Summer 2022

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Editors

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Fiction Contributors

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Artwork Contributors

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Nonfiction Contributors

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Drama Contributors

Very little has changed for Spellbinder this season, but that is largely due to the fact that we are busy making arrangements for two very significant developments in the history of our publication. The first of which is the new shortlisted page on our website. This season, some submitters have received an email which states that their name will appear on our site, with their permission, in celebration of the fact that they were shortlisted during our selection process. We regularly receive brilliant submissions which just don’t quite make it into the issue. Most of the time, the editors are really impressed by these submissions but have to make a decision which factors in the vision of Spellbinder and the limited page space available. In recognition of the talent of these writers and artists, we want to let them know how close they came and how much we enjoyed receiving their work. Our Shortlisted Submitters page is due to be launched at the same time as the publication of this issue you have in your hands right now.

Another important change, which we will be introducing soon, is the payment of successful contributors. Although our funds from sales and subscriptions are extremely limited and we have never received any donations or sponsorship, we now have just enough money to enable us to pay contributors a small amount for the inclusion of their work in our magazine. We strongly believe that all artists should receive monetary rewards for the invaluable contributions they make to society and culture around the world, and therefore, we hope that the small donation we are able to give will enable us to show how honoured we are to be able to publish works by such talented creatives.

We also achieved another milestone on social media this season as we exceeded 1000 followers on Instagram. One lucky winner received a free paperback copy of the Spring 2022 Spellbinder issue when they entered our celebration giveaway draw. As always, we are blown away by the support we receive online and the positivity of the art and literary communities on social media. We love reading your messages about how happy you are to receive copies of Spellbinder and how excited you are to be published with us. 

Whilst talking of milestones and future goals is important, I wanted to take some time to thank all of our contributors and submitters. The editors at Spellbinder are overwhelmed and humbled by the trust you have all placed in us over the past twenty-one months. For seven issues, you have given us the priceless privilege of reading and seeing your work. Whether your art and writing has been featured in Spellbinder’s issues or not, we want you to know that we appreciate every single submission. We admire all of our submitters for the courage they demonstrate when they send their work to any publication and entrust it with complete strangers. This powerful trust enables Spellbinder’s issues to exist and therefore we are eternally grateful, and very much hope to continue to receive your submissions in the future.

Furthermore, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the rest of the Spellbinder team, whose efforts consistently go above and beyond to make this publication a success. I am very proud to write that our team is one that values equality and diversity. Out of our team of nine people, eight are women. Additionally, we have been based across England, Scotland, Australia, India and France, and, at times, Italy and Bulgaria too. Every minute spent on video calls with these wonderful editors is an absolute pleasure and Linda and I, as the central management team, can honestly say that we could not do this without every single one of them. 

So now, let’s remain positive and creative, as we move into the summer months and towards our two year anniversary. Look out for notifications about more events, blog posts, podcast episodes, and exciting new developments very soon. I want to end on a quotation from Stephen Sondheim’s musical, ‘Sunday in the Park with George’, because I think that this provides a heart-warmingly positive outlook on the process of artistic composition and creation, which is motivational for our team, in terms of the development of the magazine, and also, for all of our contributors, in relation to their work…

‘Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new. Give us more to see…’

Amber Kennedy, Editor in Chief

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We have created a playlist inspired by the Summer 2022 Issue. Feel free to play it while reading the issue:

Fiction shortlist – Summer 2022

A.J. Pellegrino	A Friendly Face in the Dark
Kenneth Pobo	Seasoning

Poetry shortlist – Summer 2022

Corinna Board	The Woman Outside my Window
Elizabeth Barton	Moon Ride
Jo Bahdo	Shark at the Shore
Julie Sampson	Drawing in through the farm track
Dagne Forest	Single Event Upset
Greta Unetich	Evening Rain (Haiku)
Chris Campbell	Minutes Tiptoe
Mike Wilson	Playing Possum
Frank Brunner	The Dweomered Maiden
Timothy EG Bartel	Coins can kill