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New and Recent Poetry from the North: Winter 2024

Our seasonal poetry round-up is back. Find out about some of the best new poetry out now from writers in the North – all great additions to any poetry lover’s wishlist. Which poems will you be sinking into this winter?

Ian Duhig’s expansive and stunning new collection, An Arbitrary Light Bulb (Picador), is full of deeply satisfying, thought-provoking and often very moving poems. There are so many excellent and reflective poems that I’ll be returning to – this is one of the poetry highlights of the year.

Thresholds (edited by Jo Clement and published by Butcher’s Dog) is a talent-filled and wonderfully varied anthology by members of New Writing North’s Brown Girls Write programme. These considered, exciting and wide-ranging poems are a delight to read – and rewarding to read again. I’d warmly encourage anyone to discover the work of such gifted emerging writers.

House Anthems (Valley) is the third in a trilogy of collections by Ralph Dartford. His musical and skilful poems are threaded through with stories and observations that draw in and captivate the reader.

Coal is a landmark new anthology from Smith|Doorstop edited by the amazing poet Sarah Wimbush and published to make the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike. The anthology includes work by Gillian Clarke and Paul Bentley, alongside photographs.

National Theatre (Gallery Press) is the sixth collection by John McAuliffe. These are inventive and greatly accomplished poems that travel across wide territory.

Northern Writers’ Award winner Candi Martin’s debut collection, Burnt Ice Cream (Written Off Publishing), is packed with deeply affecting and powerful poetry. It’s an expansive collection that explores growing up working-class and in poverty, the demands of being a carer and how communities can keep each other together. This is a startling collection that tackles injustice head-on with eloquence, energy and an enduring voice full of resonance.

 

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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