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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!

Posted on August 30, 2024August 30, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Danger’ by Rachel Carney

Photo of a single jellyfish floating in the shallows, its pale body hidden amongst the seaweed.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Danger’ by Rachel Carney from her debut collection Octopus Mind. This weekend is your last chance to get Octopus Mind (and lots of other great books) half-price in our Summer Sale. Use the code ‘summer2024’. Sale ends 11:59pm Sunday 1st September.

Danger
We were warned about the jellyfish,
where we paddled, tentatively,
in the shallows, our backs to the sun,
feet braced against the slap of wavelets,
eyes alert for anything globular,
for anything pale, or stringy.
And we were warned about the sinking sand –
sluggish, wet,
sucking at our shoes,
swallowing our shoes.
And the cliffs that might collapse at any moment,
that might crumble to dust
and bury us alive
in a heap of rock and fossils.
They warned us about the danger
of talking to strangers,
of strange men in nightclubs
offering to walk us home.
We were warned to say,
before we set off,
into the mountains,
which path we planned to take,
and exactly when we planned to return.
But nobody warned us about the danger
of sitting, alone, on the sofa.
Or the danger of forgetting to eat,
of not wanting to get up from the sofa.
And nobody warned us of how difficult it can be,
sometimes, just to lace up your trainers,
to open the front door,
to take a deep breath and brace yourself.
To walk outside.

Posted on August 23, 2024August 23, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘First Job’ by Bryony Littlefair

Close up photo of stacked, chocolate coins wrapped in shiny golden foil.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘First Job’ by Bryony Littlefair from her debut collection Escape Room.

First job
I worked at Boots on Thursday evenings,
stacking shower gels in unnatural colours,
telling blurry-looking women where to find the ibuprofen,
but usually I’d be on the downstairs till,
where a customer came every twenty minutes
grabbing a salad for a late dinner, a stick
of deodorant or baby wipes. They’d meet
my eyes so briefly. Boredom spread
like liquid magnolia soap. Once I picked up
the magazine they kept by the tills –
Health and Beauty, on which
a smiling white woman
played volleyball on the beach.
Suzanne, who was neither unkind
nor stupid, only tired and harassed, said
Don’t read that while you’re on the till.
There’s no one here, I said, looking around,
but I did as she asked and put it away
feeling a twinge of annoyance,
but a strange, building feeling too
not unlike excitement – not because I refused,
but because I was growing an understanding
of what was being asked of me, and I turned
that new knowledge over
in my closed mouth,
like a chocolate coin.

Posted on August 16, 2024August 16, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Peau’ by Damian Walford Davies

Photo of a dusty road bending to the left and disappearing into rocky mountains

This week’s Friday Pome is ‘Peau’ by Damian Walford Davies from his collection Viva Bartali!.

Peau
Tour de France, 1938; Stage 14, Col d’Izoard, 22 July
From the dustcloud belly
of the baggage train, a megaphone
bawled out your lead in cracked
Italian through the moonscape
of the Casse Déserte. There was
time enough to notice
how a fine grey dust descended
on your arms, like mamma’s
sifted flour from a sack
the colour of the Virgin’s cloak,
parching then to snakescale
crust, sweat slaking it to clay
until the staggered watchers
at the summit saw a man of ash
thrash past, his face a mask,
and wished him such a steeping
at Briançon as would be
the utter shedding of a skin.

Viva Bartali! and lots more great poetry titles are currently available half-price in our Summer Sale which runs until 1st September 2024. Use the code summer2024 for 50% off any featured title.

Shop the sale