Author: rachelebower

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 … Continue reading Listening Workshop! →

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.

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 … Continue reading Poetry in Translation →

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, … Continue reading Magma: The Work Issue →

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 … Continue reading Review: Poetry, Print and Postcolonial Literature →

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 … Continue reading Sheaf Poetry Festival & Migration Matters 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 … Continue reading White Review Short Story Prize 2019 →

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 … Continue reading Listen, I have heard many old tales… →

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 … Continue reading Poetry, parenting and Nigeria →

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 … Continue reading Crafts of World Literature at the ASAUK →