The magazine’s open submission call is designed to give everyone the opportunity to be published in the Honest Ulsterman. It provides us with a chance to read work from new and emerging poets as well established writers. Every poem sent in is read and we believe that every work submitted is sent in by individuals acting with integrity and sincerity.

Unfortunately and with great disappointment it has come to our attention that we published a poet with a fake identity in the most recent issue. This poet was “Aine Callan” and the poem was entitled The Wren.

If this was a one-off ‘art project’, a nom de plume, a joke even the magazine would have no trouble with it in principle though editorially we would probably have enquired why anyone would go to such lengths in the first place to obscure his/her identity and represent themselves as a young, female, unpublished poet rather than being open and upfront and put a real identity beside the work like everyone else in the issue.

However, this has been the latest episode of an anonymous troll with an unspecified problem against the magazine acting in an aggressive manner. This person has tried to fake one of the magazine’s social media accounts as well as establish multiple online personalities.

The potentially damaging consequence of the actions of the anonymous individual is that the magazine is now in the position of doubting in the future (even if only for a few seconds) the veracity and good faith of any work submitted by new and emerging poets.

That any individual would work so hard to break the relationship of trust between a publication and the community of writers & readers is something that bewilders and saddens everyone involved in the Honest Ulsterman.  

In response to learning that the poet “Aine Callan” was fake we have decided not to take the poem down as it was published in this most recent issue in good faith. It is for the reader to measure the integrity of the poem and the author.