Word Salad at The Artyst - First Time

J.S. will be one of the selected open micers at Word Salad (a @Colliding Lines production) on Saturday 17th January, beginning at 7pm. She will be reading a couple of her poems from Y

ears Ago You Coloured Me.

This is the first time that Word Salad is being held at The Artyst, at 56, Chesterton Road, Cambridge, CB4 1EN. The Artyst is a new venue "honouring Syd Barrett’s Legacy with a New Arts Space, Café and Bar in Cambridge".

If you want to hear J.S. read from Years Ago You Coloured Me, or want to support Word Salad at its shiny new home, come on down on 17th January 2026.

Happy New 2026!

Welcome to 2026. 

J.S. has a growing number of short stories and poems scheduled for publication this year. They will be announced here when they become available. So do check back for further information as the new year gets into its stride.

You can also follow J.S. on Facebook and BlueSky to keep up to date with her activities.

Mid Winter Warm Wishes

      Whichever mid-winter festival you celebrate, may it be a good one for you.

Falling Like Feathers

Suitably in time for Christmas, J.S.'s  mid-winter poem, Falling Like Feathers, is one of two guest poems on the Acumen Poetry website, alongside Patrick Osada's The New Estate.

You can read both poems here for the next week or so, but if you are still in the mood for Christmas spirit after the guest poems change, you can read Falling Like Feathers on its own here.

Light at Midnight

J.S. is very pleased to have a new, darkly illuminating short story in the second Midnight Ink anthology. The story is "Candles" and you can find Midnight Ink 2025 on Amazon

Word Salad at Thrive - the last one.

A final opportunity to attend Word Salad at the Thrive Cafe, Norfolk Street, Cambridge. No, it's not the end of Word Salad, but sadly it is the end of the lovely Thrive Cafe, which will be closing its doors on the following day, Sunday 16th November 2025.

But back to the salad...

On Saturday 15th November, beginning at 6pm, at the Thrive Cafe (on its penultimate day) J.S. will be one of the selected open micers and will be reading a couple of her poems from Songs of Steelyard Sue and Underword.

Best of 2025?

So, it's that time of year already, and websites, magazines and literary organisations are preparing their best-of lists for 2025, even though there's two and a half months of the year left to go.

J.S. has selected her most enjoyed reads in 2025 (well, the first nine months of 2025, to be precise) 

for Shepherd. You can read about her three chosen reads here, though the photo below may give you a clue as to what she has selected.

They Came for Me At Dusk

A dark, one minute, horror flash fiction read, written by J.S.Watts and published by Dream Theory Media - They Came For Me At Dusk. Read for free here

An Easy Life

In the October issue (#20) of Corncrake Magazine you can find a new, between-the-wars, short story by J.S.Watts. Described as "a playful vignette of a socialite" by the magazine's editor, even a sweet cocktail can contain bitter undernotes. 

You can read An Easy Life by J.S. Watts via the magazines' website: https://corncrakemag.com/

A September Flurry of Poems

J.S. has a flurry of brand new poems falling into publication this month. First, it was Falling like Feathers in the month's issue of Acumen (# 113). Now it's two crisp new poems in #106 of The Frogmore Papers. The poems are Fen Shadow and Swimming Through a Hot Summer Night and they are in a pile of stunning poems in the September issue.

Acumen 113

J.S. has a new poem, Falling Like Feathers, in the September issue of Acumen, Issue 113. 

Royston Book Fair

 

J.S. is attending the Book Fair to sell and sign her books (both novels and poetry), plus she will be giving a short reading of her poetry at 13:20 on the day.

The fair, and the talks and readings, are all free. So, why not come along? You could also check out some of the other creative events taking place as part of this year's Royston Arts Festival.

High Window - Autumn 2025

The Autumn 2025 issue of The High Window is now available to read online. Everything can be accessed via the top menu: https://thehighwindowpress.com/

The reviews section includes a review by J.S. Watts of Malcolm Carson's poetry collection Winging It. Just scroll down from this link. It's the second review in.

Olmo in August

J.S. Watts will be the guest reader at this month's Olmo Lounge poetry event in Huntingdon, alongside a variety of readers from the Huntingdon area.

The event will take place on Tuesday, 26th August. People gather from 6.30pm and readings kick off at 6.45. Further details can be found on this website's Events Page

Telling Stories

 

J.S. has a brand new (never before published) short story out now in  The Lorelei Signal. 

The story is Telling Stories and you can read it for free here.

Want to know what it's about?

Those who are right are not always likeable. On a dying world, a cantankerous elderly woman stubbornly refuses to change the stories she tells in order to be popular, but she will not be the only one who has to pay the price for her unbending approach.

From A High Window

J.S.'s review of Elaine Briggs' confident, descriptively rich poetry collection Cusp is peering out from the latest set of High Window reviews. Read it and other up to the minute reviews here. 

An Eventful July

J.S. has a number of events taking place in July, three of which are listed on the events page of this website.

The first two are:

Word Salad on Saturday, 5th July from 6pm at the Thrive Cafe, Norfolk Street, Cambridge. J.S. will be reading a couple of her poems from The Submerged Sea.

CB1 on Sunday, 6th July from 6.30pm at the Town and Gown, Market Passage, Cambridge. J.S. will be the spotlight poet for the event and will be reading from Underword.       

42

Yes, the answer is 42 (search "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" if you're not certain what that signifies), or at least issue 42 of The Seventh Quarry International Poetry Magazine, which is out now. J.S. has two new poems in issue 42: Dead Deer on Tarmac and Waiting for The Snow To Fall (From Inside The Goldfish Bowl).

Dynamic Duo?

 

J.S. is delighted to have had a poem shortlisted for the Frogmore Poetry Prize for a second time. Ringed Changes was shortlisted for the 2019 prize. This time it's the turn of Fen Shadow, which was shortlisted for the 39th Frogmore Poetry Prize and which you'll be able to read in the September issue of the Frogmore Papers.

It's also the second time around for the winner of this year's prize, Sharon Black. Congratulations, Sharon!

Once Upon a Time in Hitchin

Join J.S. and other members of the Society of Authors at Once Upon a Hitchin for a magical evening as Hertfordshire’s (and near by's) finest authors bring their fiction and poetry to life, live.

Tickets are now available from the Hitchin Festival Box Office for Once Upon A Hitchin at Hitchin Library, Hitchin on Thursday 31st July 2025 starting at 6:30PM.