Rachel Bower
New insect poems
Thank you to the editors for publishing my poem “Moth” in the latest issue of The Rialto. I’m super pleased that another of my endangered insect poems has found a home and hope this brings more attention to the strange and spectacular world of invertebrates! The grey carpet moth is one of several moths confined…
New OCD knowledge hub!
A new knowledge hub has just been launched to make the latest brain research on OCD more accessible. The website was co-created by researchers, people living with OCD and charities to address some of the questions that young people and parents have about OCD and the brain. Last year, I wrote about working with young…
Arvon opportunity!
I am super excited to be co-tutoring a five-day residential Poetry & Short Stories course with the brilliant Tania Hershman and Guest Hafsah Aneela Bashir in Hebden Bridge from 4-8 March. And I’m even more excited to announce that thanks to Tania’s hard work we have one COMPLETELY FREE place for someone from a under-represented…
More tips for editing
As I said last time, I believe that everyone has the potential to be an awesome editor of their own work! It’s sometimes helpful to see how editing is an integral part of the process for all writers, even the most celebrated! There are some wonderful digital archives online where you can see how writers…
5 tips for editing your poems!
I run lots of writing and editing workshops, and people are often surprised about how easy it is to ‘crack open’ a poem once they start to look at it from new angles. I love the way that a good edit can hone and transform a piece of writing and make it shine brightly. It’s…
Insects, light pollution & poetry
I am delighted that one of my new insect poems, “Artificial Light at Night (ALAN)” was Highly Commended in this year’s Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry. You can find the poem, alongside many other brilliant poems, in this year’s Ginkgo Prize Ecopoetry Anthology The poem was inspired by Douglas Boyes’ groundbreaking research about the detrimental effects…
OCD and the brain
It’s been a total honour working with young people living with OCD, alongside their parents, researchers and OCD charities to co-develop toolkits for young people and future research ideas for the project at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging at University College London (UCL). OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) affects 12 in every 1000 people, the…
Sheaf Poetry Festival
There’s an amazing programme of events on this week for Sheaf Poetry Festival in Sheffield and online (21-28 May 2023). The programme is jam-packed with inspiring events – get your in-person or online pass now! I’ve been working with some amazing young writers on the Hive Online Fiction Programme over the last few weeks, and…
Writing into Spring
The sap is rising! I’ve been incredibly busy lately with my insect poems, workshops and readings. I’ve been working with some brilliant projects and organisations and wanted to celebrate some of them here. It was a joy to join the LeedsLit Fest Spring Rhythm event last week at the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, with…
Mothering in Neonatal Intensive Care: Exhibition Launch
Last year I was lucky enough to work with Sushila Chowdhry (University of Dundee), Maya Chowdhry and Jessica Howarth on an incredible project facilitating creative workshops with mothers of preterm babies who have experienced neonatal units. The project drew on creative methods to listen to women in holistic ways, focussing on the embodied experience of…
Insects & miniature works
It’s an honour to be travelling to Uppsala University at the end of October to explore possibilities around short works, biodiversity and climate change. I’ll be taking part in a range of workshops and meetings, including a day-long day gathering with a school called HOME in Östervåla, hosted Anna Björkman and Dougald Hine. The following…
Your Mind Matters
It’s been brilliant working with young people from Forces Children Scotland to explore the unique challenges they face in relation to their wellbeing and mental health. Earlier in the year, we ran a residential weekend of creative workshops to co-produce materials for the Your Mind Matters website. The young people also produced a stunning group…
Insects, bees, poems
June is a strange month for bees. On the one hand, it seems that everything should be blooming, but on the other, we get what beekeepers call the June gap – a sudden and significant reduction in pollen and nectar, which means that honey bees are at risk of starvation. This is a phenomenon of…
Festival of Debate
It’s awesome to see South Yorkshire’s Festival of Debate back with a packed programme after everything had to be cancelled at the start of the pandemic. One of the events that promises to be brilliant is Helen Mort in conversation with professional climber Shauna Coxsey MBE about her new book A Line Above the Sky…
Let’s Talk About Cough
It’s exciting to be working with other artists, researchers and facilitators on the Let’s Talk About Cough story exchange. It’s an online creative project, which will bring together people who’ve lived with cough, carers and researchers to share stories and knowledge in friendly, informal sessions. For some people coughs can become long-term and researchers in…
Poetry Film: Water Birth
It’s been wonderful working with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation and Poet in the City on a new film of my poem, “Water Birth.” The poem is about the babies born in the Mediterranean Sea, many of them in treacherous conditions or on rescue boats. The film is out now, directed Matthew Thompson: This poem…
Hive Fiction Workshops
If you’re a new or emerging fiction writer aged 17-30 based in the North of England, there’s still time to apply for the subsidised 6-week Hive Online Fiction Programme I’m running with Hive South Yorkshire, starting on Thursday 10th February! The sessions will be weekly on Zoom (Thursdays, 6-8pm) and it will be super friendly…
Poetry Film: From Blossoms
It was such an honour to make a film of one of my favourite poems with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Foundation, directed by Matthew Thompson and produced with Poet in the City. Li-Young Lee’s “From Blossoms” explores joy and loss, darkness and light, sugar and dust. It is one of those enviable poems that powerfully connects…
Bees, bees, bees!
Winter is a quieter time for beekeeping, but I’ve been busy over the last few months writing, filming and talking about bees! You can read my article about the beauty of beekeeping (and collecting a swarm of honey bees!) in Sheffield’s brilliant Now Then magazine. I was also commissioned to write a new poem for…
Review: Dream Catcher 43
This is the proof of my review of Alison Lock’s Lure and Sarah Wragg’s Ghost Walk, published in Dream Catcher 43. The issue is now available to order. Alison Lock, Lure. Cleckheaton: Calder Valley Poetry, 2020. ISBN: 978-1-9160387-6-9 Alison Lock’s Lure is a long, pamphlet-length poem, that narrates the speaker’s return to a Yorkshire millpond:…
New Collection: Available Now
“A stunning collection – moving, uplifting and timely.” Yvette Huddleston, Yorkshire Post My new poetry collection, These Mothers of Gods, is now available to buy! The book pushes towards a more expansive understanding of ‘motherhood’, inclusive of broader urgent issues about gender and our collective responsibilities for lives, environments and natural worlds. I’ll be reading…
Pre-Order New Collection
I am delighted that my new poetry collection, These Mothers of Gods, is now available to pre-order from Fly on the Wall Press. The book is out on 16 July and all pre-orders come with a free e-book. The book seeks to recover the lived experiences of women who have often appeared only fleetingly in…
Writing the Climate
I’ve been thinking (and writing) a lot recently about the climate emergency, and its unequal impact on different communities across the world. I am delighted that one of my new stories relating to this is published in The Hopper today. If you’re interested in reading and writing more about the climate, poet Linda France is…
Free writing workshop
I’m running a lunchtime writing workshop on Wednesday 5 May at Union St (online), exploring extraordinary things in everyday life. Come and join me to reflect on ordinary objects, routines and rooms, and to track down glimmers of hope, light and optimism! You don’t need any previous writing experience – just register and come along!…
Listening Project: Poem, Film, Tapestry
On 25 February, I took part in Digesting History – an event created as part of Collections in Verse: a collaboration between Poet in the City, The British Library and Sheffield Libraries. Inspired by the Anglo-Saxon tradition of feasting, the event brought people together in their homes for a unique dinner time experience, including the premiere…
For the babies born at sea
My new sestina “Water Birth” has just been published in the new issue of The London Magazine. The poem is available on The London Magazine website, and the full print issue is now also available to order. The poem is about the babies born in the Mediterranean Sea, many of them in treacherous conditions or…
Digital Feast – Sheffield Poetry/ Film
Tickets are now available for Digesting History, an online poetry/ dining event on 25 February at 8pm. It’s a collaboration between The British Library and Poet in the City, and there’ll be new poetry from myself, Kayo Chingonyi and Joe Kriss, as well as the premier of a new film, directed by the award-winning artist…
New poems
On Monday 4 January, my children went back to school and my poem, “Toxic Blooms” was published on The Poetry Village. I took advantage of the childcare to start drafting a blog post: how this was one of the only new poems I’ve managed to complete since lockdown in March; how poetry seems almost impossible…
New Collection Coming Soon!
I am thrilled that my new poetry collection These Mothers of Gods will be published with Fly on the Wall Press in July 2021. Fly on the Wall have just announced their 2021 list. I couldn’t be prouder to be joining the press, and this amazing list of writers. To express early interest in reviewing…
Missing in the Archives
This is an extract from my article (just published in Stand 18.3), about the urgency of creating new records and archives in response to absences in official archives. from Unofficial Archives in the 1950s and 1960s: Leeds, Ibadan, Hull and Zaria “… Over the last couple of years I have been researching some of the…
Butcher’s Dog 14 Launch
Butcher’s Dog is a brilliant poetry magazine published in the North East of England. I’m delighted to have a poem in Issue 14, edited with care and precision by Jo Clement and Aoife Lyall, both excellent poets in their own right. At the launch the Editors talked about how the poems in this issue ‘bridge’…
The A3 Review: Issue 13
Issue 13 of the The A3 Review is now out! I guest edited the magazine with editor Shaun Levin (who has done a fab job with the design!) It’s a beauty. The issue is packed with poems, short prose and collages about grief, breath, disappearing and superpowers. Thanks to all of the contributors – it…
Teaching & Events Online
This week I’ve been teaching Creative Writing to new students at the University of Leeds via online seminars. As my work usually involves a lot of live workshops and readings, I’ve been thinking hard over recent weeks about how to create welcoming, supportive spaces online: how can we re-create effective, friendly workshops and literary salons…
Interview: Martin Banham
A few extracts from my recent interview with Professor Martin Banham, published in the anniversary issue of Moving Worlds (20.1). In the inaugural issue of Moving Worlds, Martin introduced an extract from Wole Soyinka’s highly satirical play, King Baabu. Martin has nurtured a lifelong passion for African theatre and performance cultures: after graduating from the University of Leeds in…
Habitats
I’ve just arrived home from two weeks in Scotland – a combination of wild camping, youth hostelling and sleeping in a hand-built kata at Comrie Croft’s beautiful eco-site. It was a lovely (if challenging!) adventure with the kids – fields of midges and ticks; a heat wave; brilliant white beaches; common seals; storms and high…
Ecopoetics & Climate Writing
In her ‘Covid Time Capsule’ my seven year old daughter wrote that the thing she has learned during lockdown is that “you don’t have to go very far.” We live in an urban area, less than two miles from Sheffield city centre, and even though we’ve always spent a lot of time outside, during lockdown…
Walter Swan 18-25 Poetry Prize, ILF 2020
I am delighted to be judging the Walter Swan 18-25 Poetry Prize this year for the Ilkley Literature Festival. The theme of this year’s competition is ‘A Kindness’. Please send us your poems and spread the word! Established in memory of the writer Walter Swan, the Walter Swan Trust encourages all forms of creative writing,…
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2019/20
It’s such an honour to have won the The London Magazine Short Story Prize this year with my story “Against the Tide.” I’d like to thank the panel of judges and everyone involved for their time and energy in making this happen, especially during such challenging times. I am sorry that it hasn’t been possible…
Northern Short Story Festival 2020
I’m very proud to be involved in the Northern Short Story Festival 2020 and I want to thank SJ Bradley and the team for summoning the energy and creativity to get this brilliant festival online! The festival is celebrating its fifth birthday this year – and wherever you are in the world you can now…
Sheffield Stories – Collections in Verse
Over the last year, I’ve been working on a project called Collections in Verse in Sheffield, commissioned by the British Library and Poet in the City, along with two other brilliant poets – Joe Kriss and Kayo Chingonyi. The idea of the project is to bring the British Library exhibitions to life through poetry and…
Stay At Home! Literary Festival
I have been absent because of the current crisis, but I’m here to tell you about the wonderful #StayAtHome!LiteraryFestival, organised at lightening speed by the brilliant Carolyn Jess-Cooke in partnership with Paper Nations. A flood of writers and artists responded to Carolyn’s initial Tweet about the idea on Twitter and within a few days the…
A3 Review & ‘Hope’
‘”Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul…’ (Emily Dickinson) I am delighted that I will be the Guest Editor of the A3 Review for the next few months. The magazine that behaves like a map! We are now open for submissions on the theme of #Hope. Dangerous hope, the audacity…
Liz Ferrets Poetry Competition
There are only three days left to enter the Liz Ferrets Poetry Competition judged by me, Sez Thomasin and Kate Garrett. Liz was a brilliant poet and performer from Sheffield and the competition celebrates her life and writing. The winners will be announced at The Showroom (Sheffield) on Monday 17 January. The competition is free…
Two Christmas Poems
I am happy to have just had two poems published in the Christmas Special of the Bangor Literary Journal, guest edited by Gaynor Kane. The special issue is available to download free. Thank you to Gaynor, and to the editors, Amy Louise Wyatt and Paul Daniel Rafferty, for all their hard work. Merry Christmas to…
Review: Girl by Rebecca Goss
This is the proof of my review of Rebecca Goss’s Girl (Carcanet, 2019), published in the most recent issue of Stand Magazine (17.3), guest edited by Vahni Capildeo. Rebecca Goss’s Girl sparks with light, electricity, bodies. This collection of spare, precise poems, characterised by Goss’s distinctive control of her material, not only explores what it is to…
RSL V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize
I am delighted that my story, “Holly”, has been long-listed for the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Award. Congratulations to everyone on the list, and thank you to the judges for their time and hard work!
Listening Workshop!
I’ve been working on the Collections in Verse project for Sheffield – a collaborative commission with Poet in the City and The British Library. As part of this project, I’m running a series of workshops to listen to the tales and experiences that are important to women in Sheffield. The workshops will ask women what…
Islands Are But Mountains
Platypus Press have just revealed the stunning cover of their new anthology of contemporary poetry from the UK, aptly titled, Islands Are But Mountains. It’s an honour to have poems published in this book, alongside so many wonderful poets. The anthology is now available to pre-order.
Poetry in Translation
It has been a pleasure working with Yin Xiaoyuan at the Encyclopedic Poetry School in China, who are celebrating their 12th anniversary this year. Xiaoyuan has translated a number of my poems into Chinese, and continues to work tirelessly to translate poems from all over the world. The Encyclopedic Poetry School is an independent, experimental…
Magma: The Work Issue
It was an honour to read at the London Launch of Magma 74: The Work Issue, edited by the brilliant Pauline Seawards and Benedict Newbery. The Work Issue includes my poem, ‘Continue on Loop’: a sestina that marks the unrecognised labour of parenting, and hopes to speak to the intense love and exhilaration of motherhood,…
Review: Poetry, Print and Postcolonial Literature
This is the proof of my review of Poetry, Print, and the Making of Postcolonial Literature by Nathan Suhr-Sytsma (CUP, 2017), recently published by the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. This ambitious book opens with an anecdote about the accomplished Nigerian poet, Christopher Okigbo. In 1965, Okigbo published a poem in a volume of essays to mark…
Sheaf Poetry Festival & Migration Matters 2019
There are some excellent things going on in South Yorkshire at the moment. The Sheaf Poetry Festival has an awesome line-up of events, including a special Verse Matters on Thursday 23rd at Sheffield Theatre Deli with Vanessa Kisuule, Caleb Femi, Rupinder Kaur and Otis Mensah. Tickets are still available for the other Sheaf Poetry Festival…
White Review Short Story Prize 2019
I was delighted to hear that my short story, ‘Homing’ was shortlisted for the White Review Short Story Prize 2019. There are some brilliant stories shortlisted, and they are all available to read online so do check them out. ‘Homing’ is part of a new short story collection I am working on, so watch this…
Listen, I have heard many old tales…
Last week, I was lucky enough to visit the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms exhibition at the British Library, curated by Claire Breay. I was invited to see the exhibition, along with two other fabulous Sheffield poets (Joe Kriss and Otis Mensah) as part of the British Library/ Poet in the City commission. The idea of the project…
Poetry, parenting and Nigeria
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been doing some work at the Hull History Centre, trying to track down a Nigerian poet, Minji Ateli (neé Karibo) who was at the University of Ibadan in the 1960s. Karibo contributed several poems to The Horn, a Nigerian student poetry magazine edited by J.P. Clark and modelled on Poetry and Audience (Leeds). Karibo’s…
Crafts of World Literature at the ASAUK
The African Studies Association UK biennial conference took place at the University of Birmingham, 11-13 September. Jarad Zimbler and I ran a stream called “African Literature: Communities, Collaborations, Crafts & Crossings”. The aim of this stream was to consider the ways in which literary works and their authors have moved within, across, into and out…
Launch of Moon Milk
My new poetry pamphlet, Moon Milk, is now available to buy. We launched the book on a lovely sunny morning in Sheffield at Haggler’s Corner last week. Moon Milk was listed as one of the Yorkshire Post’s ‘Top 5 Pick of the Best Books’ last week, and on Friday, I chatted to Rony Robinson at…
Book Launch: Moon Milk
Come and join us next Thursday morning (19th July) at Hagglers Corner for the baby-friendly launch of Moon Milk – my new pamphlet published by Valley Press. There will also be a guest reading from the wonderful poet Kate Garrett-Nield. We’ll be in the beautiful courtyard at Haggler’s if the weather is nice! Come and try some…
New Poem: Foaling
‘Foaling’, from my forthcoming Valley Press pamphlet (Moon Milk), was published today by And Other Poems. Head over to And Other Poems to read the full poem, to sign up for their Friday Poems or to browse their archives of excellent poetry.
Pre-order ‘Moon Milk’
I’m excited that my new poetry pamphlet, ‘Moon Milk’ is now available to pre-order with Valley Press! The poems seek to explore the complex, and often hidden, experiences of pregnancy, birth and early childhood. More details about the launch to follow. ‘Moon Milk blew me away. I love the mythologizing, the variety of form, the…
Review: What is a World?
This is the proof of my review of Pheng Cheah’s What is a World?, recently published in a special issue of Seminar (54.2. Pheng Cheah’s What is a World? argues for the “world-making” power of literature. Taking on the might of recent debates in world literature, Cheah argues that literature has the capacity to redefine (rather than…
Poem: Postnatal Ward
I was delighted to hear that my poem, ‘Postnatal Ward’ was awarded fourth prize last weekend in the York Literature Festival Poetry Prize 2018, judged by Andrew McMillan. Hannah Copley’s brilliant poem, ‘Haworth 1855’, won a well-deserved first prize in the competition. All of the winning and commended poems have now been published on the…
Review: Vahni Capildeo
This is the proof of my review of Vahni Capildeo’s Measure of Expatriation, published in the most recent issue of Stand Magazine 216, (Vol. 15.4, 2018) Capildeo, Vahni. Measures of Expatriation. Manchester: Carcanet, 2016. ISBN: 978 1 784101 68 8 128pp This stunning collection by Vahni Capildeo has been rightly celebrated for its complex exploration of migration, exile,…
#Not All Women
One hundred years ago, on 6 February 1918, the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, which allowed property owning women over the age of 30 the right to vote. Over the last few weeks there have been many events to mark the centenary of some women getting the vote. There have also rightly…
Flambard Prizewinners’ Anthology 2017
I was delighted to have a few of my poems included in the Flambard Prizewinners’ Anthology 2017. Here is “Fruit”, “Stones” and “Track”:
Tone Deaf
My poem ‘Tone Deaf’ was published today by Atrium Poetry. These are the first few lines – go and check out their site to read the whole thing and lots of poems by other excellent writers… “Before you were born I was tone deaf silently mouthing songs at funerals afraid of voicing my breath. But you…
Tony Harrison’s Unblinking Eye
This is the proof of an article originally published in Stand Magazine 15.3 (2017) At the end of April 2017, poets, directors, academics and publishers came together to celebrate the remarkable work of Tony Harrison on his eightieth birthday at the British Academy in London. The range of tributes was impressive: from Lee Hall’s moving account of how…
The power of words
There’s a great write-up of the Verse Matters anthology in the Yorkshire Post this week. Yvette Hiddleston says There is a huge diversity and range of work here, all imbued with a forceful sense of the potential power of hope and humanity, dialogue and empathy. It is an important, healing book for our divisive times.…
They’re at it
I’ve been writing a poem a day over Christmas for #12DaysofForm and wrote a little sonnet from the speeches of Mhairi Black MP. Not my usual style but it’s an important subject… #fixuniversalcredit
Verse Matters Anthology Available Now!
The Verse Matters anthology has landed! It looks fabulous and is now available to buy from Valley Press. All royalties go to ASSIST Sheffield who work with destitute asylum seekers, and the Archer Project in Sheffield who support homeless and vulnerable people. Featuring new writing from: Nick Allen, Charlotte Ansell, Catherine Ayres, Liz Berry, Jacob Blakesley, Laurie…
New poems
There are some lovely poetry journals around, and I’ve had the pleasure of publishing in a few of them this month. My poem “Note to a Neighbour” was published this month in the sparkling “Ice and Snow” issue of The Writers’ Cafe Magazine #3. They’ve got a call out for their next issue, “Time and Space”, so check…
Book Launch: Verse Matters Anthology
Come and join us of the launch of the Verse Matters anthology, co-edited by myself and Helen Mort, published by the brilliant Valley Press. The anthology aims to harness the power of everyday, human stories in these times of inequality, xenophobia and dehumanisation. The anthology includes unpublished poems by well-known writers including Malika Booker, Liz Berry…
Poetry in Leeds: Harrison, Stand & Strix
There’s lots of great poetry coming out of Leeds this week! My special issue of Stand (Tony Harrison Birthday Issue) arrived in the post today and it looks great! It includes articles by Simon Armitage, Jeffrey Wainwright, John Whale and Cécile Marshall, who has translated many of Harrison’s works into French. It also includes my article, “Tony…
Call for Papers: African Literature
The African Studies Association UK Conference will take place at the University of Birmingham in September 2018. The Call for Papers for the conference is now open (deadline for submissions, 16 February 2018). I am co-organising a conference stream on African Literature with Jarad Zimbler, University of Birmingham: African Literature: Communities, Collaborations, Crafts and Crossings…
Epistolarity and World Literature
My book on letters has just been published online by Palgrave Macmillan, and will be available in print by the end of the month. Epistolarity and World Literature, 1980-2010 is part of a new series edited by Neil Lazarus and Pablo Mukherjee: New Comparisons in World Literature. The book examines the resurgence of the literary letter at the end…
A Snake in the Garden (Stand 15.2)
This is the proof of a short article that I wrote for the Special Issue of Stand on Geoffrey Hill. The issue is full of great poems, articles, photographs and tributes, including by John Whale, Sarah Prescott, Jeffrey Wainwright, Elaine Glover, Jon Glover, Hannah Copley and many more! A Snake in the Garden. Stand 15.2 (2017)…
New Poems, Books, Harrison & Hill
It’s been a busy old month finishing off as many things as I can before my maternity leave! I’m pleased to have some new poems published in the wonderful Foxglove Journal of Poetry and Fiction, including Waiting, New Beginnings and Cherries. The Geoffrey Hill Special Issue of Stand has also just been published, which includes my article about…
Verse Matters – what’s next…
Thanks to Seven Hills Film for the lovely highlights video from our Verse Matters ( South Yorkshire Poetry Festival) event in May at the Moor Theatre Delicatessen! The night included performances from Salena Godden, Kate Fox, Hive Young Writers (14-25s) Kevin Titterton, Angelina Abel with the CORS/PO performance, Mina Salama (Arts on the Run). You can also see clips of the wonderful Jepps Books (Sheffield’s…
Letters letters letters!
My new book, Epistolarity and World Literature, 1980-2010 is now available for pre-order from Palgrave Macmillan. The book examines the return of the literary letter at the end of the long twentieth century. It asks how authors returned to epistolary conventions to create dialogue across national, linguistic and cultural borders and repositions a range of contemporary…
Shades @ Visual Verse
My poem, Shades, has just been published on the wonderful website, Visual Verse. The poem responds to a striking image by the artist Alejandro Alvarez. Each month Visual Verse offers an image and challenges writers to respond in one hour – and in no more than 500 words. Check it out and give it a go! The…
Sheffield Feminist Archive
It was lovely to talk to Hattie from Sheffield Feminist Archive this morning. The Sheffield Feminist Archive project is working with Sheffield Archives to ensure that documents relating to Sheffield’s feminist past and present are collected and preserved for future generations. Hattie was a great interviewer and she has published a blog post about our conversation.…
Verse Matters @South Yorks Poetry Festival
We’re running a special Verse Matters in collaboration with South Yorkshire Poetry Festival on Saturday 27 May at the Moor Theatre Delicatessen in Sheffield. Come and join us! It’s an amazing line-up. There will be sparkling poetry from the wonderful Kate Fox Fox (poet), powerful words from national slam champion Solomon O.B (poet), brilliant music from Mina Mikhael Salama…
Yarl’s Wood
My poem “Yarl’s Wood” has just been published on the excellent poetry site The Stare’s Nest. The site publishes ‘poems for a more hopeful world’ – something we certainly need at the moment. My poem is a palimpsest translation of Anne Askew’s “The Ballad Which Anne Askew Made and Sang When She Was in Newgate, 1546”. It draws…
Cora Greenhill’s ‘Artemis: The People’s Priestess’
Cora Greenhill’s Artemis: The People’s Priestess pulses with light, heat and movement. Just published by the wonderful Three Drops Press, the collection tells the ‘back story’ of Artemis: her power, sensuality and sexuality. The poems chart Artemis’ growth through a series of dramatic poems, each spoken by a different character. At the heart of the…
Intersectional feminism, photography and poetry
As part of the Women’s Paths Seminar Series at the University of Leeds, I will be giving an informal talk which will combine my poetry, feminist arts work and thoughts on the urgency of intersectional work in the current political context. The event will take place on Tuesday 4 April from 5.15pm – 6.45pm in the School…
Verse Matters #SheFest 2017
After an amazing Verse Matters in February (where we had about 100 people in the audience) and another brilliant Hive-Verse Matters young people’s open mic, we are back next Thursday 9 March @ The Moor Theatre Deli for a special event for International Women’s Day 2017. There will be powerful featured performances from Anna Percy (Stirred, Manchester), Carole Eades (Gorilla, Sheffield), Louise Clines (Broomhill Writers,…
John Berger,1926-2017
I was saddened yesterday to learn about the death of John Berger. Having spent some time in the wonderful John Berger Archive at the British Library, I am in the somewhat peculiar (and privileged) position of having read many of Berger’s letters, notebooks and manuscripts from the late twentieth century, and therefore feel that I…
Review: The Book in Africa
This is the proof of a review I recently published in Textual Cultures 10.1 (2016): 85-88. Davis, Caroline and David Johnson, eds., The Book in Africa: Critical Debates. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 978-1-137-40161-8. Pp: xii + 280. Hardback $95. This volume introduces a range of debates about the book in Africa through an impressive set…
Sheffield to Aleppo
My new poem, Sheffield to Aleppo, November 2016, was recently published on Wildcat Dispatches: for Dangerous Times. You can read the poem, along with an important piece on Syria by Mark Boothroyd and Wildcat’s Statement on Aleppo on the Wildcat Dispatches website. This is the poem in full: Sheffield to Aleppo, November 2016 It’s only…
Wildcat Dispatches: for Dangerous Times
I am excited to announce that the first issue of Wildcat Dispatches: for Dangerous Times is launched today: a small labour of collective love and fury and hopefully the first of many. I am proud to have written an article with Jake Phillips for the first issue. We argue for the importance of acknowledging the links between sexism and racism, particularly in…
Reclaim The Day #ReclaimTheNight 2016
I’m proud to be reading at #ReclaimtheNight in Sheffield next Friday (25 Nov). We need this event now more than ever, especially in the dangerous political context in which we are now living. The shocking triumph of Donald Trump last week clearly shows that widespread and popular chauvinism and xenophobia are alive and kicking. Personally speaking, given my own recent…
Full Moon and Foxglove Anthology
I am excited to see that the latest anthology from the wonderful independent publisher, Three Drops From a Cauldron is now available. Full Moon & Foxglove: An Anthology of Witches and Witchcraft contains over sixty poems and flash fiction pieces, including my new poem “Shard”. The Anthology, edited by Kate Garrett and her brilliant team, explores one of the most…
Keep up the fight
Trump’s election victory this morning has left many reeling. It is time to grieve, but not time to abandon the fight against injustice, xenophobia racism, misogyny and sexual violence. Over the last 18 months we have grown a powerful community in Sheffield in which people have felt safe enough to come to events to share their…
Sing Freedom!
A personal story told by Leeds choir leader Frances Bernstein, with songs of liberation (Tuesday 22 November, 7.30-9.30pm, Clothworkers Hall, Leeds) Leeds University Centre for African Studies are offering a chance to see the special show: ‘Sing Freedom – a story with songs of liberation’, a personal story told by Leeds Free Range choir leader Frances Bernstein, set against…
Verse Matters November 2016!
After a wonderful Hive Verse Matters Young People’s Open Mic last week, Verse Matters is back on Thursday 3 November at The Moor Theatre Deli for the last event in 2016! Come down for fab poetry from Loma Sylvana, wonderful stories from SJ Bradley (Fictions Of Every Kind) and great music from Salt Pinchers (incl. Stella Sminkos) There will also be brilliant open…
Calling all young people (14-25)!
Verse Matters is teaming up with Hive South Yorkshire to run a young people’s open mic on Thursday 27 October at the Moor Theatre Deli in Sheffield! If you write poems, tell stories, compose lyrics, spit bars or have anything else to say out loud to a supportive audience, this is an evening to celebrate your words, ideas and talents…
Women of Steel #NationalPoetryDay
It was great to talk to Toby this morning on BBC Radio Sheffield’s breakfast show about my new poem, Women of Steel, commissioned for National Poetry Day. In a new project from BBC Local Radio, the Forward Arts Foundation, and Apples and Snakes, the 40 stations of BBC local radio are marking National Poetry Day by…
Review: Memory, Mourning and Memorialisation
This is a proof of my review of three books, recently published in Stand 14.3 Bromley, Carole. The Stonegate Devil. Sheffield: smith|doorstop Books, 2015 (ISBN 978-1-910367-54-4) Madec, Mary. Demeter Does Not Remember. County Clare: Salmon Poetry, 2014 (ISBN 978-1-908836-31-1) Williams, Merryn. Letter to My Rival. Nottingham: Shoe String Press, 2015 (ISBN 978-1-910323-39-7) Carole Bromley’s striking second collection,…
We Shall Overcome!
Come and join us at the next Verse Matters at the Moor Theatre Delicatessen on Thursday 6 October. It’s a special event for We Shall Overcome – a nationwide movment of artists, musicians and community organisers to protest against austerity and support those affected. It’s also National Poetry Day so what could be more auspicious! All cash donations will be donated to the Archer…
Reach for 100 rejections a year
Malika Booker recently posted a link to an article that advises writers to aim for 100 rejections a year. It’s all about accepting rejections as part of the process rather than as some kind of ultimate judgement. It turns out that it’s very sensible advice. I decided to send more writing of my writing off and have since had work accepted…
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Rachel Bower 