Quietly persuasive and formally adept, the poems in Kathryn Simmonds' first collection engage with both the quotidian and the transcendental. Often in urban or suburban settings, her protagonists struggle with mundane tasks such as cooking or commuting or office work - all of the obstacles of modernity - and then, by some shift of attention, or by some keen narrowing of focus, they chance upon the surreal or the spiritual.

This is a poetry of subtle contexts and allusions, as much as concerned with the vulnerability of the body as for the fate of the soul and the idea of ´keeping faith´ in God and life.

What the critics say…

"An expansive imagination, a wide formal range, wit and humanity - ´Sunday at the Skin Laundrette´ is a remarkable debut." - Michael Symmons Roberts

"Quirky, witty, moving Kathryn Simmonds´ gift is to find joy and beauty in unexpected places. She invests the everyday world with an extraordinary luminosity." - Jackie Kay