New and Recent Poetry from the North: Autumn 2025
It’s another brilliant season for Northern poetry. Find a new collection to accompany your fireside evenings – including a special recommendation and poetry giveaway from our friends at the Poetry Book Society.
In Bee (Hazel Press) the Sheffield-based poet Rachel Bower explores the complex, essential and, at times, troubled relationship between bees and humans. These beautifully constructed poems deal with the loss of biodiversity and the need to engage with other species healthily and respectfully.
The 7th annual Prototype anthology, edited by Jess Chandler, is an outlet for exciting new work that is unrestricted by convention and form. This anthology features poets, prose writers and visual artists from across the UK, including brilliant poets such as Northern Writers’ Award winners Callan Waldron-Hall and Alex Mepham.
The Last Corinthians (Crooked Spire Press) is a new collection by Matthew Paul, who is based in South Yorkshire. These are engaging and warm poems, crafted with a distinctive skill for language use. The collection is divided into specific self-contained sections that are full of memorable lines.
Northumberland-based Alex Reed’s new pamphlet, Dreaming Backward (V. Press), is a fascinating hybrid of poetry and prose that delves into the past and explores the nature of memory. These are well-observed and playfully intelligent poems.
Lastly, just to flag an incredible event featuring three northern poets coming to Northern Stage in Newcastle on 27 September. AI, Home, Sleep and Me is produced by Words of Colour and Manchester Poetry Library, with the Newcastle showcase delivered in partnership with New Writing North. This immersive multimedia performance features Jeremy Pak Nelson, Princess Arinola Adegbite and Ilisha Thiru Purcell.
The Poetry Book Society Recommends
The Poetry Book Society recommends New Cemetery by UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. Tracking the development of a new cemetery in the poet’s lockdown surroundings, these poems are rooted in Northern landscapes with an astonishing eye for detail. Simon Armitage reveals in the PBS Bulletin: “The book forms a journal, and a barometer of world events, not least the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on burials and funeral rituals. Moths feature strongly, and, as you would expect from a collection with this title and subject matter, it’s hilarious.” Daring to ask life and death questions, New Cemetery is deeply life-affirming.
Pre-order a copy here, and book tickets here to watch Simon Armitage read these poems at the PBS Online Autumn Showcase on 8 October.
In partnership with PBS, we’re giving away a copy of New Cemetery! Follow New Writing North and Poetry Book Society on Instagram or Facebook to find out more about how to win.
If you’re a poet based in the north or a publisher with a new collection or pamphlet by a northern poet and would like to be considered for future versions of this round-up, please get in touch with [email protected].
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