Night Photograph is a reissue of Greenlaw’s first collection, originally published in 1993. The collection was shortlisted for the Whitbread and Forward Poetry prizes. Greenlaw’s subsequent work has included fiction and non-fiction, and she has also produced several radio programmes with the BBC. The poet was born in London and she has lived there for Read More
In a context beyond the confines of her pamphlet, Dialogue on the Dark, Nuala Watt has stated that “If you have a serious and/or lifelong condition, you need to develop a psychological firewall […], an essential piece of psychological kit” (see note below). Indeed the first page in the pamphlet is devoted to Watt’s response Read More
“So Don, why do you love poetry?” It takes only three words of Don Paterson’s reply to what I naively think will be a nice, easy first question for me to understand that this is not going to be an hour of nice, easy assumptions. “Oh I don’t” he replies immediately “that would be a Read More
Hwæt! Whether you take that iconic, still-contentious word as an exclamation, an exhortation, or accept Heaney’s gently Hibernian “So”, whatever aspects of the Anglo Saxon epic you unravel in Leásungspell , from the first Bob Beagrie alerts you that all is not as it seems. Huisht, lads, haad ya gobs [.] Set in Northumbria, 657 Read More
Sister, it’s time to trace the stories on your skin. Slick our myths across your chest. Open your wounds. Begin [.] Amazon charts Northumbrian poet Catherine Ayres’ journey through breast cancer, a mastectomy and the fallout for herself her family, friends and relationships. Normally, I avoid reviewing friends’ work, but I have made an exception Read More
s s u n n s s e t t the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the CrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrookCrook road road road road road road road road road road road road road road road Most poets prefer to work with a laptop or perhaps a pen and paper. Read More
Jacob Polley is the author of four poetry collections. Previously shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, with The Brink(2003); Jackself is both a move away from the style of his previous collections, and also follows quite naturally in the same vein. Polley’s work tends to explore eerie, curious stories and tales. Rather like Ted Hughes, Read More
Rachael Boast won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2011 with Sidereal. That same collection also won the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry Prize. Her latest collection, Void Studies, “realizes a project that the French Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud had proposed, but never got round to writing.” The collection’s title is almost a Read More
Inspired by the ideals of pan-Caribbean unity espoused by her muse, yet obscured by his shadow, Esther Phillips steps out from behind this unrecognition to offer a candid reflection of life and love. Dedicated to the highly publicised and acclaimed Barbadian writer George Lamming, her “commensurate artist” and lover, Leaving Atlantis recounts Phillips’ experiences through Read More
Originally from Cullen, Co. Cork, Bernard O’Donoghue has been an English don at Oxford University since 1965. This is his sixth collection. O’Donoghue has been a recipient of the Whitbread (now Costa) Prize for Poetry and Faber published his Selected Poems in 2008.Being shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize (for the best collection of Read More