RICHARD DEVEREUX WINS THE MIST & MOUNTAIN INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE 2024–25
Poet Richard Devereux has won the Mist & Mountain International Poetry Prize 2024–25 with his poem “Beirut”.
He receives a cash prize of £150 and a bespoke commemorative award in recognition of his outstanding achievement.
Erika Seshadri has been named runner-up for her powerful poem “Enough of This War Machine” alongside Charlie Hilton, runner-up for “Hallin Fell.” Both will receive a commemorative award and £50 each.
In addition, the following poems have been highly commended by judge Jane Draycott:
- “Island Postcards” by Penny Shutt
- “After the Storm” by Sarah Leavesley
- “Stone on Stone” by Gloria Heffernan
- “The Oracle at the Well” by Jenevieve Carlyn
We are deeply grateful to all who participated. The diversity and depth of the submissions made this competition a true celebration of poetic voices from around the world.
JUDGE’S REPORT
As you might imagine, reading and re-reading so many powerful poems written in response to this year’s theme of ‘Peace’ has felt particularly charged at this moment. Many poets explored the concept of peace not only as an absence of violence and degradation, but also as a resistance to it, situated often in a vital idea of quiet or quietude. In ways which are powerfully distinct and searching, each of the commended and prize-winning poems features an authoritative sense of scene as well as moment – psychological, emotional, historic and personal – in their differing resonances.
The three very strong prize-winning poems ‘Beirut’, ‘Enough of the War Machine’ and ‘Hallin Fell, Winter’ use that framework to offer the idea of peace as hard-won but vitally imaginable. a genuinely possible counterweight however fragile and fleeting. The first-prize winning poem ‘Beirut’, set in the after-wreck of bombing and conflict, gains particular power from its economy and apparent quietude – a determinedly seized moment of peace, personal and communal, which contains all the understanding of its fragility and impermanence.
Coming down to my shortlist choice of seven strong poems, the task of nominating a single winner was extremely hard. Every poem on the list achieves an entire psychological and emotional world, searching in its own terms, vivid and echoing in ways which make each of them highly memorable. Warm thanks are due to all the entrants, and to Mist and Mountain for letting me hear such a memorable range of voices and perspectives in the process.
Best wishes
Jane Draycott
ABOUT THE JUDGE
Jane Draycott is the author of six collections with Carcanet Press, including The Kingdom (2022), The Occupant (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation), Over (shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize), and Prince Rupert’s Drop (shortlisted for the Forward Prize). Her acclaimed translations include Pearl, winner of the Stephen Spender Prize, and Storms Under the Skin: Poems by Henri Michaux (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation). A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Jane teaches on the University of Oxford’s MSt in Creative Writing.
POEMS AND SHORT BIOGRAPHIES:
RICHARD DEVEREUX
BEIRUT
I fell in love with you that spring
the bombing stopped. The trees welcomed peace
with such a sigh, with such a blossoming and
promises of such a weight of fruit.
I pushed your soft-top out and washed away
the dust, tinkered with the plugs and carb
till she fired up and we set sail along
the ocean road, your hair full to the wind.
I remember, we turned off into the hills.
How pleased your father was we had come
to see him. I reminded him of himself, he said,
when he was young, and you reminded him
of your mother. He knew both love and peace
are sometimes gone as soon as they arrive.
Richard Devereux bio
Richard Devereux lives in Bristol where he is a member of the Lansdown Poets and Bristol Stanza. In a previous life, he was a family lawyer. He has recently published a full collection Echoes from the Cave – a 50-year love affair with Greece. A major focus of his writing is conflict and love; Greece provides many examples of both. His poems have been published in a number of journals and anthologies.
ERIKA SESHADRI
ENOUGH OF THIS WAR MACHINE
You stand
below the story of Orion.
Chin upward, eyes swimming
in the bearable stillness of stars.
Expecting something
from the heavens. Anything
other than this.
Because here
is where we kneel
before the blood hills,
with burnt hearts and
perishable fingers.
Sifting through rubble…
We are in mourning for
what will never be.
And so, all of this
I wish to bury.
Your body with mine,
our tender wounds
dressed with ash.
Extinguished.
For, if we are quiet,
perhaps the world
will be quiet too.
Erika Seshadri lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. She is a 2025 Best of the Net nominee. Her first book, HIMALAYAN TSUNAMI (Memoir; Austin Macauley Publishers; Erika & Niranjan Seshadri), won a 2024 BookFest Award and is currently being adapted for film. Contact Erika at bluehasu@gmail.com.
CHARLIE HILTON
HALLIN FELL, WINTER
Winter has its own peculiar beauties, less boastful
than the summer’s — sunlight dissected by the black,
glistened twigs of trees, green breathing life into brown,
blue birthing purple, grey, orange, not just darker,
not just depressing. In all of this, your father speaks
through me, and the time he took me walking up the back
of Hallin Fell, the year that I thought too much
about my life and death. We sat in silence on the hill
watching the water stretch and ripple silver end to end.
The wind whistled in our ears, eating Marmite sandwiches,
and all he said, with the gesture of a crust, was that he tried
to think of all of this as often as he could, before we crept
back down in the growing dark, the weight of our bodies
creaking in our knees where the path gets steep in parts.
Bio: Charlie Hilton is an Edinburgh based poet and writer. His work has been featured in various anthologies, and he is the poetry editor of Forest Publications. He has also published a cookbook, entitled No One Cooks Alone, and currently works as a bookseller.
HIGHLY COMMENDED POEMS
PENNY SHUTT
ISLAND POSTCARDS
The tinny drop
of my last can
into an Oban hotel room bin
lined with polythene
I wake to the day, blind
to the sparsity of light
beyond the glare
of this rectangular screen
A sun-bleached bench missing half its slats
tilts on its heels, mesh fence bending behind it,
only lichen and moss where these ‘lovers of Iona’
have been ejected skywards
A slug, striae of shoe-polish-black
tongues its slow pilgrimage
over fronds of sea grass, holding aloft
the tiniest globule of dew
Tangle of bladderwrack,
brittle from the sun’s scorch,
no slide or burst of vesicles
between finger and thumb
This virus has left its mark
on us all, on lungs,
olfactory pathways,
the lonely
Rain clears, leaves the landscape muted,
light twinkles off water
as it hushes the fine sand
with each caress
The air here
is humid
with peace
BY: PENNY SHUTT
Bio: Penny is a child and adolescent psychiatrist living in Edinburgh. She has an MA in Professional Writing from Falmouth and runs therapeutic writing workshops in her spare time. Her poems have appeared in the Hippocrates prize anthologies and the NHS ‘These are the Hands’ anthology (Fair Acre Press) as well as the Samaritans’ 100 Poems of Hope anthology. She read on stage with Hollie McNish at 2022’s Mclellan prize reading and was previous winner of the Psychiatry Research Trust prize and was highly commended in 2024’s Winchester poetry prize.
SARAH LEAVESLEY
AFTER THE STORM
Rain’s shaken rattle leaves the sky
orange-pith white and thin.
Flowers shine with beads of spilt light.
Like the land, the day now is as still
as an unwoken baby, life visible
only in gentle ripples of grass.
Something inside me is waiting,
though I don’t know what for;
I’ve a sense of caught breath.
The meadow at the back of our villa,
where trees wear Mt Fuji as a crown,
is warm too with expectation.
Cicadas swell into the coming dusk.
A spider webs hours of patience
into a corner of the balcony that’s safe
from trapping storms. The breeze blows
through it like a dream-catcher
with no feathers to give it wings.
Night’s slow unravelling – still
on the same caught breath – brings stars
to my eyes. They will not close
until these hours are done. They cannot close
until they’ve remembered the sun
at the heart of each wet blade of grass.
I breathe in this light and let it ease me
into sleep like a lotus resting its petals.
BIO: Sarah Leavesley (also published as Sarah James) is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, journalist and photographer. Darling Blue, which won the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize 2024 and combines ekphrastic poems with a book-length fictional narrative, is to be published by Indigo Dreams in 2025. Her collection Blood Sugar, Sex, Magic (Verve Poetry Press, 2022) won the CP Aware Award Prize for Poetry 2021, was highly commended in the Forward Prizes 2022 and shortlisted in the International Rubery Book Award 2023. Website: www.sarah-james.co.uk.
GLORIA HEFFERNAN
STONE ON STONE
Ten thousand feet above the Cliffs of Moher,
I stare out the window
at the meandering seams of stone walls
stitching together the Irish countryside.
Unseen from this altitude
is the space between the stones,
air passages to keep the walls standing
against the violent Atlantic gales.
When anger swirls in the air between us
like wind across the Burren,
let us breath as these walls breath,
and with each steadying breath
let us find peace to survive the storms.
Bio:
Gloria Heffernan’s forthcoming book Fused will be published by Shanti Arts Books in Spring, 2025. Her craft book, Exploring Poetry of Presence (Back Porch Productions) won the 2021 CNY Book Award for Nonfiction. She received the 2022 Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize. Gloria is the author of the collections Peregrinatio: Poems for Antarctica (Kelsay Books), and What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, (New York Quarterly Books). Her work has appeared in over 100 publications including Poetry of Presence (vol. 2). To learn more, visit: www.gloriaheffernan.wordpress.com.
Jenevieve Carlyn
THE ORACLE AT THE WELL
Is always asked the same question:
How to live.
Army games carry a friendship to old age,
or shatter every dream.
Some lovers eat figs in the grass,
while others spend their best years in fear,
never knowing abundance, the fullness
of a bucket drawn from a well after a storm.
A soldier arrives from a homeland absent
bread safety laughter.
What do you wish for, my son?
Childhood. Please. What future amidst
battalions, forked-tongue speeches, crusades?
Next, a war widow approaches, recalls warmth
on her skin, asks how to believe in life again.
The Oracle has seen this ancient well refill
and run dry more times than she can count.
Oh, my child. The clouds. What they hold,
and what they hide.
Bio: Jenevieve Carlyn is a poet and historical writer from Connecticut. She lives near the Long Island
Sound where a river meets the sea, and close to a nature preserve with a thousand acres of coastal
forest, sand dunes, and salt marsh. She gratefully received the 2023 Poet Laureate Award for Eco-
Poetry from the Connecticut Poetry Society and the 2023 Thomas Merton Grand Prize in Poetry of
the Sacred from the Center for Interfaith Relations in Louisville, Kentucky. Her poems and essays
have appeared widely in places such as Parabola Magazine, Broken Spine Arts, Black Bough Poetry,
the Dark Mountain Project, Poets for Science, and elsewhere—etched in sand, written on the wind,
or somewhere in her mind. jenevievecarlyn.com
MIST AND MOUNTAIN INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE (2024-25) – SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENT
Mist and Mountain (UK) is proud to announce the shortlisted poems for the Mist and Mountain International Poetry Prize 2024–25. We were truly moved by the exceptional quality and emotional power of submissions received from across the globe. After careful consideration by our judging panel, we are excited to share the names of the ten shortlisted poems:
SHORTLISTED POEMS – 2024–25
Hallin Fell, Winter – Charlie Hilton
Island Postcards – Penny Shutt
After the Storm – Sarah Leavesley
More than Plums – Sarah Leavesley
Beirut – Richard Devereux
Stone on Stone – Gloria Heffernan
At Peace – Michael Eyre
Enough of the War Machine – Erika Seshadri
Shoji Doors – Glen Wilson
The Oracle at the Well – Jenevieve Carlyn
We congratulate the shortlisted poets and thank all who submitted their work. The standard was incredibly high, and every poem was read with care and admiration.
Keep your eyes peeled — the winning and commended poems will be announced soon and published on our website and social media platforms.
Thank you for being part of this year’s prize and for helping us continue to celebrate poetry.
MIST AND MOUNTAIN POETRY PRIZE 2024-25 – DEADLINE EXTENDED
The Mist and Mountain International Poetry Prize 2024-25 has extended its submission deadline to April 2, 2025, giving poets worldwide extra time to perfect and submit their work. Open to both emerging and established writers, the competition celebrates originality, depth, and poetic excellence.
Don’t miss this chance to share your poetry with the world! Submit your entry by April 2, 2025.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Mist and Mountain International Poetry Prize 2024-25. Organized by the Mist and Mountain (UK), this competition is open to writers worldwide, inviting them to submit an original poem on the theme of “PEACE.”
Building on the success of the Gerard Rochford International Poetry Prize in 2021, which received entries from 736 participants across 41 countries, and the Mist and Mountain International Poetry Prize 2023, Mist and Mountain (UK) is excited to offer poets the opportunity to showcase their creativity once again on an international stage.
Esteemed poet, Jane Draycott will judge the competition. The overall winner will receive £150 and a bespoke plaque, while two runners-up will each receive a small plaque and £50.
Jane Draycott has published six collections with Carcanet Press including her latest collection The Kingdom (2022), The Occupant (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation), Over (T S Eliot Prize shortlist) and Prince Rupert’s Drop (Forward Prize shortlist). Her translations include the medieval dream-elegy Pearl, winner of a Stephen Spender Prize, and Storms Under the Skin: poems by Henri Michaux (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation). Jane is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and teaches on Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing.
Jane Draycott said, “I can’t think of a better theme for an international competition right now than ‘Peace’, and I’m delighted to be part of the Mist and Mountain Prize initiative to bring powerful new poetry and its writers to even wider audiences. I look forward very much to hearing the exciting range of voices and perspectives that the submissions are sure to bring to light!”
The competition closes on Sunday, April 2nd, 2025, and the winners will be announced on Sunday, April 20th, 2025. For full details and entry rules, please visit the Mist and Mountain Creative Residency website and the Mist and Mountain Facebook page.
Nabin K Chhetri, Director of Mist and Mountain (UK), said, “We are thrilled to launch the 2nd edition of the Mist and Mountain International Poetry Prize. We invite writers from around the world to share their vision of peace through poetry. We eagerly anticipate reading your submissions and discovering new voices and perspectives.”
Please submit your entries to poetrymistandmountain@gmail.com
Mist and Mountain(UK)
Mist and Mountain is a creative platform based in Scotland that supports creatives from all backgrounds, with a special focus on ethnic minorities and marginalized communities. Committed to promoting diversity, Mist and Mountain organizes creative writing competitions in collaboration with various partner organizations.
The Author Talk program has featured prominent writers such as Kathleen Jamie, John Burnside, Wayne Price, Marti Leimbach, Naomi Foyle, and Amal Chatterjee. Additionally, it organizes workshops in schools and colleges on a variety of themes.
About the Director:
Nabin K Chhetri is a Scotland-based poet and writer with an M.St in Creative Writing from Oxford University and an M.Litt. in The Novel from the University of Aberdeen. He is a creative writing tutor who has conducted workshops/readings at Oxford University and Robert Gordon University. Nabin’s work has been awarded awards in various countries, and he has been a writer/poet in residence in France, Spain, Italy, and Scotland. He is the director of Mist and Mountain Residency. He has signed a book deal with Eyewear Publishing for his collection, “I, Father,” coming out in November 2023. His previous poetry collection was published by Red Mountain Press (US). Further details can be had from https://nabinkchhetri.com
For full details, terms, and conditions, please visit:
Writers are invited to submit an original poem in English on the theme of “PEACE” to
poetrymistandmountain@gmail.com
The winning poet and two runners-up will be announced on Sunday, 20th April 2025, and their winning entries will be published on the Mist and Mountain(UK) website and Mist and Mountain’s Facebook page.
The winner will receive £150.
Two runners-ups will each receive £50.
ENTRY RULES:
1. MIST AND MOUNTAIN INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE 2024-25 is an international poetry competition open to any
poet over 18.
2. The theme for the competition is ‘PEACE’.
3. All entries must be in English.
4. Poems can be any length up to 40 lines.
5. Poems must be titled and entirely the original, unpublished work of the entrant.
6. Submissions must be entered under the entrant’s real name.
7. Entries must be typed in 12-point black font unless a different appearance is essential to your entry.
8. You may enter up to six poems in the competition.
9. Copyright of all poems remains with the entrants, but the winning three poets hereby grant the competition organizers the right to publish their winning entries online.
10. The closing date for entries is midnight (UK time) Sunday, 2nd April 2025.
11. Mist and Mountain(UK) will shortlist entries for final judging.
12. Jane Draycott, senior tutor from Oxford University, will judge the competition.
About the Judge:
Jane Draycott has published six collections with Carcanet Press including her latest collection The Kingdom (2022), The Occupant (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation), Over (T S Eliot Prize shortlist) and Prince Rupert’s Drop (Forward Prize shortlist). Her translations include the medieval dream-elegy Pearl, winner of a Stephen Spender Prize, and Storms Under the Skin: poems by Henri Michaux (a Poetry Book Society Recommendation). Jane is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and teaches on Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing.
13. The judges’ decision is final, and competition organisers are unable to comment on individual entries.
14. The winner and runners-up will be announced on Friday, 20th April 2025. The winning poems will be published on the Mist and Mountain(UK) website and the Mist and Mountain’s facebook page and sent to other media portals.
15. First Prize is £150 and a large, bespoke commemorative plaque.
16. Two runners-up will each receive £50 and a small, bespoke commemorative plaque.
17. All entries – including the author’s real name, address, and contact telephone number, must be submitted electronically via the following email address:
poetrymistandmountain@gmail.com
18. The poet retains the copyright of their submitted work, but by entering the competition, they grant the organizers a non-exclusive license to publish their work in any media to promote the competition.
19. Disqualification: The organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entry that does not meet the entry requirements, contains plagiarized or offensive material, or violates any laws or regulations.
20. Agreement: By entering the competition, poets agree to abide by these rules and to the judges’ decisions.
We look forward to reading your submissions. Thank you.
HOW TO ENTER:
Save your poem as a Word document (.doc or .docx), or a pdf. Include ‘Mist and Mountain International Poetry Competition 2024-25’ in the filename, followed by your poem’s title. If entering more than one poem, start each poem on a new page, and include all the titles in the filename.
Do not include identifying information in your document.
Pay the competition entry fee via PayPal and send us the details in the body of the email.
Email your poem(s) to
poetrymistandmountain@gmail.com
as an attachment. Include ‘Mist and Mountain International Poetry Competition 2024-25’ in the subject line. Please include your name, address, and a brief bio (200 words) in the body of the email.
POEMS: 40 lines max, excluding title but including stanza breaks.
SUBMISSION: Email
ENTRY FEE – £6 per poem, £10 for two, £15 for three, £18 for four poems and £21 for 5 poems. You may submit as many poems as you wish with the correct fee.
PAYPAL LINK:
https://paypal.me/mmrpoetrycompetiton?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB
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