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= Helena Nelson = Helena Nelson (born 1953) is a poet, critic, publisher and the founding editor of HappenStance Press. She has lived in Fife, Scotland, for several decades.

Poetry career
In 2001, Nelson's pamphlet Mr and Mrs Philpott on Holiday at Auchterawe, & Other Poems was published by Kettillonia Press, the independent publisher established by James Robertson. Her first full collection, Starlight on Water, was published in 2003 by The Rialto Press and was the joint winner of the Jerwood Aldeburgh Prize. In 2005, she created HappenStance Press, using her own work, Unsuitable Poems, as the pilot publication. The press receives no public funding, but survives on subscription and sales, publishing over 100 poets and focusing mainly on UK-based poets and first collections. Nelson also published twelve issues of a pamphlet-sized magazine called Sphinx, focused on poetry pamphlet publishing. Sphinx is now published online.

Nelson frequently runs workshops and talks on small-press publishing and reviewing. A college teacher, in 2004 she took part in One Thousand Lines, the first schools tour by The Poetry Trust alongside Matt Harvey and Neil Rollinson. She also mentors other writers and her advisory guide, How (not) to Get Your Poetry Published, was published in 2009 with a second edition appearing in 2016.

Nelson's own work has continued to appear in numerous anthologies and magazines throughout Scotland and the UK.

Poetry

 * Mr and Mrs Philpott on Holiday at Auchterawe & Other Poems (2001)
 * Starlight on Water (2003)
 * Unsuitable Poems (2005)
 * "The sorry I never said..." (2008)
 * The Unread Squirrel: More Unsuitable Poems (2009)
 * Plot and Counter-Plot (2010)
 * Fife place name limericks (2013)
 * Down with Poetry! (2016)

Other works

 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter One (2006)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Two (2007)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Three (2008)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Four (2010)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Five (2011)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Six (2012)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Seven (2013)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Eight (2014)
 * The HappenStance Story: Chapter Nine: The Last Chapter (2015)
 * How (not) to Get Your Poetry Published (2016)