The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Balloon Ride Anyone?

Updated ... see at the bottom of this post
Mission Statement: The Dirigible Balloon is run for children, schools and poets. We promote poetry written for children and provide a platform for writers.

With that in mind, and given how much the publication of Chasing Clouds (Adventures in a Poetry Balloon) felt like we were doing a bit of good in the promotion of children’s poetry (especially with the absolute wealth of talent out there finding it difficult to get a look in within the sphere of children’s poetry publication), this seems like a good time to announce our intention to do it all over again.

As with last year’s publication, any profit will be donated to a charity, the poets who allow us to use their poems in the anthology will be chosen from those submitting work to the Dirigible Balloon, a call will be put out for contributing artists/illustrators as well, the theme (if any) will be announced at a later date (please don’t send anything yet … we’re not ready for it), Yorkshire Times Publishing will be providing their good offices in the production of the book and there will be a drive to get the anthology into schools and libraries as with Chasing Clouds.

Further announcements will be forthcoming in 2024.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and promoted the Dirigible Balloon since we first flew in 2021. That support is very much appreciated and the DB would not be the success it is without the kindness of poets and poetry lovers from around the world.

Best wishes
Jonathan




UPDATE: JANUARY 2024
We will combine the next DB upload (no theme) with prospective anthology contributors so if poets would like a poem considering for the book, they’d need to let us know in their submission (usual submission guidelines apply ... three poems maximum).
Poems that are already up on the DB will also be considered for the anthology (the next upload will roll from February to March and we will open the submission window at the end of January).
JH

About the Writer


Jonathan Humble

Jonathan lives in Cumbria. His work has been published online and in print in a number of magazines and anthologies. His first collection of poetry, My Camel's Name Is Brian, was published by TMB Books in 2015. His second poetry book, Fledge came out in 2020 through Maytree Press. His poems for children have been shortlisted and highly commended in the Caterpillar and Yorkmix poetry competitions and he is the editor of The Dirigible Balloon. His poems Masterclass and This Work is Done were chosen as the Milk House Poem of the Year at the end of 2022 and 2023.