Out-Spoken Press

This also marks our first Eliot shortlisting as a Press which feels like a milestone. Shoutout to our editor @aanaxagorou.bsky.social for his vision and conviction 💙🥳

TS Eliot Prize 2025 shortlisted collections: Gillian Allnutt Lode Bloodaxe Books Isabelle Baafi Chaotic Good Faber & Faber Catherine-Esther Cowie Heirloom Carcanet Press Paul Farley When it Rained for a Million Years Picador Poetry Vona Groarke Infinity Pool The Gallery Press Sarah Howe Foretokens Chatto Poetry Nick Makoha The New Carthaginians Penguin Books Tom Paulin Namanlagh Faber & Faber Natalie Shapero Stay Dead Out-Spoken Press Karen Solie Wellwater Picador Poetry

Shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize 2025 - Natalie Shapero, Stay Dead

Big news. Big. Huge. 🌝

Delighted that Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero is shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize 2025

🙏 to the judging panel & congratulations to all shortlisted poets. We hope this recognition can bring her work to more UK readers 🙏

HUGE congratulations to Natalie Shapero on the shortlisting of STAY DEAD for this year’s @tseliotprize.bsky.social !!!

🏜️📺💙

We are thrilled to be able to reveal this year's T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist!
Our judges have chosen ten books "of great range, suggestiveness and power; from Entebbe to Manitoba... there is something here for everyone."

Find out more now: tseliot.com/prize/news/

>> outspokenldn.com/shop/staydead

Los Angeles LA ReviewofBoks RB Cough Up the Pill David Schurman Wallace reviews Natalie Shapero's new collection "Stay Dead." By David Schurman Wallace • September 9, 2025 POETRY

08:30 Los Angeles In all of her books, Shapero's strength comes through her thinking on the page. Without being rote, she is careful to develop the thread of an idea from each sentence to the next. Reading her work, it becomes clear how comfortable some contemporary poets have become with "leaps" that are more like abysses, relying on the reader to assume that there is a hidden connection that may not really exist. In Stay Dead, the connections tend to stay tight, working the starting idea of the poem for more material, and are less likely to digress into unusual pockets of fact or language that made some of her earlier work lighter, if still rich. Humor remains, but the speech is starker-life or death, or death and then life again. Varied and surprising as they are, there is something bracing about the negativity of the poems in Stay Dead. They are uncompromising in their refusal of easy answers, the little lift that comes from appealing to love (or some other "basic human emotion") at the end of the poem. An intriguing suggestion comes in one of the epigraphs between sections, courtesy of Monet: "I FIND MYSELF DISGUSTED BY MY PROFESSION." Fatigued by experience, fatigued by the speaking voice, the desire to lose oneself can also register as a dissent against poetry's platitudes, which might make a career if you're lucky, but which don't seem to live up to the world's despair. lareviewofbooks.org

Review of our September title, STAY DEAD by Natalie Shapero, in LARB

“Shapero’s mordant humor and intellectual agility throw a challenge to the reader: In contemporary life, are we dead or alive? Could we be both, or in between?”

>> lareviewofbooks.org/article/coug...

Are you a writer of Arab heritage with a poetry manuscript? DEADLINE EXTENDED - ENTER BY 15 OCTOBER $2000 PRIZE plus US PUBLICATION with Noemi Press and UK PUBLICATION with Out-Spoken Press NOEMI { GUEST JUDGE: Farid Matuk SERIES EDITORS: Fady Joudah, Hayan Charara OUT SPOKEN PRESS Etel Adnan Poetry Prize For a first or second book by a writer of Arab heritage NOEMIPRESS.SUBMITTABLE.COM

Are you a writer of Arab heritage with a poetry MS?

Check out this opportunity open to writers in English located anywhere - win $2000, US & UK publication

Deadline: 15 Oct
Send your MS, share widely >> noemipress.submittable.com

OUT SPOKEN academy plus Nine-week Online Poetry Course Join Ella Frears, Jack Underwood and Anthony Anaxagorou for our nine-week online poetry course. Workshops: Mondays 7-9pm UK plus academy 6 October - 1 December 2025 outspokenldn.com/academy

Last call for our next course running Mondays 7-9pm, 6 Oct - 1 Dec

Tutors: Ella Frears, Jack Underwood, Anthony Anaxagorou

Starting on Monday - don’t miss out!
outspokenldn.com/academy-plus

Are you a writer of Arab heritage with a poetry manuscript? DEADLINE EXTENDED - ENTER BY 15 OCTOBER $2000 PRIZE plus US PUBLICATION with Noemi Press and UK PUBLICATION with Out-Spoken Press NOEMI GUEST JUDGE: Farid Matuk SERIES EDITORS: Fady Joudah, Hayan Charara OUT SPOKEN PRESS Etel Adnan Poetry Prize For a first or second book by a writer of Arab heritage NOEMIPRESS.SUBMITTABLE.COM

DEADLINE EXTENDED
If you’re a poet of Arab heritage, writing in English anywhere in the world, with a poetry manuscript - you now have until 15 October to enter the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize!

> $2000
> US publication with Noemi Press
> UK publication with Out-Spoken Press

noemipress.submittable.com

anthony_anaxagorou Haia Mohammed has just landed safely at Heathrow to take up her scholarship place at Goldsmiths University. After surviving over 700 days of Israeli genocide, she is now free to embrace her future, develop her writing and pursue her dreams without fear of bombing, or starvation or forced displacement. A massive thank you to everyone who emailed their MP's regarding waiving the biometrics for the Gaza 40. The screenings were sat in Jordan last week where for the first time in nearly two years the students were given a full meal, a medical examination, access to running water and fresh clothes. They are all survivors of genocide. I hope the orientation process in the UK goes smoothly, and that their studies manifest long and fruitful careers. When we first set out to try and get Haia out of Gaza in April there was (to our knowledge) not one successful case of a Gazan being evacuated to the UK since Oct 2023. A really special thank you to Patricia Ferguson and Jack Underwood who worked tirelessly for five months on Haia's case with me. To the Gaza Scholars Initiative, Goldsmiths University and all the MPs who signed petitions to have biometrics waived. Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the extraordinary heart, strength and resilience of Haia herself. If anyone ever tries to tell you there's nothing you can do about the genocide in Gaza, don't believe them. Long live Haia and all the students! Long live the people of Gaza! Free Palestine!!!

If anyone ever tries to tell you there's nothing you can do about the genocide in Gaza, don't believe them.

Long live Haia and all the students! Long live the people of Gaza! Free Palestine!!!

Haia Mohammed has arrived safely to take up her scholarship place at Goldsmiths University.

A massive thank you to everyone who emailed their MP's regarding waiving the biometrics for the Gaza 40. They are all survivors of genocide.

Love to the extraordinary heart, strength and resilience of Haia.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at this evening’s celebration. It does feel like a milestone and we’re excited for the next ten 🙃💙🙏

Celebrating 10 years of Out-Spoken Press 2015–2025 Out-Spoken Press logo large in white sits on top of a bunch of brightly coloured flowers on an electric blue background

💐 Today we are TEN 💐

With huge gratitude to every poet we have published and worked with, the whole Out-Spoken team, and every one of you who’ve read or recommended an Out-Spoken Press title or joined us for one of our workshops or events. THANK YOU 🙏

Sarah Howe has a new book of poems coming out, Foretokens -- I like Loop of Jade. Have just seen that she is included also in this anthology of conversations between poets of ESEA heritage. #poetry

The Saltires Scotland's National Book Awards POETRY LONGLIST 2025 I Sugar the Bones Poems Juana Adcock A thumbnail image of the book cover sits by a black and white author headshot of Juana Adcock

The Saltires POETRY OUT SPOKEN PRESS I SUGAR THE BONES Poems Juana Adcock Scotland's National Book Awards LONGLIST 2025 The judges said: A visceral, formally confident, compelling collection. The fusing of body image with exploration of migration and language has fascinating results.

Congratulations to the wonderful @juanapoetry.bsky.social on the longlisting of I Sugar the Bones for this years #SaltireBookAwards for Poetry! 💫💫💫

Wasafiri 123 Inside Wasafiri 123, you'll find interviews with Andre Bagoo and Christina Sharpe, a lead feature poem by Devika Rege, our 2024 Essay Prize winning articles…

📣 Orders are now open for our latest issue, Wasafiri 123!

Find interviews with Andre Bagoo, Cato Pedder, and Christina Sharpe, three translated Tamil poets, a poem by Devika Rege, and more fiction, reviews, articles, and poems.

www.wasafiri.org/issues/wasaf...

Sickening. Starmer has nothing to say when I confront him about the Israeli companies parading "battle-tested" weapons at the #DSEI2025 Arms Fair in London - in other words, weapons that have been used to kill men, women and children in Gaza #StopDSEI

💫 National Book Award longlisted collection Stay Dead 💫

www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

Cover of Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero: title appears in fat black eurostile caps with “stay” above and “dead” below a photo collage of b&w Joshua tree desert and old tv set, with a blue-green gradient sky. outspokenldn.com/shop/staydead

'In Stay Dead, Natalie Shapero leads us out from the wreckage into the brightly smouldering aftermath more precariously mortal, more humane and attentive and vivid than before. Her relentlessly dark, metaphysical poems of dying and not dying, surviving and not surviving, are as bleakly comical as they are halting. Shapero always keeps her lyrics effortlessly turning, veering her syntax, squinting and tacking - from abstract paintings, movie quotations and the private ownership of coastal redwoods, to the ocean hurling itself onto the rocks, the past, the afterlife, the dead that stay dead, and the dead that don't. Shapero leaves a huge dent in oblivion to show us that it's real.' — Jack Underwood OUT SPOKEN PRESS STAY DEAD www.outspokenldn.com/shop/staydead

‘Shapero leaves a huge dent in oblivion to show us that it’s real.’
—Jack Underwood

STAY DEAD by Natalie Shapero OUT NOW

In her fourth collection, Shapero examines performance, power, comedy and despair through the lenses of method acting and abstract expressionism.

outspokenldn.com/shop/staydead

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this last night! And huge 🙏 to Natalie Shapero, Prageeta Sharma & @aanaxagorou.bsky.social 💙💙

BOOK OF THE WEEK STATE OF PLAY Poets of East & Southeast Asian Heritage in Conversation EDITED BY JENNIFER WONG & EDDIE TAY - SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM ARTHUR SZE JENNIFER LEE TSAI TROY CABIDA SARAH HOWE ROMALYN ANTE VICTORIA CHANG SEAN WAI KEUNG HELEN QUAH MARYLYN TAN MARY JEAN CHAN JAY GAO YANYI R.A. VILLANUEVA CHEN CHEN WILL HARRIS LAURA JANE LEE JOSHUA IP NATALIE LINH BOLDERSTON L KIEW KIT FAN LI-YOUNG LEE DONG LI THERESA MUÑOZ MONICA YOUN LOUISE LEUNG NINA MINGYA POWLES TIM TIM CHENG ANTONY HUEN MUKAHANG LIMBU JENNY XIE ETHAN YU ERIC YIP LORA SUPANDI AARON MANIAM FELIX CHOW JINHAO XIE ALVIN PANG LEONG LIEW GEOK KHAIRANI BAROKKA

This crucial anthology from Out-Spoken Press collects together conversations between poets of ESEA heritage to bring us closer to understanding important questions about culture, heritage, history, and language, and urge us to "demand bolder and more imaginative ways of reading." (Sandeep Parmar) Get your copy here.

Huge thanks to @PoetryBookSoc for including STATE OF PLAY as Book of the Week in their ESEA Heritage Month picks — this book, Eds. @jennywcreative.bsky.social & Eddie Tay, and its wide range of perspectives was a joy to work on 🙏

outspokenldn.com/shop/state

TONIGHT! Join us at 7pm UK for the online launch of Natalie Shapero’s STAY DEAD - with Prageeta Sharma & hosted by @aanaxagorou.bsky.social

Free | register to join the zoom: shaperostaydead.eventbrite.co.uk

TONIGHT! Join us at 7pm UK for the online launch of Natalie Shapero’s STAY DEAD - with Prageeta Sharma & hosted by @aanaxagorou.bsky.social

Free | register to join the zoom: shaperostaydead.eventbrite.co.uk

Really looking forward to the online launch of Natalie Shapero's new book with @outspokenpress.bsky.social tomorrow!

TOOLKIT FOR T. HOXHA TOOLKIT FOR T. HOXHA AND CASEY GOONAN 1. Email for HMP Petersborough (Template): To: pbfamilymatters@sodexogov.co.uk, tony.simpson@sodexogov.co.uk, Ian.whiteside@sodexogov.co.uk, PBgeneralenquiries@...

Tueta Hoxha and Casey Goonan are still on hunger strike. We need people to keep emailing calling and pressuring media to get this story out.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

A little Eurostile 💙

Online launch Monday 1 Sept 7pm UK Stay Dead Natalie Shapero with Prageeta Sharma hosted by Anthony Anaxagorou

🏜️📺 Join us this MONDAY 1 Sept for the online launch of Natalie Shapero’s STAY DEAD 📺🏜️

7pm UK / free - register: shaperostaydead.eventbrite.co.uk

We urge the UK government to follow Ireland and act similarly and URGENTLY to enable and facilitate Ida’s and safe evacuation for all scholars due to start their studies at UK universities in the coming weeks. #gaza40

Time is running out. Courses are set to start in less than a month and if the government delay further then these scholars risk losing both their hard-earned opportunity, but more crucially their right to a future. Please do share this post across your networks with as many people as possible. Together we have made it this far in creating this first wave of evacuation, let's make sure ALL the Gaza40 are brought to the UK safely and fast. #GAZA40

We are asking everyone who reads this post to email their MPs again asking that ALL the remaining #Gaza40 students be evacuated as a matter of urgent priority. We need to keep the pressure on politicians so they don't stall or try to pardon themselves with poor excuses relating to diplomatic challenges. They have shown more than once that it can be done, we just need it expedited. Email Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, & MP Hamish Falconer, Under-Secretary of State at the FCDO urging action. #GAZA40

Haia has been awarded a full scholarship to study at Goldsmiths, University of London — but her visa and evacuation situation remains uncertain, along with dozens of other scholars.

Please follow the hashtag #gaza40 on IG, share and do what you can to urge the UK govt to act URGENTLY.

HAIA MOHAMMED: THE AGE OF OLIVE TREES - REVIEWED BY ALICE KATE MULLEN Written by a twenty-two year old poet living in unimaginable circumstances in Gaza, The Age of Olive Trees holds us all to account. Haia Mohammed speaks out with blazing defiance ("I am Gaza, I am Haia") in a "voice louder than any bombs / a spirit deeper than any wound". Her poems of heartache, horror and displacement display such humbling and valiant gratitude for "small blessings" in the most horrific of situations. These fierce, unflinching poems are a brave act of survival, like "the olive tree who refuses to uproot" OUTSPOKEN PRESS £8.00 www.outspokenldn.com/shop/haia

"I believe language is a form of survival. Through poetry and storytelling, we say: we were here. We are here, still." -Haia Mohammed Poet, one of the #Gaza40 [image of Haia, a young woman in a white shirt black headscarf, smiling, holding a copy of her book] The Age of Olive Trees Haia Mohammed www.outspokenldn.com/shop/haia

With thanks to the Poetry Book Society for reviewing Haia Mohammed’s THE AGE OF OLIVE TREES in the new PBS Bulletin.

We cannot wait for Haia to read her work in London, in a room full of friends and those who her words have reached 🙏