My name is Ian Gouge. I am an experienced author/poet with twenty-six books to my name: 8 novels, 1 collection containing three novellas, 3 collections of short stories, 10 volumes of poetry, and 4 works of non-fiction. Three of the latter were published via the traditional publishing route, the remainder were published under my 'Coverstory books' imprint. My most recent book of poetry is Crash, a single piece I performed as a dramatic monologue at the 2023 Ripon Theatre Festival.
I also have my own podcast: WalkingThruFire (hosted on Buzzsprout).
In addition to my own work, as an Indie Publisher I have used Coverstory books to publish 21 books for other writers, a mix of anthologies, debut poetry collections, and a collection of plays. I also host a monthly international poetry reading event (via Zoom), and am the lead for the Poetry Society's Derby Stanza Group.
I also work as a mentor and workshop leader at writers' retreats (for Writers Retreats UK). The workshops I run at the retreats include: Character building, Dialogue vs. Monologue, Found Poetry (very popular!), 'You as Writer' (also very popular!), Planning for Writers, Poetry on the Page.
I am a member of: the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Society of Authors, the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses.
I now live in Lincolnshire and am willing to consider any venue to which the travel is practical.