About
Carmella de Keyser
'Carmella de Keyser is an exceptional poet who writes with such elegance, powerful imagery and visceral emotion. There is an admirable precision to everything she writes, it captures life so eloquently, intrinsically and sincerely heartfelt.'
Peter Devonald
'De Keyser isn't chasing trends; instead she remains attentive to lived experience and emotional truth. Her poems invite rather than overwhelm, grounded in small intensely felt moments while gesturing toward wider questions of belonging, identity and memory.'
James Hartley
'Carmella is an incredible poet and human being. Her work always has a deep emotional value that connects with readers.'
Paul Short
'Carmella's poems come as a salve to our aching wounds and seek to answer our questions with both the harsh truths of reality and hope...The writing offered is deep and metaphorical, personal and not aching to strangeness, and most importantly, in a bleak world of everyday despair, it offers kind and experienced words on how to keep living and dreaming the good dreams.' Mirjana M.
'Dictated by a tender heart and sharp mind, her lines fall perfectly on the page. This is the decoction of Carmella's work.'
Sanjeev Sethi
Carmella de Keyser is a prize-winning British poet, known for explorations of identity, intersections, and the liminal spaces of human experience. Her writing spans both adult and children’s poetry. Founder of The Harlow Circle of Poetry Stanza, the first poetry stanza to be established in Harlow, judge for the inaugural Harlow Poetry Open, she is committed to the democratisation of poetry, and is passionate about providing safe spaces for poets to perform and share their work. She is also Poetry Society Rep / Stanza lead for the area, and an active figure in the contemporary UK poetry scene.
De Keyser has five books published or forthcoming, from the U.K based Hedgehog Press, the U.S.A based Alien Buddha Press, the U.S.A based Parlyaree Press and the international Seventh Quarry Press. Two of her collections, The Liminal Light of the Night and Heart Muscle were prizewinning collections.
Her accolades include winning first prize for the Hedgehog Poetry Press Pamphlet competitions of 2024 and 2025 through winning the Little Black Book Competition and Crimson Spine 7 Competition, being selected as an Honourable Mention for the Dark Poets Prizes I and II in 2024 and 2025, achieving an Honourable Mention for the Small Space Deep Impact Award in 2025, having had her collection Longlisted for The Emma Press in 2025, and being selected as a featured writer for the international The Seventh Quarry Press in 2026.
Carmella has achieved over 100 of her poems published in respected journals and magazines such as The Madrid Review, The Seventh Quarry, The Hooghly Review, Dream Catcher International Arts Journal, Authora Australis, The Alien Buddha, The Hedgehog Poetry Press, The Hooghly Review, The Dirigible Balloon, The Candyman's Trumpet, The Starbeck Orion, The Suburban Witchcraft Magazine, The National Poetry Archive, Wishbone Words Magazine, The Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Unwhispered Legacy, Rough Diamond Poetry Magazine and Dust Poetry Magazine amongst others.
Carmella's writing has also been selected for podcasts and radio shows, including for the BBC, and she has had the honour of having had her poetry widely anthologised, most recently by the prestigious publishing house Macmillan.
Bluesky handle: Carmella de Keyser (@carmellapoetry.bsky.social) — Bluesky
Twitter X Handle: https://x.com/CarmellaPoetry