September 2024

Posted on September 27, 2024September 27, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Everyone Will Be There’ by Kathryn Bevis

Close up of a colourful silk parachute open with sunlight streaming through it

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Everyone Will Be There’ by Kathryn Bevis from her collection The Butterfly House in honour of it having been Highly Commended by the Forward Prizes and featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2025.

Everyone will be there
in their tea frocks, their slim fitting
suits, their lumberjack shirts, their sequinned
skirts. They’ll arrive in their dozens by wagon,
on horseback, in cars and on unicycles, shod
in their heels and brogues, their spats
and chunky trainers. Amy will have manicured
nails. Dillon’s buzz-cut will flatter their face
more than they know. Everyone will come
as themselves. Noah will untie bright balloons
from backs of pews and we’ll watch them rise
to bob on the vaulted ceiling. Rosa will trapeze
from arch to pillar, from gargoyle to crest
to scoop them up in shining armfuls.
And there’ll be cake, more cake
than you’ve ever seen: custard slices,
black forest gateaux, a Victoria sponge
with cream, raspberries and mint,
a lemon drizzle drenched
in elderflower syrup, French macarons
in fancy flavours — rose and pistachio,
lavender and orange, almond and fig.
Everyone will get to eat their favourite
cake. It’s going to be delicious.
Lucy will invent outdoor games and Matt
will win them all, though there’ll be trophies
and medals for everyone. Then we’ll play
with a huge parachute and there will be no
winners, just a silken circle held
in all our hands, on whose whirling centre
we’ll bless the babies, bouncing them in turn.

Posted on September 24, 2024September 24, 2024 by Seren Books

Taz Rahman longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2024

Flat lay image of East of the Sun West of the Moon against a navy background.

Congratulations Taz Rahman whose debut collection East of the Sun, West of the Moon has been longlisted for the Laurel Prize for Poetry 2024.

The prize, set up by poet laureate Simon Armitage and run by the Poetry School, is awarded annually to the best collection of environmental or nature poetry published that year. This year’s judges are Mona Arshi, Caroline Bird and Kwame Dawes.

The shortlist will be announced on Monday 7 October, with prizes of £5,000 (1st prize), £2,000 (2nd prize), and £1,000 (3rd prize) awarded to the winners. There’s also a £500 award for each of the Best First Collection UK and Best International First Collection. In addition, winners will receive a commission from National Landscapes to create a poem based on their favourite UK landscape.

Poets from the 21 strong longlist will be reading at the Laurel Prize Ceremony which is due to take place on Saturday 19th October at Yorkshire Sculpture Park as part of the inaugural Poetry School Summit, as well as being live streamed.

Posted on September 24, 2024September 24, 2024 by Seren Books

Three Seren poets Highly Commended in Forward Prizes 2024

Flat lay picture of Battery Rocks, Grief's Alphabet and The Butterfly House

Congratulations to Kathryn Bevis, Carrie Etter and Katrina Naomi who have all been highly commended in the 2024 Forward Prizes for Poetry.

The Forward Prizes recently announced the poems featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2025, described as ‘a snapshot of the best poetry published and performed in Britain and Ireland in the past year’. Included amongst them are Katrina Naomi’s poem ‘Golden Shovel: After Iris Murdoch’ from her collection Battery Rocks, Carrie Etter’s poem ‘The Blood, Oh the Blood’ from her collection Grief’s Alphabet and Kathryn Bevis’ ‘Everyone will be there’ from The Butterfly House.

Full list of poets featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2025

The Forward Book of Poetry 2025 is dedicated to Kathryn Bevis’ memory. Kathryn was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2023 with her poem ‘My Body is Filing for Divorce’. Kathryn sadly passed away earlier this year.

For more information about the Forward Prizes including the 2024 shortlists, please visit the Forward Prizes website.

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Nightswimming’ by Lorcán Black

Dark photo of waves rolling into the shore a night time

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Nightswimming’ by Lorcán Black from his Poetry Book Society Recommended collection Strange Husbandry.

Nightswimming
Games of dominos in Portugal, whistling at girls for laughs off the balcony –
Really, though, September was coming soon & here: I thought you knew me –
those long nights on balconies: my only infringement –
tussles in the sands:
sandals askew, sand in toes, sand-stuck,
those sunscreen, sea-washed days: & a face so golden, so gold –
& where did you think I went: those nights with boys?

Lorcán will be reading from Strange Husbandry at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on Saturday 28th September 2024 alongside Sarah Howe and Tom Branfoot. 2:30 – 4pm. Free entry. Find out more on the Poets & Players website.

Posted on September 13, 2024September 13, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘R-O-M-J-X’ by Martyn Crucefix

Close up photo of an optician's testing equipment

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘R-O-M-J-X’ by Martyn Crucefix from his collection The Lovely Disciplines.

R-O-M-J-X
She asks is it better with or better without
her glass in his eyes like sweets in his mouth
the woman moving in a dim-lit room
barely visible yet she insists on breathing
through the long defence of his privacy
how he loves it when she blows air in his eye
happy when he’s asked to concentrate
on the balloon she conjures on a glass screen
its vivid reds above the white stripe of road
set him dreaming of imagined Americas
murmuring in pastel shades now she crowds
voices pleasure whether he’s right or wrong
wants him to spell out her strange words
though this morning she does not ask him
to number the white streak of falling stars
to his disappointment has no reason
to gentle his head into the rubber clamps
though he submits to the dazzling of her lamp
is it the red she asks is it the red or the green
O how he loves her vocabulary of absolutes

Posted on September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘There Is An Indescribable Joy’ by Marianne Burton

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘There Is An Indescribable Joy’ by Marianne Burton from her collection Kierkegaard’s Cupboard.

There Is An Indescribable Joy
There is an indescribable joy
that rises of itself
that takes in the city
and the city’s thought
as when a sudden gust of wind
breaks the string
and the kite staggers away
not in a horizontal flick
but perpendicular
as though fall
were impossible
up until perspective
shrinks it out of sight.
Imagine how we look from there.

Posted on September 3, 2024September 2, 2024 by Seren Books

Call-out for Freelancers

Graphic showing lots of Seren book covers in a grid

We’re looking for freelance copy editors, creative editors, proofreaders, visual artists and illustrators interested in working with us on our books.

With the aim of enriching, connecting and strengthening lives through creative writing, Seren Books strives to offer innovative, equitable and engaged publishing from and for Wales and the world.

As a part of this, we want to expand the range and number of individuals we work with. We are particularly keen to engage with individuals who have lived experience of racism, ableism, poverty, homo- and trans-phobia, and/or are aged under 30 years. Tackling discrimination and championing our young people benefits everyone in society, and we want to generate positive change for all.

If you are a professionally experienced copy editor, creative editor or proofreader, and/or have an artist’s or illustrator’s portfolio to share and are available to work freelance, we want to hear from you.

You’ll need to share our values and vision and wish to work with a vibrant range of writers to discover, polish and elevate hidden literary gems. We are looking for individuals who are just as passionate as us about increasing the diversity of those whose creativity is given a platform in Wales, and who shapes the stories and imagery we publish.

If you are interested in being considered to work with us as and when opportunities arise, send us your CV and/or portfolio at [email protected] with the heading ‘Freelance Call-out’. Please include a paragraph about yourself in the email, along with your sample rate(s). Please also give your express written consent for us to retain your CV/portfolio, email and contact details on our secure freelance database for the purpose of contacting you about possible future opportunities.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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