Elise Hesk (She/Her)
Associate Poetry Editor
Winter 2026 – present
Elise Hesk is an avid reader and poet born and raised in the Northeast of England. She graduated in 2023 with a BA (Hons) from York St John University in English Literature and Creative Writing and is studying for her MA in Creative Writing. She has been published in Acid Bath Publishing’s very first pocketbook anthology and is working on her first full poetry collection. She was also the poetry editor for her university’s anthology, Beyond the Walls.
Through her writing, she delves deeper into mental health, the importance of family and friends, and our need for self-regulation. Besides writing poetry, she is also a keen explorer of new coffee shops, bookshops, and hiking trails. Her inspirations range from all over time and the world, from Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, to Bukowski’s You get so alone at times that it just makes sense, to Leigh Bardugo’s The Language of Thorns, to Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market. What really grips her is if there is such immense fluidity and beauty to the language, that she can fall into it like a freshly washed pyjama set after a shower.