Jon was born in Derby in 1983 and currently lives in Whitechapel, engaging in mostly poetry-related activities. For a short time, he was poetry editor of the now-defunct roundtable review and since 2005, he has been the main production editor and designer of Fuselit, the journal edited by Kirsten Irving, for which he also provides artwork.
Sketch for Fuselit: Jack
He conceived and put together the supplementary booklets that have been packaged with recent issues of Fuselit, including Chimerium, which allowed you to mix and match parts of poems by Luke Kennard, Bill Herbert, Roddy Lumsden, Jack Underwood and others, and Telemorphics, in which Hugo Williams, Kathryn Simmonds, Emily Berry and others all 'translated' each other's work. With Kirsty, he has also run several events in London, including Mixtape, where poets read a selection of other poets' work, and (co-organised with Declan Ryan) a Leonard Cohen tribute night.
Chimerium lets you mix and match different poets. Each page is cut into three sections.
Towards the end of 2009, he decided to start putting together multi-poet anthologies under the Sidekick Books inprint. He also reviews books and pamphlets, both on this site and for Sphinx, and occasionally writes full-length articles, as well as short 100-word reviews of games, comics, films and anything else at the Cut Out & Keep online journal. He's responsible for the design and upkeep of this website.
His own poetry has evolved rapidly over the last few years, from being characterised by playful conceits to emerging gradually from carefully accumulated nests of notes, a deep affection for popular culture and a desire to experiment with absolutely anything.
From an April 2010 interview: "[I would classify my work as] Unlikely marriages of form and content exploring the relationship between fakery and creation. I use poetry to engage with almost everything I’m interested in, and often to bridge the gaps between them. So I’ll write about, say, what Caligula would be like if he were a hero in a computer game, but the poem is actually concerned with how we gamble our self-respect on assumed identities."
Dr Fulminare's Casenotes: "Makes up for lack of natural ability with bloody-mindedness/unsubstantiated belief he can take on anything. Obeys orders grudgingly. Behaviour occurs in regular cycles: obsessive devotion to projects, loss of temper, unproductive stewing/mooching, gradual regathering of wits. Has an excellent immune system and healthy bones."
Scarecrows, Happenstance 2010
£4.00, 32pp
Debut pamphlet, including prize-winning poem 'Jake Root' and concerned with the processes by which spells, prophecies and outright lies begin to develop the character and effect of truth. Plenty of scarecrows too.
"Jon Stone writes angry, beautiful poems which access parts of your mind you didn’t know you had. Surreal but engaged, a ken for new sounds and a perfect ear for meter. It’s hard to capture the sense of joy I get from reading this collection. It’s like walking into a record shop that stocks all the rare stuff by your favourite bands or, I don’t know, a bookshop that still has a poetry section bigger than half a shelf."
Luke Kennard
Dr Fulminare's Bard Games (w. Kirsten Irving), sold with Fuselit: Tilt
Short collection of co-authored poems written according to the rules of various tabletop games, including dominoes, battleships and jenga.
Obakarama (editor), December 2009
£5.00, 40pp
Coin Opera (editor/contributor), December 2009
£5.00, 48pp
'Jake Root', Highly Commended in the National Poetry Competition 2009
'Knock-Off Country', Joint Winner of Poetry Nottingham 'Lobelia' Competition 2009
In this world too: How modern manga hasn't lost touch with the past, Horizon Review 4, April 2010
Post-University Writing: Juggling Passion and Practicality, an article for the National Association of Writers in Education, April 2010
'When To Mischief: In Search of Burlesque in Contemporary British Poetry' in Mimesis 6, October 2009
The Balance of Work and Life, an article for the National Association of Writers in Education, January 2004
Caligula as a Character in Final Fantasy @ Eyewear (Friday Feature Poet)
Malignants @ Hand + Star
Bedhair @ Horizon Review
Bullshit-Related Injuries in the A&E @ Poemeleon
The Wind Outside @ Pomegranate
High Swifts & Formalities @ Umbrella
Tattooparle @ The Facebook Review
Hydromancy @ Pomegranate
Two Poems @ Soundzine
Cemetery, 1793 @ qarrtsiluni
Three poems @ Fringe Poetry
Lara and Gheist @ Toad In Mud
Scissorhappy @ The Wolf (print magazine archived online at poetrymagazines.org.uk)
Three Poems @ Nth Position
The One Where The Cake Ignites @ McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Shooting Nudes @ Word Riot
Harriet Just @ Guardian Books
Gators Versus Zombies @ NR1
Four Poems @ Argotist Online
'Burying a Pigeon' in Dwang 2, June 2010
Two poems in Under The Radar 4, October 2009
'Alternative Endings to The Ladykillers' in Pen Pusher 13, Summer 2009
Four poems in City State: New London Poetry, May 2009
'One Hundred Windowless Rooms' in Stop Sharpening Your Knives 3, May 2009
'Legendary' in Notes from the Underground 3, February 2009
'Sleeper' in Rising 49, February 2009
'Knock-Off Country' in Poetry Nottingham 62/3, January 2009
'Omega' in Shakespeare's Monkey Volume 2, Issue 2 January 2009
'Caligula gone cold' in Rising 47, September 2008
Three poems in Mimesis 3, November 2007
Six poems in Mimesis 1, April 2007
'Mary, I get to' in Obsessed With Pipework 37, Febrary 2007
Three poems in Gold Dust 9, Winter 2006
'Scanish Swift' in South 33, April 2006
'Kosher Cajun' in Aesthetica 11, January 2006
'Spitfire's Poetry Kit' in iota 71, Winter 2005
'Kilimanjaro Beer' in the bluechrome anthology, 2005
'Svetlana Feofanova' in Spiked 15, 2005
'Boatmakers by the Banyan Tree' and 'Diver' in The New Writer 65, March/April 2004
'Warhead' in the bluechrome anthology, 2004
'Odi et Amo' and 'Turtlesong' in Eggbox 2, 2003
'Non-Joke' in Fuselit: Demo, October 2005
'The Optician' in Fuselit: Catapult, November 2005
'The Letters Have Become Birds' (short prose) in Fuselit: Straddle, December 2005
'Red Alert' in Fuselit: Alarm, January 2006
'Jeremy Brett' in Fuselit: Rogue, March 2006
'Missing: One Stegamasaurus' in Fuselit: Snarl, May 2006
'If my life were a hit TV series ...' in Fuselit: Adore, November 2006
'English Assignment ...' (short prose) in Fuselit: Battery, January 2007
'Twelve O'Clock at the Old Bailey' in Fuselit: Proof, April 2007
'Compact Rocambole' (short prose) in Fuselit: Nude, July 2007
'Ill Winds' (short prose) in Fuselit: Cabaret, Autumn 2007
'Shan Hai-Jinx Selection, Summer 08, page 25' in Fuselit: Fox, Summer 2008
'The lionfish squanders his last night on earth ...' in Chimerium, sold with Fuselit: Aquarium, Winter 2008
Two poems in Coin Opera, December 2009