook, All the Shades of Grief. There will be readings from poets Jack Cooper, Nadia Lines, and Kevin Kissane, as well as readings from All the Shades of Grief. I am so excited to share my first book with you all. Come and enjoy an evening of free poetry!”

    Tickets available here

    [/one_half_last]

    Previously Published Pieces:

    Take a sneak peek at some of the poems included in this chapbook: 

    About the Author

    ellora-sutton

    Ellora Sutton is a Creative Writing MA student living and working in Hampshire, England. Her work has previously been published in Nightingale & Sparrow, The Cardiff Review, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, The Hellebore, Poetry News, Honey & Lime, and Eye Flash Poetry Journal, among others. She has been commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize and has been a winner of several Young Poets Network challenges. Her favourite things to write about include badass women, art, nature, and death. She only feels like herself when she’s writing.

    Twitter

  • you were supposed to be a friend by Ashley Elizabeth

    you were supposed to be a friend
    by Ashley Elizabeth

    Publication Date: 16 June 2020
    Nightingale & Sparrow Press

    Genre: Poetry

    Friendships between men and women don’t always last forever… not without someone wanting more. At least, it’s harder not to. It is easy to fall for someone you spend most of your time talking to. This chapbook explores when a relationship turns from friendship to friends with benefits to someone falling in a love that may not be reciprocated.

    Ten years is a long time to intertwine two souls. From middle school to early adulthood, we survived a lot. For having such searing physical and emotional chemistries, our communication skipped heartbeats with lies and potholes. We’ve been friends for too long. Of course feelings got in the way. Of course I fell for you, and of course I lied about it. Who wouldn’t? I lost you anyway.

    Print | Kindle | PDF

    Previously Published Pieces:

    Take a sneak peek at some of the poems included in this chapbook:

    • “friendship,” “acceptance,” and “6 inch heels” — Rat’s Ass Review
    • “not prayer” — Zoetic Press
    • “lies about being a mistress,” “truth,” “also truth,” “letters from an old mistress (i)” “non-reciprocal” — Damaged Goods Press

    About the Author

    Ashley Elizabeth is a writing consultant, teacher, and poet. Her works have appeared in Bonnie’s Crew, yell/shout/scream, and SWWIM, among others. She has a microchap, letters from an old mistress, with Damaged Goods Press. When Ashley isn’t serving as assistant editor at Sundress Publications, teaching, or freelancing, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram, watching way too many dog and cheese-pull videos. She lives with her partner in Baltimore, MD.

  • A Daughter for Mr. Spider by Megan Russo

    A Daughter for Mr. Spider
    by Megan Russo

    Publication Date: 14 April 2020
    Nightingale & Sparrow Press

    Genre: Mixed Media

    A Daughter for Mr. Spider is a cross-section of the author’s family tree exploring the grief the author has felt since the passing of her grandfather. The prose, poetry, and collage images weave together the fairy tale-like narrative of the years she was raised by her grandfather, alongside the author’s perceived feeling of growing up as an outsider.  

    This collection is a call to finding happiness with those who understand you and shedding the negativity we choose to shroud ourselves in as we navigate the differences in the people around us.

    A Daughter for Mr. Spider is a story of loss which, in the end, believes that healing is a process we must create for ourselves using the memories of those who leave us as a way to celebrate life.

    Print | Kindle | Digital PDF

    About the Author

    megan-russo

    Megan is a writer and graphic designer living in Austin, TX. Her work has been published by Palm Sized Press, Cauldron Anthology, Royal Rose Magazine, Wellington Street Review, among others. When she’s not playing tabletop games or spreading the gospel of her devotion to pastel color schemes, she enjoys seeing live shows around the city and spending time with her husband and their two pugs.

    Website | Twitter | Instagram

  • Dichotomy by Mikhayla Robinson

    Dichotomy
    by Mikhayla Robinson

    Publication Date: 24 March 2020
    Nightingale & Sparrow Press

    Genre: Poetry

    Dichotomy is a poetic recollection of my memories, favorite, moments, thoughts, and queries as young Black woman. They are about confidence, hurt, pain, sorrow, relationships, and surround every aspect of my life. As a marginalized individual, I grew up reading books that painted Black women as the side characters, or static individuals who had no substance. We were just playing supporting roles to the system around us. In Dichotomy, I deconstruct the notion that we are not allowed to dream, to want, to desire, to contest wrongdoings, and to express our feelings of hurt and pain.

    Print | Kindle | Digital PDF

    About the Author

    Mikhayla Robinson is a nineteen-year-old Augusta, Georgia native. She was born to her parents Janet and Vincent Robinson, and has two siblings: Sara and Olivia Robinson. Mikhayla has been writing for all of her life. She attends The University of Georgia, where she studies Journalism and Mass Communications, and plans on minoring in art. Mikhayla loves to write poetry, short stories, and prose. She also plays the piano, cello, and the guitar. Additionally, she is an advocate for Black mental health, an activist, and part of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Dichotomy is Mikhayla’s first published book of poetry.

  • Cemetery Music by Birdy Odell

    Cemetery Music
    by Birdy Odell

    Publication Date: 10 December 2019
    Nightingale & Sparrow Press

    Genre: Mixed Media

     

     

    In Cemetery Music, the conflicting feelings we have around death and dying are explored in a collection of vignettes created by pairing found words, that are markedly melancholy, with artwork that is lighthearted, hopeful, and poignant.

    The poems themselves invoke an emotional response using very few words. There is sadness in death. It is a universal reaction.  Using words that have been discarded highlights our fear of loss. Memories are often all we have left.  Happy memories are still tinged with sorrow. And yet, somehow, we carry on.

    Print | Kindle | PDF

     

    Author Statement

    Review

    Author Interview

    Excerpt

    About the Author

    birdy-odell

    Birdy Odell is a Canadian artist and writer whose work highlights themes of death, loss, and the difficulties of childhood. Her work has appeared in various literary magazines and has been described as “haunting, melancholy and nostalgic.” She prefers books to people and is currently at work on a new collection.

    CommafulTwitterInstagram

  • Gravity by Lynne Schmidt

    Gravity
    by Lynne Schmidt

    Publication Date: 8 October 2019
    Nightingale & Sparrow Press

    Genre: Poetry

    Cover art by Reid Maxim

     

     

    Gravity is a collection of poems that explores the rise and fall of an intense relationship. The kind where the other person is the Gravity keeping you anchored to the planet and you worry that without them, you may float off into space.

    And then it is finding the strength to realize the relationship is not what you want, after all. It is several years, several breakups, several attempts to turn yourself inside out only to find maybe this isn’t the person you’ve been waiting for your entire life, and that you are the only person who can heal you.

    Print Copy: $9.99

    Kindle Copy: $3.99

    Digital PDF Copy: $2.99

    Praise for Gravity

    “Gravity is full of hearts, all of the hearts. Hearts of every kind: tender, open, injured– any form that you could imagine. Lynne Schmidt delivers a universe where planets are colliding.”  — Cavin Bryce Gonzalez, founder of Back Patio Press

    Gravity is not just sweet poems about plastic galaxies. It is a cohesive collection recalling grief, anger, resentment, and love. Beware, there are lines in this book that will detonate you like a supernova. — Lannie Stabile, Managing Editor of Barren Magazine

    Author Statement

    Excerpt

    Author Interview

    Review by Daniel Warner

    Previously Published Pieces:

    Take a sneak peek at some of the poems included in this chapbook: 

    About the Author

    lynne-schmidt

    Lynne Schmidt is a mental health professional in Maine who writes memoir, poetry, and young adult fiction. Her unpublished memoir, The Right to Live: A Memoir of Abortion received the 2018 Maine Nonfiction Award and was a 2018 PNWA finalist, while her poetry received the Editor’s Choice Award for her poem, Baxter, from Frost Meadow Review and was a 2019 PNWA finalist. She is a five-time Best of the Net 2019 nominee and the founder of AbortionChat, where she does presentations on the intersections of mental health, writing, and reproductive justice. When given the option, she prefers the company of her three dogs and one cat to humans.

    TwitterFacebook