Katrina Naomi’s poetry collection Battery Rocks has been shortlisted for the Holyer an Gof Award which promotes books about Cornwall, set in Cornwall or in Cornish (Kernewek).

Battery Rocks takes the Cornish swimming spot, Battery Rocks in Penzance, as the starting point for a poetic exploration of nature, risk, swimming and the sea. Revelling in friendship, love and community, the Cornish language and landscape are deeply entwined, as Katrina deftly experiments with poems in Kernewek (Cornish) and English. 

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced during the award ceremony on 5th July 2025. The full list of shortlisted titles can be viewed on the Gorsedh Kernow website.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘The View’ by Sheenagh Pugh from her collection Afternoons Go Nowhere.

In honour of the 22 June being Gwen John’s birthday, this week’s Friday Poem is ‘Love is lonelier than solitude’ by Sue Hubbard from her collection God’s Little Artist.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘For the Drag Queen Who Lives in My Building’ by Emily Cotterill from her collection Significant Wow.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘A Pond for All Eels’ by Taz Rahman from his collection East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Catch Taz and lot of other interesting poets at Aberystwyth Poetry Festival this weekend. View the programme here.