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 …
Author Archives: Rachel Bower
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 …
