Elizabeth Loudon
@esloudon.bsky.social
Poet, novelist, teacher, charity worker. MA 25 yrs, now back in UK. A STRANGER IN BAGHDAD (AUC) 2024 SIBF award for Best International Fiction. Best New Poets 2025. LL/Bridport. See www.elizabethloudon.com for more.
Pinned
Elizabeth Loudon
@esloudon.bsky.social
· Nov 16
This btw is the cover of my first and so far only novel. I pinned it over at Twitter and it had 9.5K views and for me that was extraordinary. The publisher (AUC Hoopoe) managed to find a picture of pretty much the exact Baghdadi house where the novel mostly takes place.
I can’t hardly stand it this is so light footed and melancholic. All I want to do today is read it. Thank you @chenchenwrites.bsky.social.
"I had fallen in love with the past
tense, wishing I could always speak in it & end
most of my verbs with a firmness that felt
like clarity. But
that was no way to order an iced mocha."
From "Tale of the Blueberries" by Chen Chen, TYR's Poem of the Week:
tense, wishing I could always speak in it & end
most of my verbs with a firmness that felt
like clarity. But
that was no way to order an iced mocha."
From "Tale of the Blueberries" by Chen Chen, TYR's Poem of the Week:
Chen Chen: “Tale of the Blueberries”
A poem by Chen Chen: “I needed a cold book for the warm weather.”
yalereview.org
February 4, 2026 at 2:08 PM
I can’t hardly stand it this is so light footed and melancholic. All I want to do today is read it. Thank you @chenchenwrites.bsky.social.
Look what arrived today in sleepy, frosty Gloucestershire.
December 31, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Look what arrived today in sleepy, frosty Gloucestershire.
Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon
Bsky experiment! Here's Elizabeth Loudon (@esloudon.bsky.social) reading her poem “Renunciation” from our forthcoming issue Shō No. 8. You can also read the poem on our website: shopoetryjournal.com/elizabeth-lo...
An earlier version of this poem appears in Best New Poets 2025.
An earlier version of this poem appears in Best New Poets 2025.
December 29, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Bsky experiment! Here's Elizabeth Loudon (@esloudon.bsky.social) reading her poem “Renunciation” from our forthcoming issue Shō No. 8. You can also read the poem on our website: shopoetryjournal.com/elizabeth-lo...
An earlier version of this poem appears in Best New Poets 2025.
An earlier version of this poem appears in Best New Poets 2025.
BBC: "Photo appears to show Andrew laying across laps." No it doesn't. It shows him lying.
December 20, 2025 at 7:38 AM
BBC: "Photo appears to show Andrew laying across laps." No it doesn't. It shows him lying.
For really no reason I implore you to read this poem by Rachel Wetzsteon, published in 2002. www.thenation.com/article/arch...
Pemberly
The park was very large. We drove
for some time through a beautiful wood
until the wood ceased, and the house came into view.
www.thenation.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:26 PM
For really no reason I implore you to read this poem by Rachel Wetzsteon, published in 2002. www.thenation.com/article/arch...
So much done so swiftly here - grief, suspension, dailiness, wonder and terror, in the fourteen lines of a pared down sonnet. shopoetryjournal.com/robert-okaji...
Robert Okaji – The Starlings Were You [Shō Poetry Prize Winner] - Shō Poetry Journal
“The Starlings Were You” by Robert Okaji, Winner of the Shō Poetry Prize for Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25). Morning was a jaundiced memory, a burnished smear on the kettle shrilling its warning.
shopoetryjournal.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:09 AM
So much done so swiftly here - grief, suspension, dailiness, wonder and terror, in the fourteen lines of a pared down sonnet. shopoetryjournal.com/robert-okaji...
Sometimes at dusk I walk around and look (ok snoop) through people's windows, after they turn on lights and before they close the curtains. This poem just out in the lovely Dawntreader (from @indigodreamspub.bsky.social) is in part about that - in part about heartache.
December 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Sometimes at dusk I walk around and look (ok snoop) through people's windows, after they turn on lights and before they close the curtains. This poem just out in the lovely Dawntreader (from @indigodreamspub.bsky.social) is in part about that - in part about heartache.
All year long I've given things up -- hopes, roles, dreams. This one hit hard. But out of it came this one poem. With thanks as always to @shopoetryjournal.bsky.social. shopoetryjournal.com/elizabeth-lo...
Elizabeth Loudon: Renunciation - Shō Poetry Journal
Read and listen to Elizabeth Loudon read her poem “Renunciation,” published in Shō No. 8 (Winter 2025/26). “Renunciation” was selected by guest editor Cecily Parks for inclusion in Best New Poets 2025...
shopoetryjournal.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:42 AM
All year long I've given things up -- hopes, roles, dreams. This one hit hard. But out of it came this one poem. With thanks as always to @shopoetryjournal.bsky.social. shopoetryjournal.com/elizabeth-lo...
And thanks to Sho Poetry Journal from an ex American who will always love America for its wild poetry.
Congratulations to Elizabeth Loudon (@esloudon.bsky.social), whose poem “Renunciation” was chosen for inclusion in Best New Poets 2025 and will be in our winter issue, Shō No. 8!
November 26, 2025 at 9:23 PM
And thanks to Sho Poetry Journal from an ex American who will always love America for its wild poetry.
I've been on the board of Judith Dimant Productions (formerly Wayward Productions) for a while now and this new show is going to be a stomper. www.shittheatre.co.uk See you there?
Sh!t Theatre
OR WHAT'S LEFT OF US Touring 2025: UK, Sydney, Melbourne, Lisbon
www.shittheatre.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I've been on the board of Judith Dimant Productions (formerly Wayward Productions) for a while now and this new show is going to be a stomper. www.shittheatre.co.uk See you there?
Here I am, folks. I’m so glad this very personal poem landed safely with @tinderboxpoetry.bsky.social. tinderboxpoetry.com/mine
Mine | Tinderbox Poetry Journal
tinderboxpoetry.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Here I am, folks. I’m so glad this very personal poem landed safely with @tinderboxpoetry.bsky.social. tinderboxpoetry.com/mine
I know spiderwebs are a dime a dozen and ditto photos of them, but look what the dog and I woke up to.
November 9, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I know spiderwebs are a dime a dozen and ditto photos of them, but look what the dog and I woke up to.
Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon
www.facebook.com/share/p/19C1...
My friend Mark Mardell was chucked off his Turkish Airlines flight at the weekend because he had Parkinson’s and his son had asked for assistance for him. (He’s written about it as a public post on Facebook but the link is proving hard to share outside,)
My friend Mark Mardell was chucked off his Turkish Airlines flight at the weekend because he had Parkinson’s and his son had asked for assistance for him. (He’s written about it as a public post on Facebook but the link is proving hard to share outside,)
October 27, 2025 at 6:00 AM
www.facebook.com/share/p/19C1...
My friend Mark Mardell was chucked off his Turkish Airlines flight at the weekend because he had Parkinson’s and his son had asked for assistance for him. (He’s written about it as a public post on Facebook but the link is proving hard to share outside,)
My friend Mark Mardell was chucked off his Turkish Airlines flight at the weekend because he had Parkinson’s and his son had asked for assistance for him. (He’s written about it as a public post on Facebook but the link is proving hard to share outside,)
Dear everybody out there - here's a new anthology of prize winning writing by carers, including a poem by me. The anthology officially launches on Wednesday November 12th: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-curae-.... Want to buy a copy for a carer? It's renardpress.com/books/the-cu....
The Curae – Anthology launch
Join us for the online launch of the second Curae anthology, celebrating the work of writers who are carers.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
October 25, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Dear everybody out there - here's a new anthology of prize winning writing by carers, including a poem by me. The anthology officially launches on Wednesday November 12th: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-curae-.... Want to buy a copy for a carer? It's renardpress.com/books/the-cu....
A lovely gift for the caring reader?
Delighted to share that the second #curae prize is now available for sale from @renardpress.com All proceeds to carers’ charities. renardpress.com/books/the-cu...
The Curae II – Renard Press
It is estimated that there are around 10 million carers in the UK alone – unpaid people who look after someone who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, mental health problem or ad...
renardpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:19 PM
A lovely gift for the caring reader?
So much hidden suffering for patients and their carers.
open.substack.com/pub/rorycell... Biggest ever audit of Parkinson’s in the UK says there’s a diagnosis crisis with a shortage of neurologists leaving thousands waiting up to 5 years to see a specialist
Parkinson's - the diagnosis crisis
UK's neurologist shortage continues to bite, says biggest PD audit
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:28 AM
So much hidden suffering for patients and their carers.
For a year or two I taught English to Ukrainian refugees, and several of them became close friends. They're scattered now, some back to Ukraine, some across the UK, and some still close by. This poem is for them.
Elizabeth Loudon's 'Forty' explores the unsettling nature of war in its ability to keep a semblance of natural everyday routine, slowly forcing people to acclimate to its horrors. Surprising, subtle and haunting. @esloudon.bsky.social
inksweatandtears.co.uk/40751-2/
#InkSweatandTears #Poetry
inksweatandtears.co.uk/40751-2/
#InkSweatandTears #Poetry
October 16, 2025 at 12:45 PM
For a year or two I taught English to Ukrainian refugees, and several of them became close friends. They're scattered now, some back to Ukraine, some across the UK, and some still close by. This poem is for them.
Well, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin made the cut. And a director's wife. I know I know, but whatever the reason, it's so disheartening to be erased this much. www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7...
László Krasznahorkai, The Art of Fiction No. 240
László Krasznahorkai was born in 1954 in Gyula, a provincial town in Hungary, in the Soviet era. He published his first novel, Satantango, in 1985, then The Melancholy of Resistance (1989), War and Wa...
www.theparisreview.org
October 12, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Well, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin made the cut. And a director's wife. I know I know, but whatever the reason, it's so disheartening to be erased this much. www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7...
Coming soon coming soon.... an anthology of new work by writers who are also carers. I'm in here somewhere. Thank you so much to @bookwormvaught.bsky.social and a heads up to @ylbooks.bsky.social and any other bookshops who might like to carry a copy (out in November).
October 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Coming soon coming soon.... an anthology of new work by writers who are also carers. I'm in here somewhere. Thank you so much to @bookwormvaught.bsky.social and a heads up to @ylbooks.bsky.social and any other bookshops who might like to carry a copy (out in November).
I've been involved with Wayward Productions from its inception six years ago. The new name says it all: Judith Dimant is an outstanding leader in theatre, we're lucky to have her, and there are brilliant things to come. www.judithdimant.com @waywardprods.bsky.social @judithdimant.bsky.social
Judith Dimant Productions – Extraordinary theatre and live performance
Judith Dimant Productions make extraordinary theatre and live performance. We develop work from unexpected sources, producing relevant, inclusive theatre for a broad contemporary audience.
www.judithdimant.com
September 26, 2025 at 9:49 AM
I've been involved with Wayward Productions from its inception six years ago. The new name says it all: Judith Dimant is an outstanding leader in theatre, we're lucky to have her, and there are brilliant things to come. www.judithdimant.com @waywardprods.bsky.social @judithdimant.bsky.social
What you may wonder is the big deal with a parent begonia and its titchy baby shoot from a leaf cutting. Well my lovelies this is literally Einstein’s begonia or at least a cutting therefrom. It’s a thing. There’s even an opera about it. I’m so damn proud.
September 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM
What you may wonder is the big deal with a parent begonia and its titchy baby shoot from a leaf cutting. Well my lovelies this is literally Einstein’s begonia or at least a cutting therefrom. It’s a thing. There’s even an opera about it. I’m so damn proud.
Guess whose work will be in Best New Poets 2025? Which goes to show, you can endure months of battling with hospital park and pay machines and poetry still wins, for all of us.
September 22, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Guess whose work will be in Best New Poets 2025? Which goes to show, you can endure months of battling with hospital park and pay machines and poetry still wins, for all of us.
Also when somebody very close to you dies slowly while you watch helplessly, nothing encourages more magical thinking. Magpies and owls. Trees lit up at sunset. The wolf hour. Everything's a damn sign.
September 14, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Also when somebody very close to you dies slowly while you watch helplessly, nothing encourages more magical thinking. Magpies and owls. Trees lit up at sunset. The wolf hour. Everything's a damn sign.
One of the weird things about somebody very close to you dying slowly is that you keep thinking how you'll tell them all about it when they're done.
September 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
One of the weird things about somebody very close to you dying slowly is that you keep thinking how you'll tell them all about it when they're done.
The first rainbow of the autumn and it’s a double.
September 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
The first rainbow of the autumn and it’s a double.