New poetry titles for 2013The big news this month is the publishers’ new catalogues – we’ve been sifting through them to pick out the first poetry titles of spring.
There are new titles from the names that appear on the big prize lists (Robin Robertson, Paul Muldoon) and that really ought to appear a bit more on the big prize lists (W N Herbert, Iain Bamforth, Michael Hofmann). There are newer names like Andrew Philip, Rob Mackenzie and Lesley Harrison.
February anthologies are The Poetry of Earth is Never Dead, from the secondary school winner of the UK Anthologise competition, a selection of the poems that inspired the pupils on a theme of ecology and sustainability (Faber). And there’s Newspaper Taxis, a star-studded celebration of 50 years of The Beatles from Seren.
As the days get longer, there’s a promising batch of new Selected Poems coming up, from James Fenton, 2012 Forward Prize winner Jorie Graham and Michael Longley’s new selection of Robert Graves.
We’ve rounded up 2012 titles, too: you can download a list of all the books we recommended in this newsletter (which includes titles that are not by Scottish authors or publishers). You can also see our more comprehensive list of new Scottish poetry titles acquired by the Scottish Poetry Library in 2012.
QUICK LINKS
Climate change for 11-18 year olds
SWITCH is a poetry project on climate change, from arts organisation Cape Farewell – great visual and writing resources to help young writers explore this theme.
In January and February, encourage young writers to enter the weekly Writing Challenges on the Young Poets Network.
‘When I have talked for an hour I feel lousy…’
The title of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s poem ‘The Dancers Inherit the Party’ is one of our new poem posters, with phrases to lift and cheer you in chilly February.
‘The Dancers Inherit the Party’ is also the perfect preface to every staff meeting. It’s extremely short, sweet, and to the point – try reciting it to colleagues, and see if it helps cut down meeting time…
