Ashley is a poet, novelist and teacher living in Australia.
He’s the author of six poetry collections and two novels and was poetry editor for Page Seventeen from issues 8-10. He also moderates online renku group Issa’s Snail.
He teaches English, Media Studies and Music Production, has played in a metal band, worked in an art gallery and slaved away at music retail. Aside from reading and writing, Ashley loves volleyball and Studio Ghibli – and Magnum PI, easily one of the greatest television shows ever made.
His first collection of poetry pollen and the storm was published with the assistance of Small Change Press in 2008, and his second collection Stepping Over Seasons (2009) is available from Interactive Press. A haiku chapbook Orion Tips the Saucepan was published by Picaro Press in 2010. His most recent releases include poetry collections between giants and old stone available through Ginninderra Press.
His work can be found in a variety of print and online publications in Australia (and even once exhibited on public transport in Melbourne) and a few overseas. He has worked in community arts where he assisted with exhibitions, organised short story competitions and poetry gigs, and in music retail while completing a double degree in Arts/Education at Monash University. A little while back his work was awarded a commendation in the Rosemary Dobson Poetry Prize and in 2009 he won the Ipswich Open Poetry Award with the poem ‘shell.’
Between 2002 and 2006 he co-edited small print magazine Egg (Poetry) and was involved with several online publications after – holland1945 a journal of image and text, and kipple, a simple poetry blog. In addition to this, he moderates collaborative renku site Issa’s Snail and collaborative verse site The Poetry Slave. Ashley was also poetry editor for Page Seventeen across issues 8 – 11.
His personal highlight for 2011 was performing at the Queensland Poetry Festival – details can be found scattered around his blog and even somewhere tucked away among the trivia and pirated music on youtube. A little while back his work has appeared in Best Australian Poems 2012 something which thrilled and surprised him.
In 2014, Ashley’s first novel, City of Masks, will be released through Snapping Turtle Books. You can read more about it here. He also released a contemporary fantasy/magic-realism novel The Fairy Wren.
Ashley occasionally dabbles in film and music and finds himself constantly awed by the simple beauty of haiku.
Contact: mountain0ash[at]gmail[dot]com    (the ‘o’ is a zero)
ashley capes 
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