Anthology Update

First things first:

We are overwhelmed with the response concerning the proposed third Dirigible Balloon anthology. The goodwill, support and offers of help have been amazing. We thank each and every one who has got in touch. Thank you!

For anyone who is unaware of what we do here at the DB, our website is authored courtesy of the Yorkshire Times, we are a non-profit making venture, promoting poets and poems written for children.

In our five-year history, we’ve uploaded over 2000 poems from over 500 poets worldwide. Occasionally we’ve also tried to raise money for children’s charities through the publication of anthologies which highlight the profile of these charities and the poets/illustrators who have contributed to the books.

This has been managed through donations of poems and pictures by poets and artists, and by the financial support of benefactors such as the wonderful Colin West and the excellent publication services of Richard Trinder at Yorkshire Times Publishing.

The Dirigible Balloon could not achieve its aims without this support. We are a modest operation, run on a volunteer basis and we’re not in a position to pay for the poems and pictures which appear in these projects.

The work of our wonderful contributors is edited and organised by a very small team. It is a labour of love and it takes time if it is to be done properly. Our present focus involves trying to compile a list of poems for a third anthology and organise the illustration of these poems.

We haven’t contacted any of the authors for this new project at this stage of shortlisting.

We’re also on the look-out for artists who might be interested in creating and donating pictures. Anyone who is keen to be involved needs to send an email to editor @ dirigibleballoon dot org so that we can develop a list of possible illustrators (like we did with Sky Surfing). When we have achieved this, we will send a link for the artists to view the poems available to illustrate. As choices are made, the list will then reduce until all the work had been assigned.

We believe and hope this poem/artist link-up would take place over July/August 2026 (subject to progress in other areas). We’d be looking to print and publish by the end of 2026.

Hope this helps clarify our aims and how we’re trying to achieve them.

Here below are examples of some of the brilliant artwork we had the pleasure of including in our previous publications, Chasing Clouds and Sky Surfing …

Cheers!
Jonathan