Maureen Cullen

Spanning generations, Havoc Shore captures the voices of a shipbuilding town through its years of industry, struggle, and change. From 1954 to the present day, these 21 interwoven stories follow families bound by place, hardship, and resilience.The McLean siblings each carry their own version of a life-altering event. Isa McMenamin, mother of seven, fights for her community with an iron will. Dolly Deighan, daughter of an Italian immigrant, stakes her claim to a future she never imagined. And throughout, neighbors, friends, and rivals cross paths in moments of humor, heartbreak, and quiet defiance.Told in the Scots dialect of its people, Havoc Shore is a richly textured portrait of a community shaped by poverty, emigration, and survival. Against the backdrop of shifting politics and changing times, these are stories of love and loss, resilience and resistance - from voices that demand to be heard.

Kathleen Gallagher is resourceful, brave and tireless - but fated to work in the bra factory like her mother. It's 1962, and Kathleen resents her situation. She has to look after her three younger siblings whilst her mother works part-time, collect the wages from her absentee father, and sacrifice her social life for responsibilities she never asked for. When Kathleen's grandmother dies, the entire family dynamic changes - leaving the relationship with her mother to suffer. Kitten Heels is a moving coming-of-age story, set in 1960's working-class Clydeside and told from thirteen-year-old Kathleen's perspective. It is a humorous, character filled story, dealing with issues of poverty, mental health, the role of women. Kathleen finds comfort and support in the community of women around her - learning from the way in which these women find ways to grow, nourish and heal each other, despite hardships and institutional obstacles set in their way.

Maureen and Patricia grew up hundreds of miles from each other in different countries of the UK but share common experiences of childhood in the fifties and sixties when ice laced the inside of bedroom windows and corporal punishment was common in schools. They survived to become brides, mothers, career women and technophobes. Sometimes joyous, sometimes painful, these poems are a conversation about love, hope and identity.Sherry & Sparkly is a Poetry Conversation between two fantastic poets - one you really want to listen in to.

In 2015, The Poetry School and Nine Arches Press launched a nationwide scheme to find exciting new voices in poetry with Kathryn Maris and Jane Commane as selecting editors. After reading through hundreds of anonymous entries, and narrowing down the choices from longlist to shortlist, a final four poets emerged as clear choices: Geraldine Clarkson, Lucy Ingrams, Maureen Cullen and Katie Griffiths.Primers: Volume One now collects together a taster of poems from each of the four new poets. The brilliant chemistry of their poems proves to be a heady mix and a memorable journey – from post-war correspondents to foster families, breath-taking natural landscapes to strange, unsettling dream-like narratives and so much more in between. There’s plenty here to delight and dazzle, and ample evidence of a bright future ahead for contemporary poetry, as these striking and bold new voices demonstrate.