Rachel’s debut novel, It Comes from the River, was published by Bloomsbury in 2025. She is the author of three poetry books: Bee (Hazel Press, 2025) These Mothers of Gods (Fly on the Wall Press, 2021) and Moon Milk (Valley Press, 2018). She edited Family Lines: Poems about Parents & Parenthood with Simon Armitage (Faber & Faber, 2026), and the Verse Matters anthology with Helen Mort (Valley Press, 2017). Rachel is also the author of a book on literary letters, Epistolarity and World Literature (Palgrave Macmillan). Her work is represented by Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown.
Fiction
It Comes from the River is infused with the folklore of Northern England. A novel about violence, resilience and hope – and the power of women when they work together. Available now!
‘A gritty and captivating tale of resilience, violence and the power of female solidarity’ HARPER’S BAZAAR
‘An unsettling debut… a strange presence pulls these characters together in a thrilling denouement‘ THE OBSERVER
‘This unflinching debut builds relentlessly to a heart-stoppingly dramatic climax‘ THE DAILY MAIL
‘Haunting, lyrical and thoroughly gripping’ CLARE FISHER
‘Thrilling, poetic, dark and alive – a shimmering gemstone of a debut’ ALICE ASH
Poetry
When I first received Rachel Bower’s beautiful pamphlet, Bee, I skimmed quickly through it in search of an essay suitable for a reader as bee-ignorant as myself. It was only when I slowed down and concentrated on the poems that I realised Bower had already transformed the nectar of her knowledge, practical and theoretical, into poetry-honey, adding only occasional minimal footnotes – which somehow read as a coda to the poem rather than an information byte. Carol Rumens, Poem of the Week in The Guardian
Much of the collection is about the insects themselves, and this is where Rachel’s writing truly sets itself apart from the bee poetry that came before. Instead of following the literary tradition in which bees are used as symbols or metaphors for something human, Rachel approaches the bees “on their own terms as much as possible” Lucy Parkinson, BeeCraft magazine.
‘visceral, honest and true‘ – The Yorkshire Post
‘inventive, arresting poems, brim-full with blistering truths‘ – Rebecca Goss
‘poems of intense curiosity and beauty‘ – Jason Allen-Paisant
Rachel’s poems have also been widely published in literary magazines and journals and awarded many prizes.
Non-fiction
Rachel is the author of Epistolarity and World Literature, 1980-2010 (Palgrave Macmillan). She has published a wide range of articles, book chapters and interviews on contemporary poetry, fiction and postcolonial literature. She has also co-edited three special issues of academic journals: ‘Materials of African Literatures’ (The Cambridge Quarterly, 2020); ‘Tony Harrison: International Man of Letters’ (English Studies, 2018) and ‘Crafts of World Literature’ (Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 2014). Rachel has a PhD in English from the University of Cambridge and reviews for various journals and magazines, including Stand Magazine and Wasafiri.
Short Fiction
‘In this time of isolation and uncertainty Rachel Bower’s story ‘Against the Tide’ shows that the consolation of great writing endures’ – Steven O’Brien, Co-editor of The London Magazine
Rachel won The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2019/20 and the W&A Short Story Competition 2020. She was shortlisted for The White Review Short Story Prize 2019, and has been longlisted for several awards, including The Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize 2019. She was also listed in the Top 60 in the BBC National Short Story Award 2020. You can read her stories “Homing”, “Jelly Bloom“, “Three Lions” and “Potted Plants” online.
Rachel Bower 