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Friday Poem – ‘And the Soul’ by Kim Moore

Silhouette of a wolf howling at the sky again a fiery sunset

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘And the Soul’ by Kim Moore from her first collection The Art of Falling. Kim will be joining us online on Thursday 1st February to read alongside Polly Atkin at First Thursday. Stock up for the event by treating yourself to 50% off any of her books between now and 31st January 2024 in our January Sale.

And the Soul And the soul, if she is to know herself, must look into the soul... – Plato And the soul, if she is to know herself must look into the soul and find what kind of beast is hiding. And if it be a horse, open up the gate and let it run. And if it be a rabbit give it sand dunes to disappear in. And if it be a swan, create a mirror image, give it water. And if it be a badger grow a sloping woodland in your heart. And if it be a tick, let the blood flow until it’s sated. And if it be a fish there must be a river and a mountain. And if it be a cat, find some people to ignore, but if it be a wolf, you’ll know from its restless way of moving, if it be a wolf, throw back your head and let it howl.
Friday 26th - Wednesday 31st January. January Sale. Use code JanSale24. www.serenbooks.com
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Seren January Sale Returns

Friday 26th - Wednesday 31st January. January Sale. Use code JanSale24. www.serenbooks.com

We’re excited to announce the return of our half-price January Sale! From Friday 26th – Wednesday 31st January 2024, use the code JanSale24 to claim 50% off orders on the Seren website (excluding pre-orders and subscriptions).

Now is the perfect time to bag a bargain and beat those January blues. With all the bad weather recently, there’s no better time to hunker down in the warm with a good book. Whether it’s poetry, fiction or non-fiction you’re looking for, we’ve got books to suit all tastes.

Fiction

This cover shows a close up image of a large sapphire necklace against a murky blue aged background. The text reads: Sabrina's Teardrop. An Inspector Chard Mystery. Leslie Scase.
This cover shows an image of an African tree silhouetted against the purple, mist shrouded dawn sky. The text reads: This Is Not Who We Are. Sophie Buchaillard.
This cover shows an illustration of a box television against a sandy background. The text reads: Four Dervishes. Hammad Rind.

Explore gripping crime drama unfolding on the streets of Victorian Pontypridd with the Inspector Chard Mysteries by Leslie Scase. Read Sophie Buchaillard’s Wales Book of the Year shortlisted debut novel This is Not Who We Are, or Hammad Rind’s Four Dervishes hailed “…the most remarkable work of fiction to come out of Wales in a thousand moons.” by Jon Gower. There are also plenty of commute-friendly short story collections such as Scar Tissue by Clare Morgan and A City Burning by Angela Graham.

Browse Fiction

Non-Fiction

This cover shows a photograph of James Roberts. The text reads: The Longest Farewell, James, Dementia and Me by Nula Suchet
This cover has a bright pink background. A cut out image of a young Lucy Cannon wearing a white comunion gown with her hands raised in prayer and drawn devil horns is in the middle. The text reads: The Amazingly Astonishing Story by Lucy Gannon.
This cover shows a sculpture of a glass dress as if worn by an invisible figure. It is posed as if sat on its left hip with its legs stretched out to the side. The text reads: Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism. Kim Moore.

Stock up for International Women’s Day with inspiring non-fiction titles by Nula Suchet, Lucy Gannon, Julie Brominicks and Kim Moore. The best-selling Bar 44 Tapas y Copas cookbook (as featured on Saturday Kitchen) is only £12.50! And with spring on the way, now’s the perfect time to pick up both of Iolo Williams’ Wild Places books.

Browse Non-Fiction

Poetry

This cover shows an abstract painting by the artist Antony Goble. A woman with blue skin dominates the image in a vibrant orange dress. She is balancing an urn on her head and holds a red crow in her hand. The text reads: As If To Sing, Paul Henry.
This cover shows a photograph of a figure shrouded in a sheet standing in the middle of a deserted field. The text reads: Goliat. Rhiannon Hooson.
This cover shows a sepia-toned watercolour illustration by Galileo depicting the 6 phases of the moon. The text reads: In Orbit. Glyn Edwards.

If you haven’t already read Paul Henry’s Poetry Category, Wales Book of the Year winning collection As If To Sing, it’s one of a great selection of critically-acclaimed poetry books available in the sale. You can also stock up on poetry featured on The Seren Poetry Podcast to read whilst catching up with series 2, such as Goliat by Rhiannon Hooson and In Orbit by Glyn Edwards!

Browse Poetry

We’ll be highlighting lots more great titles throughout the sale on our social media channels but for now, happy browsing and thank you for continuing to support Seren and our authors.

Use code JanSale24
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Friday Poem – ‘Heron/Snow’ by Polly Atkin

Photograph of a Heron flying above the snowy ground

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Heron/Snow’ by Polly Atkin from her first collection Basic Nest Architecture. Join us online on Thursday 1st February to hear Polly read alongside Kim Moore at Virtual First Thursday.

Heron/Snow You carry worlds in the cipher of your feathers; sky and water woven together by the black of a wood in winter; blue grey of the lake, half frozen over: a dull kind mirror to find yourself in or to knock on in search of another. Is that why you waited all morning so patiently, planted like a post in the field in the snow? There is nothing here by this road for you, surely, but ground to launch from, and me, to watch you drawing your perfect arc in the air, diving silently upwards into the tumbling white, as though into a weir. The whole vale is shaking itself into flakes and falling, or rising. It’s hard to tell. You in your grace alone remain still even in motion. I’ve heard a heron will attack a human if threatened. I imagine your beak a spear through my skull, and grasp at last the beauty of the kill.

We’re looking forward to welcoming Polly Atkin and Kim Moore to Zoom on the 1st February to read from their latest books Some of Us Just Fall and Are You Judging Me Yet?. Tickets are £2 plus Eventbrite admin fee. Find out more below.

Buy tickets
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Friday Poem – ‘Seen’ by Rachael Clyne

Close up photograph of a person's eye. The majority of their face is in darkness other than the iris which is illuminated by a vertical strip of light.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Seen’ by Rachael Clyne from her collection You’ll Never Be Anyone Else.

Seen My winter face stares back, dares meto meet its decline. I survey my map of mishaps, try to recall when I was last held. I look at a photo of me aged twenty: her smoulder-eyed beauty, her blank-page face; waiting for its story. Mind riddled with gaps, and gob full of opinions, this body still stands, bends and carries despite subsidence. At my retina scan today, I saw the backs of my eyes like unlaid eggs, an eye-tree of scarlet tracery. The scan man said, You still have fabulous retinas.

If you missed it, catch up with Rachael’s episode of The Seren Poetry Podcast Series 2 where she discusses You’ll Never Be Anyone Else in detail with our Deputy Publisher Sarah Johnson. Search for The Seren Poetry Podcast on your favourite podcast app to listen now.

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Friday Poem – ‘Rememory’ by Nerys Williams

Snowy UK street in the morning

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Rememory’ by Nerys Williams from her third collection Republic. You can listen to our in depth interview with Nerys about Republic in episode 6 of The Seren Poetry Podcast Series 2.

19. Rememory I am lost in the contorted image of a pub. I scroll back to the pedestrian image but cannot get away from a couple who have ordered their dinner and are waiting. Faces pixelated, seated at a polished table. Thankfully I see the emergency exit. My cursor and I stumble down the patterned carpet step, finally to air and traffic. I have been “home” already, though home is a walk from my ex-boyfriend’s house near a cathedral graveyard. I never noticed that we had a back gate, it was rarely warm enough to hang our washing. Bell practice every Wednesday night, even with closed shutters, ear plugs, trying to enter Californian poetry for its last glimmer of warmth – discordant knells punctuated words. Naming the plants I never saw: Meadowsweet, Queen Anne’s Lace, Morning glory. Winter’s dazzling days, snow on the morning street. Marrow-cold in a house with only a small gas fire, cotton duvets, sheeted ice, socks in bed. Desperate for a taste of sun, the philosopher and I bought avocados, mashed them, added lemon and salt, turned up the heater. Our knitted-selves toasted dappled light with each dip.
Memories of my younger self often circle gatherings at modest feasts. Follow the cursor to a café filled with coffee, panettone and ice cream, orange, pink and green sweet boxes stacked on the shelves. Or, do I turn the corner to find my student-self? Encountering a stalker past bushes and winding river, I ran home breathless, sick. The night of celebrating scholarships to the US the philosopher, filmmaker and I were manifesto making. A night imagining passage on a liner, careering to Sinatra, romanticising ourselves in steerage. The figure at my heels gaining the measure of my two-step, three-step, four-step five-step, six, seven, eight…

The full box set of The Seren Poetry Podcast Series 2 is now available to listen to on your favourite podcast app. Search for The Seren Poetry Podcast and click like, follow or subscribe to have all future episodes delivered straight to your podcast feed.

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Announcing our 2024-25 Poetry List

Left to right: Tony Curtis, Carrie Etter, Grahame Davies, Katrina Naomi, Lorcan Black, Betty Doyle, Kathryn Bevis, Wendy Allen, Maggie Harris, Emily Cotterill, Bethany Handley

Seren’s poetry list continues to go from strength to strength under the careful guidance of our poetry editors Rhian Edwards and Zoë Brigley. As 2023 draws to a close, we’re delighted to announce the full list of fantastic collections we’ll be publishing between April 2024 and March 2025.

Our poetry list continues to champion new and established authors from both Wales and beyond. Popular Seren authors such as Tony Curtis, Carrie Etter, Grahame Davies, Katrina Naomi, Kathryn Bevis, and Maggie Harris are on the list alongside voices new to Seren such as Lorcán Black, Betty Doyle, Wendy Allen, Emily Cotterill and Bethany Handley.

Keep an eye on our website and social media channels in the new year for more information about each of these exciting collections.

April 2024

Leaving the Hills – Tony Curtis
Grief’s Alphabet – Carrie Etter
A Darker Way – Grahame Davies

July 2024

Battery Rocks – Katrina Naomi
Strange Husbandry – Lorcán Black
Oxygen & Light – Betty Doyle (pamphlet)

October 2024

The Butterfly House – Kathryn Bevis
Portrait in Mustard – Wendy Allen (pamphlet)

Feb 2025

I Sing to the Greenhearts – Maggie Harris
Significant Wow – Emily Cotterill
Cling Film – Bethany Handley (working title – pamphlet)

Don’t forget we also have two great collections publishing in February 2024. Cormorant by Elizabeth Parker and East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Taz Rahman. Keep an eye out for more information about each of these in the new year.

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Christmas with Poetry Wales

Issues of poetry wales laid out against a blue background in the shape of a Christmas tree

In today’s post, we’re highlighting some of the fantastic subscriptions offered by our sister-company Poetry Wales. Whether you’re looking for a gift or a treat for yourself, they have something for everyone.

Poetry Wales has been publishing hand-curated issues and special themed editions for 60 years. As well as being a platform for unpublished work by new and established poets from all over the world, each issue also contains a creative workshop by a working poet, an interview or feature by and with some of the brightest stars in Welsh and international poetry, and much more. Treat your loved ones to a subscription or single issue today!

Supporter Subscriptions

Three Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other. Behind them is a lightly coloured circle.

Supporter Subscription – Gold

With Gold, subscribers get:

  • A print and digital subscription to Poetry Wales
  • Access to the full library of PW digital editions from 48.1 onwards (the last 10 years)
  • A mystery vintage PW issue from as early as 1965 or recent Seren poetry title with each new issue (choose which of these options you’d like at checkout)

If you think this would make the perfect gift for someone in your life, there’s an option to purchase a ‘Gift Subscription’ on the Poetry Wales website. The perfect way to keep up-to date with the Welsh poetry scene all year around.

Choose this subscription for £75 a year

Supporter Subscription – Welsh Gold

With the Welsh Gold subscription, subscribers receive:

  • A print and digital subscription to Poetry Wales
  • Access to the full library of Poetry Wales digital editions from issue 48.1 onwards (the last ten years)
  • Every Seren poetry title published from time of purchase
Three Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other. Behind them is a lightly coloured circle.
Subscribe annually for £200

Print Subscriptions

Six colourful Poetry Wales issues overlap each other. The three most recent issues are in the foreground.

Print Subscription – Recurring Two Year

Subscribers who purchase now will get 6 forthcoming issues, including the Spring (59.3, March), Summer (60.1, July) and Winter (60.2, November) issues in 2024.

This would make a fantastic gift for an avid fan of poetry, ensuring they have a current issue for as long as the subscription is active.

Subscribe now from £48 every two years

Print Subscriber – Recurring One Year

Poetry Wales publishes 3 issues a year. Subscriptions purchased today will include Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) plus many more issues still to come!

You may notice some familiar faces amongst the pages of Poetry Wales. Seren poets who have been featured in recent issues include Rachel Carney, Lynne Hjelmgaard and Glyn Edwards.

Three of the most recent Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other.
Subscribe now for £20 per year

Print Non-Recurring Subscriptions

Three of the most recent Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other.

Print Subscription – One Year

These are the most popular subscriptions that Poetry Wales offer, and it’s easy to see why! They are ideal for anyone who is curious or looking to dip their toe into the world of Poetry Wales.

Anyone who subscribes now will get Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) issues as part of their subscription.

Subscribe now from £27

Print Subscription – Two Year

The next few years are going to be particularly exciting for Poetry Wales. If you fancy sticking around, two year print subscriptions purchased today will include Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) issues as part of their subscription. You will also get Spring 2025 (60.3), Summer 2025 (61.1) and Winter 2025 (61.2) the following year.

Six colourful Poetry Wales issues overlap each other. The three most recent issues are in the foreground.
Subscribe now from £48

Digital Subscription

Four Poetry Wales issues which slightly overlap each other. Each issue is outlined with a bold black line.

Digital Subscription

The cheapest option for people based outside of the UK, a digital subscription give you access to each issue on publication day (the first of March/July/November), plus access to our digital back catalogue, which is the last ten years. The archive is fully searchable, so it’s easy to find your favourite poet or poem at the click of a button.

Digital subscriptions are managed by Exact Editions – when purchasing you will be taken to their website to complete your purchase.

Subscribe now from £5.99 quarterly or £21.99 annually

Student and Low-Income Subscriptions

Student and Low-Income – Print

Poetry should be accessible to everyone, so Poetry Wales also offer a student and low-income subscriptions. Choose from £20 a year, £7 every 4 months (plus £7 sign-up fee), or £2 a month (plus £5 sign-up fee). These subscriptions include the same as a one year print subscription, so order today and you’ll receive Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) as part of your subscription.

Three of the most recent Poetry Wales issues slightly overlapping each other. 'Student and Low Income' is written on text which has been layered on top of the magazines.
Subscribe now from £20 per year

Looking for more poetry gift ideas? Take a look at our Poetry Gift Guide.

Read more
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Best Poetry of 2023 – round-up

Left to right: Rachel Carney, Kathryn Gray, Nerys Williams, Judy Brown

As the year draws to a close, several Seren poets and their recent collections have appeared on ‘Best of 2023’ lists. Here’s a round-up of Seren poetry collections currently grabbing the attention of reviewers:

This cover shows a photograph of a stone sculpture of a half-profile woman's face submerged beneath the waves. The text reads: Octopus Mind. Rachel Carney.

Octopus Mind | Guardian Best Poetry Books 2023

Rachel Carney’s debut poetry collection Octopus Mind has been featured in The Guardian as one of their Best Poetry Books of 2023.

Buy now

Hollywood or Home | Sunday Times Best Non-Fiction Poetry Books

Seren poet Kathryn Gray‘s latest collection Hollywood or Home has been listed in the Sunday Times as one of the 16 Best Non-Fiction Poetry books of 2023.

It was also selected by the London Review Bookshop as one of their Christmas 2023: Poetry titles.

Buy now
This cover shows an illustration of a woman wearing a yellow dress. She is walking down a pier surrounded by water. In the background there is lighting and a bare forest. The dress is drawn as if wind is blowing it to the left. On the right of the character is a figure in a shirt and dark trousers floating face down in the water. Hollywood or Home. Kathryn Gray. ‘‘Underpinning the comedy and satire... is a real pain at life’s jolts time’s realness” - Nick Laird.
This cover shows a colourful print of a woman dressed in a black hoodie with large bunny ears on the hood. She has dripping dark blue rings around her eyes and stands out against an acid yellow background. The text reads: Republic. Nerys Williams.

Republic | Sunday Irish Independent

Nerys Williams was featured in the Sunday Irish Independent Best Poetry Books of 2023 for her collection Republic, and was also chosen by two contributors to Wales Arts Review as 2023 recommendations.

Buy now

Lairs | London Review Bookshop

Lairs by Judy Brown was selected by London Review Bookshop bookseller John Clegg as one of his Poetry Books of the Year.

Buy now
This cover shows a 1950s style collage of a woman sitting in a field looking at a mysterious black orb. Red mountains stretch into the distance behind it. The text reads: Lairs. Judy Brown.