John Adlam FRSA 🌈🌍

It is manifestly good advice, for almost anything....🥰

I am quietly chuffed that my poem 'Ferragosto' is going to appear in this latest edition of the anthology series 'New Contexts' (this is a pic of the proof version from the publisher Ian Gouge) - due out at the end of this month...

Unmissable! Tuesday 10th at The Harrison. Three old friends of Survivors' Poetry in the house: MC Jason Why; guest poet Wendy Young; psychedelic folk whimsy from guest musician John Arthur. Doors open 7.00pm. Say hi, sign up for floor spots. Show starts 7.30pm. £5 cash on the door to cover overheads

Stunning piece by John featured in our latest issue ✨

www.fullhouseliterary.com/issue-1-2026

This was published this afternoon. I think it is the most exceptionally beautiful piece of online publishing! Big thanks to @leiabutler.bsky.social and @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social for all they do - and for including my piece 'Lares and Penates' therein...🙏❤️🙏

Thank you John! 🙏 Fab to read your work in here too! 🙌 🙌. What’s a bumper issue of poetry, prose and amazing interviews and so much more in ❤️@madridlitmag.bsky.social

Black-and-white graphic of a vintage typewriter seen from above. Torn paper strips sit in the typewriter reading “£1200 RAISED” and “WIN CASH” in bold lettering. Below, the hashtags “#TheBrokenSpineAward” and “#ByPoetsForPoets” are printed. The overall style is gritty, high-contrast, and zine-like.

One editor will pick the poems they love.
That’s it.
No career promises. No breakthrough narrative.
Just cash and community — raised together.
#TheBrokenSpineAward #ByPoetsForPoets #PoemsAbout #LiftToTheSky

Issue 7 is out on Friday “You are what you love, not what loves you,” writes Michel Faber in his 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White and that could also be a description of Issue 7 of The Madrid Review, published this ...

Issue 7 of The Madrid Review @madridlitmag.bsky.social - I am thrilled to bits that my poem 'The arrivants' is included amidst such wonderful company, including @eleanorholmes.bsky.social, to name but one! themadridreview.com/f/issue-7-is...

Counting down to a very exciting evening in prospect at the SP Zoom Party. Open mic! International line-up and audiences! Live music! Good company! No entry fees! 🥰🥰🥰

Coming soon – “New Contexts: 8” The eighth edition of our New Contexts anthology will be published at end of the first quarter of 2026. The collection will comprise of quality contemporary poetry and fiction, and will be made ava…

A good way for the day to start me: my poem 'Ferragosto' (the sixth in my Italian trilogy, to over-use one of my little jokes) has been accepted for publication in the forthcoming anthology 'New Contexts: 8' from Coverstory Books (publisher/editor Ian Gouge) coverstorybooks.com/2026/02/01/c...

Yes, okay, will do! 🤜🤛

As editor + founder, I’m tired of presses cosplaying “community” while using prizes as sales funnels. It’s nefarious, it’s cynical, and everyone knows it. We just don’t say it out loud.
#TheBrokenSpineAward #ByPoetsForPoets #PoemsAbout #LiftToTheSky

The Madrid Review

Just ran a final check of proofs for my poem on themes of sanctuary - 'The Arrivants' - which will appear in The Madrid Review Issue 7 - at the end of February, I believe...
themadridreview.com

Looking forward very much to this! 🤩

It's a corker of an issue, and a great poem Matt 👏👏 I have taken out a year's subscription on the back of this...🥰

...3/3... REHEARSE! Need to follow @dharmabam.bsky.social's wise advice and write up scansion of the poems before performing them. And read through aloud...I fluffed a pronunciation and my unconscious put in a change of word at one point. Interesting, but perhaps to be avoided! Onwards...!! 🫣🙏

2/3...the running order until you're called, which is a good format, but kept me sweating! And then two major bits of learning, if only I can learn them: first, I kept my voice up for the first one but then dropped off the volume for the other two - have to sustain intensity! And secondly...2/3

Thank you! My grammar got lost in the compressed word count of that post, it wasn't my all time debut open mic, but my first time at the Pumpkin, and only the second time I have done a live reading outside of Survivors' Poetry. That said, I was very nervous! A feeling sustained by not knowing...1/3

It’s that time of year for signing up for conferences - the @assocpsychosocial.bsky.social in Twickenham in June and, a couple weeks before that, the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, this time in Gozo, Malta - requiring an exception to my general practice of not flying places…😬

@survivors-poetry.bsky.social Zoom Party Tuesday 24 February - headliner poet will be Luciano Mezzetta, music from Grae J Wall, I have the honour of being MC/Zoom host …please email survivorspoetryevents@gmail.com to get yourself on the mailing list (and thereby the Zoom link for the event)

I have been out of this loop, trying to manage my online time (without massive success I must admit) but we can't go through this Friday theme day without The Band's glorious version of Long Black Veil...🥰
open.spotify.com/track/2mkz7L...

Debut open mic for me at the wonderful Cosmic Pumpkin last night, downstairs at the Royal Society of Arts, with gentle host @mrgeepoet.bsky.social and a good sprinkling of @survivors-poetry.bsky.social peeps among those present 🥰

This 👇👇

Thank you! I am very much looking forward to coming to Cosmic Pumpkin on Wednesday...🙏

I am very excited that one of my poems will be included in this next issue🙏🥰🙏

Survivors' Poetry are building our website and one work in progress is a gallery of writers and artists connected to the collective - the first four responders are up there now - check it out! survivorspoetry.co.uk/poets-and-po...

Yay, look what just arrived! 🥰
@secretsoliloquies.bsky.social

Me reading my poem 'Voyager' last night - my debut at the White Feather open mic at the Artillery Arms in Moorgate opposite Blake's cenotaph... A lovely evening brilliantly MC'd by Steve Tasane (third Tuesday evening of each month). Headliner yesterday was the VERY brilliant @mrgeepoet.bsky.social 🥰

I am so happy that two of my poems have been accepted for inclusion in this anthology - with my massive thanks to @paulwritespoems.bsky.social for believing in them! 🥰

Poets of Bluesky, come and join us in the Zoom Room on Tuesday 27th January from 7.00. Always a fabulous evening with @survivors-poetry.bsky.social 🙏🏼