My first Bluesky post has to be this afternoon’s blue sky on Hydra. Farewell Twitter and good riddance X.

George Szirtes’ King’s Gold Medal for Poetry This week's announcement of the award of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry to George Szirtes gives me the opportunity to re-post a long and detailed review I wrote (for Poetry London) of the two books that Bloodaxe Books published to celebrate Szirtes' 60th birthday. These were the New and Collected Poems and a critical book about his work, …

The announcement of the award of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry to George Szirtes gives me the chance to re-post this detailed review I wrote for Poetry London about two books published to celebrate Szirtes' 60th birthday.

New poetry: Works by Niall Campbell, Elisa Gonzalez, John McAuliffe and John Fitzgerald Reviews: The Island in the Sound; Grand Tour; National Theatre; and Long Distance

'Niall Campbell’s previous two collections had marked him out as a devoted singer, but in The Island in the Sound he’s added further layers, and colours, to his range.' - Declan Ryan, @irishtimes.bsky.social, on @niallpoetry.bsky.social's third poetry collection.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Book Launch: The Shores of Vaikus by Philip Gross The Shores of Vaikus (Silence) - poems of edgy homage to Estonia. Philip Gross in conversation with Estonian writer Kai Aareleid.

Delighted to pass on first news of a special London reading from The Shores of Vaikus, Thursday 23rd January, 6pm – with heartfelt thanks to the Estonian Embassy and host / interviewer Estonian writer/translator Kai Aareleid. Prior booking essential, but free. All details on the web page here.

Here's a collage/poem from my collection Constructing a Witch with @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social. I bought this lovely photograph for 50p from a fleamarket about six years ago and it eventually found its way into a collage. Collage is very much the long game with me! #collage #collagepoem #witch

Today it’s my 71st birthday! This year I published my first novel and in April my ninth poetry collection will land! It’s been quite a year @saltpublishing.com @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social

❛ Insofar as poetry has a social function it is to awaken sleepers by other means than shock.

Poet Denise Levertov, who died #OTD in 1997.

Very special visit to ROOTS exhibition Dublin Castle - 50 children from Geevagh, Sligo. They had read the poems that inspired the artworks & had lots of fantastic questions.

Today, I'm sharing My Wolverine by @pascalepetit.bsky.social I've loved Mama Amazonica since it came out & all the poems resonate with me. I can't wait for her new collection next year.

Click on View extract to see the poem.

www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/...

Ruby Hamilton · Tropical Trouser-Leg: On Rosemary Tonks Spending too much time with Tonks will teach you not to take anything she says too seriously. Whichever way you look at...

‘Rosemary Tonks is an aphoristic writer in the sense Susan Sontag meant it. She throws out aphorisms, and scorn, like loose change (“beauty is not in the eye; it is in the pocket”).’

Ruby Hamilton on the poet and novelist:

Poem of the Week: On Árainn A new work by Jane Clarke

New poem in today's @irishtimes.bsky.social inspired by visit to farmer for nature Pádraic Ó Flaithearta on Árainn last September. @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

BBC Radio 4 - My Poetry and Other Animals, Flies and Crickets The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, meets insects, to help inspire a brand new poem.

Lovely to hear @imtiazdharker.bsky.social reading and speaking about her poem 'The Host' from her new collection Shadow Reader on Poet Laureate Simon Armitage's BBC Radio 4 series My Poetry and Other Animals.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Time to listen...

'Almost inaudible. Hush. The sea's susurration.
Countless lost salt tongues. Ceaseless translation.'

Katrina Porteous, 'Rhizodont' @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social

Poem of the week: Hurry by Marie Howe An anecdote about a mother and daughter running everyday errands turns into a parable about time passing

'Hurry' from American poet Marie Howe's new Bloodaxe retrospective What the Earth Seemed to Say: New & Selected Poems is featured as Carol Rumens' Poem of the Week in @theguardian.com.
www.theguardian.com/books/2024/d...

Thanks to @irishtimes.bsky.social for publishing this new poem inspired by a visit to a farmer on Árainn (Inis Mór) last September.

@dzifabenson.bsky.social reads from highly anticipated debut Monster with @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social

'The Penny Dropping', Helen Farish's T.S. Eliot Prize short-listed fourth collection: an elegiac, stoical look at memory's distorting lens. My review for the T.S. Eliot Prize: tseliot.com/prize/the-t-.... @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social
#poetry
#TSEliots

My latest, New Arcana, out with @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social this September!

www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/...

BBC Radio 4 - My Shipping Forecast Leading fans of radio explain what the Shipping Forecast means to them.

Poet @imtiazdharker.bsky.social shared her love of The Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4 on New Year's Day alongside fellow contributors Adrian Dunbar, Ellen MacArthur, Ian McMillan, Ruth Jones and Stephen Fry. Imtiaz features from 10:03.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Poetry Competition - Strokestown International Poetry Festival A page about Poetry Competition by Strokestown International Poetry Festival

I'll be judging this year's Strokestown International Poetry Competition. Entries close on 31 January - see below for more details. strokestownpoetryfest.ie/poetry-compe...

‘The Wrong Person to Ask’, by Marjorie Lotfi - The Bottle Imp The last time I wrote a review for The Bottle Imp, the world had not yet experienced the public health crisis we now know as Covid-19; according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ‘[a]lthough...

Marjorie Lotfi's 'luminous collection of poems' The Wrong Person to Ask is well reviewed by Yumi Pak in Issue 35 of The Bottle Imp @scotlit.bsky.social. @marjorielotfi.bsky.social
www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2024/11/the-...

Many congratulations to poet, artist and filmmaker @imtiazdharker.bsky.social, who has been recognised in the 2025 New Year's Honours List with an OBE for her services to the Arts. She has published seven poetry books with Bloodaxe, most recently Shadow Reader.
www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...