Clare Best
@clarebest.bsky.social
reading, looking, listening carefully; paying attention; writing
clarebest.co.uk
also @cbestphd.bsky.social posting bits and pieces around my doctoral research
#poetry #memoir #lifewriting #teachingwriting #CSA #OUPGR #opera #libretto #materialculture
clarebest.co.uk
also @cbestphd.bsky.social posting bits and pieces around my doctoral research
#poetry #memoir #lifewriting #teachingwriting #CSA #OUPGR #opera #libretto #materialculture
Pinned
Clare Best
@clarebest.bsky.social
· Dec 4
15 years since HappenStance published ‘Treasure Ground’ - my first poetry pamphlet.
On 11 Dec it’ll be 18 years since my risk-reducing bilateral mastectomies, wh inspired ‘Excisions’ (Waterloo Press 2011) & ‘Breastless’ (Pighog 2011).
Gratitude: a powerful emotion. I declare it here, today. 🙏🏻
On 11 Dec it’ll be 18 years since my risk-reducing bilateral mastectomies, wh inspired ‘Excisions’ (Waterloo Press 2011) & ‘Breastless’ (Pighog 2011).
Gratitude: a powerful emotion. I declare it here, today. 🙏🏻
Reposted by Clare Best
A bump for this guest @northseapoets.bsky.social post. I've always loved this Auden poem and I have always loved the notion of an imaginary friend. So here I am writing about both: open.substack.com/pub/northsea...
Auden's 'Imaginary Friends'
NSP Guest Post! Andrew Neilson on how the literati cope as Rome falls
open.substack.com
February 7, 2026 at 6:38 PM
A bump for this guest @northseapoets.bsky.social post. I've always loved this Auden poem and I have always loved the notion of an imaginary friend. So here I am writing about both: open.substack.com/pub/northsea...
Wouldn’t it be something if Royal Lodge, Windsor, could become a retreat / shelter for victim survivors of #sexualabuse and #sexualassault?
#survivorsvoices #CSA #rapecrisis #survivor #SA #DV #MeToo
#survivorsvoices #CSA #rapecrisis #survivor #SA #DV #MeToo
February 5, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Wouldn’t it be something if Royal Lodge, Windsor, could become a retreat / shelter for victim survivors of #sexualabuse and #sexualassault?
#survivorsvoices #CSA #rapecrisis #survivor #SA #DV #MeToo
#survivorsvoices #CSA #rapecrisis #survivor #SA #DV #MeToo
Reposted by Clare Best
Submissions are now open for issue nine. The theme is Trespass: rights and wrongs; encroachment and colonisation; faults and forgiveness. Please see the website (link in bio) for information and guidelines. Window closes August 31st. 🕊 xx
August 1, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Submissions are now open for issue nine. The theme is Trespass: rights and wrongs; encroachment and colonisation; faults and forgiveness. Please see the website (link in bio) for information and guidelines. Window closes August 31st. 🕊 xx
Gorgeous miniature binding by Gabrielle Fox of my poem ‘The bookbinder’ - what a gift!
#finebookbinding #miniaturebooks
#finebookbinding #miniaturebooks
May 23, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Gorgeous miniature binding by Gabrielle Fox of my poem ‘The bookbinder’ - what a gift!
#finebookbinding #miniaturebooks
#finebookbinding #miniaturebooks
Reposted by Clare Best
New post on #Substack from @johnglenday.bsky.social
Robert Frost's Eyebrows – John Glenday on words, syllables and cadence.
#NorthSeaPoets #PoetryCommunity
Robert Frost's Eyebrows – John Glenday on words, syllables and cadence.
#NorthSeaPoets #PoetryCommunity
March 31, 2025 at 11:02 AM
New post on #Substack from @johnglenday.bsky.social
Robert Frost's Eyebrows – John Glenday on words, syllables and cadence.
#NorthSeaPoets #PoetryCommunity
Robert Frost's Eyebrows – John Glenday on words, syllables and cadence.
#NorthSeaPoets #PoetryCommunity
Reposted by Clare Best
Competition - Win copies of new book 'Bowie Land - Walking In The Footsteps of David' by Peter Carpenter.
Competition – Win copies of new book ‘Bowie Land – Walking In The Footsteps of David’ by Peter Carpenter
From Beckenham to Berlin, Peter Carpenter’s captivating tribute to David Bowie takes the reader on a mesmerising meander through the places that played a significant role in the music icon…
www.davidbowienews.com
March 9, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Competition - Win copies of new book 'Bowie Land - Walking In The Footsteps of David' by Peter Carpenter.
little brushes of larch 💚
March 24, 2025 at 9:56 AM
little brushes of larch 💚
Reposted by Clare Best
North Sea Poets is shaping up to be a vital new collaborative poetry project. Writing on their #Substack at northseapoets.substack.com is superb.
How could it not be when NSP is written/run by Kathleen Jamie, Niall Campbell, Don Paterson, Karen Solie, John Glenday, Lisa Brockwell, Lesley Harrison.
How could it not be when NSP is written/run by Kathleen Jamie, Niall Campbell, Don Paterson, Karen Solie, John Glenday, Lisa Brockwell, Lesley Harrison.
New post on #Substack 📰
The book all poets should read (but almost none have)
@lisabrockwell.bsky.social reflects on a book that changes how we think of poetry 📚
#NorthSeaPoets #Poetry #PoetryCommunity
The book all poets should read (but almost none have)
@lisabrockwell.bsky.social reflects on a book that changes how we think of poetry 📚
#NorthSeaPoets #Poetry #PoetryCommunity
March 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
North Sea Poets is shaping up to be a vital new collaborative poetry project. Writing on their #Substack at northseapoets.substack.com is superb.
How could it not be when NSP is written/run by Kathleen Jamie, Niall Campbell, Don Paterson, Karen Solie, John Glenday, Lisa Brockwell, Lesley Harrison.
How could it not be when NSP is written/run by Kathleen Jamie, Niall Campbell, Don Paterson, Karen Solie, John Glenday, Lisa Brockwell, Lesley Harrison.
Reposted by Clare Best
My next book, INTO BEING: will be published by MUP in October and I can now share the cover - it is part memoir, part teaching manual for those of you who love writing. It is one of the only books in the UK to focus on the craft of #memoir. Pre-order manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526179258/
February 28, 2025 at 1:52 PM
My next book, INTO BEING: will be published by MUP in October and I can now share the cover - it is part memoir, part teaching manual for those of you who love writing. It is one of the only books in the UK to focus on the craft of #memoir. Pre-order manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526179258/
Reposted by Clare Best
Special offer from Longbarrow Press: any 3 hardbacks for £32. Includes collections by Steve Ely, Angelina D'Roza, Rob Hindle, Peter Riley, Nancy Gaffield, Mark Goodwin, Matthew Clegg, Fay Musselwhite, 'The Footing' anthology, and more
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
February 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Special offer from Longbarrow Press: any 3 hardbacks for £32. Includes collections by Steve Ely, Angelina D'Roza, Rob Hindle, Peter Riley, Nancy Gaffield, Mark Goodwin, Matthew Clegg, Fay Musselwhite, 'The Footing' anthology, and more
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
Yesterday made a ⚡️ trip to Lewes to hear Neil Gower talk for LewesLitSoc about a life’s work with graphic art, books, maps, + his own writing.
So moving to see Neil’s art for ‘The Missing List’ among the images projected. I love what he created & I’m so happy to have his painting on my study wall.
So moving to see Neil’s art for ‘The Missing List’ among the images projected. I love what he created & I’m so happy to have his painting on my study wall.
February 26, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Yesterday made a ⚡️ trip to Lewes to hear Neil Gower talk for LewesLitSoc about a life’s work with graphic art, books, maps, + his own writing.
So moving to see Neil’s art for ‘The Missing List’ among the images projected. I love what he created & I’m so happy to have his painting on my study wall.
So moving to see Neil’s art for ‘The Missing List’ among the images projected. I love what he created & I’m so happy to have his painting on my study wall.
My review of Robert Hamberger’s latest collection – for The Friday Poem
open.substack.com/pub/thefrida...
open.substack.com/pub/thefrida...
February 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
My review of Robert Hamberger’s latest collection – for The Friday Poem
open.substack.com/pub/thefrida...
open.substack.com/pub/thefrida...
Reposted by Clare Best
Tomorrow!
TOMORROW (21 Feb) - please join us for the next Professor of Poetry lecture by A.E. Stallings @aestallings.bsky.social. This is a public lecture and all are welcome! No booking required.
When? 5.30pm on 21 Feb
Where? Examination Schools, Oxford
#Cavafy #poetrylovers #Oxfordevents #PoetrySky
When? 5.30pm on 21 Feb
Where? Examination Schools, Oxford
#Cavafy #poetrylovers #Oxfordevents #PoetrySky
February 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Tomorrow!
Reposted by Clare Best
Wishing you a happy mid February, with the help of the five-year-olds of Keswick.
kimmoore30.substack.com/p/love-and-o...
kimmoore30.substack.com/p/love-and-o...
February 14, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Wishing you a happy mid February, with the help of the five-year-olds of Keswick.
kimmoore30.substack.com/p/love-and-o...
kimmoore30.substack.com/p/love-and-o...
Reposted by Clare Best
Love continues. Poem by Robert Hershon (1936-2021) originally published in Poetry Northwest, Autumn 2000.
February 12, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Love continues. Poem by Robert Hershon (1936-2021) originally published in Poetry Northwest, Autumn 2000.
Reposted by Clare Best
A single word can be a lie. For example, journalists are still calling what Musk and his child army have been doing an operation in pursuit of government efficiency.... www.meditationsinanemergency.com/to-use-their...
To Use Their Language Is to Endorse Their Lies
Every crisis is in part a storytelling crisis, and the current one here in the US is also a language crisis. How we use the language and how we listen for lies that are in single words and phrases as ...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
February 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
A single word can be a lie. For example, journalists are still calling what Musk and his child army have been doing an operation in pursuit of government efficiency.... www.meditationsinanemergency.com/to-use-their...
this is my mother’s cloth tape measure, and the embroidered felt case (complete with tiny button and button loop!) that she made as a schoolgirl in the mid-1930s… a wonderful small reminder of an age of handmade detail in everyday objects – bringing so much pleasure still 😌
February 13, 2025 at 8:53 AM
this is my mother’s cloth tape measure, and the embroidered felt case (complete with tiny button and button loop!) that she made as a schoolgirl in the mid-1930s… a wonderful small reminder of an age of handmade detail in everyday objects – bringing so much pleasure still 😌
Reposted by Clare Best
This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen. IT'S A COUP.
It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
IT IS A COUP
This is what should be on every front page in 150 point banner headlines. All I have is this Substack but I lay it beneath your feet and pray to a higher power that I'm wrong.
open.substack.com
February 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen. IT'S A COUP.
It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Reposted by Clare Best
The Bridport Prize is offering two fully funded writer residencies in Dorset for writers from The Midlands and/or The North West of the UK who are working class and/or 60+
From Sunday 22 to Friday 27 June 2025. Writers must be available for the whole period.
Details in link.
Please share :)
From Sunday 22 to Friday 27 June 2025. Writers must be available for the whole period.
Details in link.
Please share :)
New! Fully funded writer residencies Working class and/or 60+ - Bridport Prize
bridportprize.org.uk
February 9, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The Bridport Prize is offering two fully funded writer residencies in Dorset for writers from The Midlands and/or The North West of the UK who are working class and/or 60+
From Sunday 22 to Friday 27 June 2025. Writers must be available for the whole period.
Details in link.
Please share :)
From Sunday 22 to Friday 27 June 2025. Writers must be available for the whole period.
Details in link.
Please share :)
Reposted by Clare Best
Things feel quite grim in the world. Poetry, as with much else, is battered by the elements: the doers struggle against the odds, while our thinkers are befuddled. But you know what? Bad Lilies returns later this month and we start typesetting TOMORROW. 😎
February 8, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Things feel quite grim in the world. Poetry, as with much else, is battered by the elements: the doers struggle against the odds, while our thinkers are befuddled. But you know what? Bad Lilies returns later this month and we start typesetting TOMORROW. 😎
Reposted by Clare Best
Since everybody seems to be talking about blurb culture in publishing this week, I wrote about a few memorable poetry blurbs someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/pinks-27-a...
Pinks #27: A Noise Like a Publisher
When poets write blurbs
someflowerssoon.substack.com
February 1, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Since everybody seems to be talking about blurb culture in publishing this week, I wrote about a few memorable poetry blurbs someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/pinks-27-a...
Reposted by Clare Best
I had the sweetest dream last night. I was driving on the LIE and there was Donald Trump in a red jumpsuit, picking up trash beside the highway.
February 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I had the sweetest dream last night. I was driving on the LIE and there was Donald Trump in a red jumpsuit, picking up trash beside the highway.