Bad Lilies is a digital journal of poetry

Please read this update about Bad Lilies, which is taking a break from publishing new issues for the rest of 2024. We will return in February 2025.

Bad Lilies is edited by Kathryn Gray and Andrew Neilson.

We aim to showcase the finest poetry, ranging in technique and subject matter.

Bad Lilies is best enjoyed in full screen on a laptop or desktop browser, with the Zoom set to 100% or less. We particularly recommend using Chrome.

We are currently open for submissions. Please read the guidelines carefully before sending us your work.

Cover image by John Patrick Higgins.

News and events

Bad Lilies is pleased to be supporting two initiatives in memory of the poet Michael Donaghy, and the twentieth anniversary of his death.

Our co-florists will be appearing at For the Present: Celebrating Michael Donaghy. Join us to celebrate Michael’s legacy with an evening of poetry and music, in association with The Poetry Society and kindly supported by the T. S. Eliot Foundation. The event takes place at Conway Hall, London, on the evening of Tuesday 17th September. Click here to read more information on the event, including booking tickets.

We are also supporting this crowdfunding campaign for a scholarship in Michael’s name, to fund one young poet on the first Arvon two-year Advanced Writing Programme. Please consider donating in support.

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We are very sad to hear of the passing of Kathryn Bevis. Kathryn featured in our eighth issue and you can read her contribution here. Our condolences to her loved ones.

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Bad Lilies, and many other British poetry journals, is mentioned in this feature in The Guardian.

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Find out more about the thinking behind Bad Lilies! Our editors Kathryn Gray and Andrew Neilson have been interviewed by The Friday Poem.

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We are delighted that the poem ‘Pollen’ by Clare Pollard has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2022.

Read ‘Pollen’ as it appears in our second issue, as well as this lovely interview with Clare.