About

Jo Bell is originally from Essex in England and now lives in County Waterford, Ireland. She is a member of 'West Waterford Arts Group’, and ‘WriteNight’, Colchester.

 

Jo has a BA (Hons) in Modern Languages and MA in Linguistics from the University of Essex. She is a reporter at The Dungarvan Leader in Co Waterford, and a radio presenter at CRY104fm in Youghal, Co Cork. 

 

Jo, who also writes under the pseudonym Annie Bell, is a poet, novelist and writer of songs and short stories. She writes on a broad selection of subjects, ranging from death and the afterlife to bullying and mental health; fantastical vampires and lots of historical fiction. Jo loves to research local history and to dabble in the dark art of black humour, while addressing serious issues in a sometimes heartbreaking way.

 

Jo has previously had her work published in the 'WriteNight – Colchester' and 'Prose & Cons – Poems Against the Brexit Machine' anthologies. She won the 2019 Wexworlds Creative Writing Competition and has been published in 'The Waxed Lemon', 'The Poet', 'A New Ulster Magazine’, ‘The Kleksograph’ and ‘The Wilfred Owen Association Journal’, 

 

Jo has performed her poetry at a number of live events in the UK and Ireland, including: ‘Colchester Poetry - Sunday Matinee’, ‘Town to Port Festival’, ’Emotional Madness’ and ‘Big Sunday Festival’, in Colchester, Essex, ‘Blackwater Poetry Festival’,  ‘Modwords’, and West Waterford Arts Group's 'Winterverse' in County Waterford, Ireland.