Fiction
Rachel’s debut novel It Comes from the River is out with Bloomsbury in January 2025. Infused with the folklore of Northern England, the novel is about violence, resilience and hope – and the power of women when they work together. Buy now!
‘A gritty and captivating tale of resilience, violence and the power of female solidarity’ HARPER’S BAZAAR
‘Haunting, lyrical and thoroughly gripping’ CLARE FISHER
‘Thrilling, poetic, dark and alive – a shimmering gemstone of a debut’ ALICE ASH
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’s work is represented by Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown.
“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
Poetry
Rachel 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). Her poems have been widely published in literary magazines, including The London Magazine, Magma, New Welsh Review, The Rialto and Stand. Her work is available to read online in places like The London Magazine, And Other Poems, Frontier, Ink, Sweat and Tears and Wild Court. Rachel has had work commissioned by BBC Radio/ National Poetry Day, the British Library, Poet in the City and Apples & Snakes North. Rachel’s poems have been shortlisted for the Ginkgo Poetry Prize, Best Poem of British Landscape, the Flambard Poetry Prize and The London Magazine Poetry Prize. She was Guest Editor of The A3 Review in 2020 and edited the Verse Matters anthology with Helen Mort in 2018 (Valley Press). Rachel is currently editing a poetry anthology with Simon Armitage (Faber & Faber, 2026).
“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 Bower 