Rachael Boast
banner
rachaelboast.bsky.social
Rachael Boast
@rachaelboast.bsky.social
Disability advocate, editor and Picador author | Editor of VERSUS VERSUS: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets (Bloodaxe Books, 2025).
Account can't receive messages.
Pinned
Coming up! Elspeth Wilson hosts a gorgeous line up of poets from the @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social anthology, Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets, on November 22nd - featuring Polly Atkin, Nuala Watt and Pascale Petit. Link: pushtheboatout.org/events/versu...
Coming up! Elspeth Wilson hosts a gorgeous line up of poets from the @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social anthology, Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets, on November 22nd - featuring Polly Atkin, Nuala Watt and Pascale Petit. Link: pushtheboatout.org/events/versu...
November 7, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The Barbellion Prize relaunches today. Such good news.

barbellionprize.org
The Barbellion Prize | A prize recognising literary representation of chronically disabled lives.
barbellionprize.org
November 1, 2025 at 10:07 PM
This is going to be such a significant publication, covering themes such as the atypical body, love, displacement, history & the body politic, & no doubt will provide a reassessment of how we shape legacy. A magnificent debut from Chisom Okafor. Due 1.12.25
www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/978...
Winged Witnesses - Nebraska Press
The voices in these poems have witnessed the microhistories of the atypical body, the unusual body, the enjambed body, the chronically ill body trying to nav...
www.nebraskapress.unl.edu
November 1, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
OUT NOW. Issue Twenty-Two: 'Ghost Ship'. badlilies.uk/issue-twenty-two
Issue twenty-two — Bad Lilies
badlilies.uk
October 31, 2025 at 12:01 PM
If you missed the Versus Versus celebration at the Southbank last Saturday, it can be viewed on YouTube until Friday. Great to see it's had over 200 views. Warm thanks again to all our wonderful poets. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek9B...
Rachael Boast: Versus Versus – Live Stream
YouTube video by Southbank Centre
www.youtube.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Understanding #Access Forms and Riders - Tools for #Disabled, #ChronicallyIll & #Neurodivergent Authors

13th November 2PM

Hear from #publishing director Hannah Knowles, #LiteraryAgent Caro Clarke, #author Polly Atkin & #editor Ama Badu about their experiences & hopes for the form.

bit.ly/48Bmxxb
October 28, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Saturday 25 October, 2pm at @southbankcentre.bsky.social:
Global Crip Poetry Celebration
Rachael Boast, Lisa Kelly, Karthika Naïr and Daniel Sluman introduce Versus Versus, a new anthology by 100 deaf, disabled and neurodivergent poets from across the globe.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/glo...
October 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Great edition of BBC Radio 4's The Verb on Sunday. Host Ian McMillan was joined by poet Daniel Sluman to discuss @rachaelboast.bsky.social's landmark anthology Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets (from 34:53).
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
October 21, 2025 at 6:00 PM
VERSUS VERSUS SOUTHBANK CENTRE EVENT: VENUE CHANGE AND COVID AWARENESS

The venue change and covid guidance is now up on the Southbank Centre website (see comments below for more details)

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/glo...
Global Crip Poetry Celebration | Southbank Centre
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
October 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM
More anthology news! A lovely review of VERSUS VERSUS for Write Out Loud, by Kathy Owston, retired Teacher of the Deaf and volunteer trainer of the national Down Syndrome Table Tennis squad. VERSUS VERSUS is available to purchase from bloodaxebooks.bsky.social.

www.writeoutloud.net/public/bloge...
Versus Versus: ed. Rachael Boast, Bloodaxe | Write Out Loud
Versus Versus: ed. Rachael Boast, Bloodaxe
www.writeoutloud.net
October 20, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Coming up on The Verb: poet Daniel Sluman will be talking to host Ian McMillan about @rachaelboast.bsky.social's anthology Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets.

Tune in to BBC Radio 4 at 5.10pm today, 19 October, or listen later.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
October 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Tune in to BBC Radio 4's The Verb at 5.10pm today to catch Daniel Sluman, along with fellow contributors from the anthology Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets (bloodaxebooks.bsky.social)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, Poetry by Tony Harrison, US Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, Sinéad Morrissey, David Morley, and Daniel Sluman
Ian McMillan's guests are Sinéad Morrissey, David Morley, Arthur Sze and Daniel Sluman.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 19, 2025 at 1:07 PM
If you've not booked yet, grab your tickets! One week to go until this beautiful line up of poets for our Global Crip Poetry Celebration at the Southbank Centre, London.
Not long to go! Global Crip Poetry Celebration: Poets from VERSUS VERSUS, published by @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social | Sat 25 Oct 2025, 2pm, at the Southbank Centre. A Relaxed Performance and British Sign Language interpreted (BSL) and Speech-to-Text transcribed. More details in comments.
October 17, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Poets Rachael Boast, Lisa Kelly, Karthika Naïr and Daniel Sluman introduce Versus Versus, an anthology by 100 deaf, disabled and neurodivergent poets from across the globe.

When - 25 Oct
Where - London
££ - From £15

disabilityarts.online/events/globa...
October 10, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Not long to go! Global Crip Poetry Celebration: Poets from VERSUS VERSUS, published by @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social | Sat 25 Oct 2025, 2pm, at the Southbank Centre. A Relaxed Performance and British Sign Language interpreted (BSL) and Speech-to-Text transcribed. More details in comments.
October 8, 2025 at 11:23 AM
@tapsalteerie.bsky.social are hosting an exciting launch for the publication of Weathershaker by Stewart Sanderson and Dwell Time by Taylor Strickland in Glasgow: 28th October at 7pm at The Alchemy Experiment. Here's the link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poetry-boo...
October 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Versus Versus: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets (ed. @rachaelboast.bsky.social) is a @poetrydayuk.bsky.social Book Group recommendation for #NationalPoetryDay this year.
forwardartsfoundation.org/national-poe...
October 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Coming up at @southbankcentre.bsky.social Global Crip Poetry Celebration on 25th October, 2pm. Poets Rachael Boast, Lisa Kelly, Karthika Naïr and Daniel Sluman introduce a new anthology by 100 deaf, disabled and neurodivergent poets from across the globe.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/glo...
Global Crip Poetry Celebration | Southbank Centre
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
September 22, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Coming soon, a celebration of Versus Versus, published by @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social, at the Southbank Centre. Visit the SBC website for in person and livestream ticket options:

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/glo...

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/glo...
August 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
Many thanks to @rebeccatamas.bsky.social for this wonderful review of @rachaelboast.bsky.social's Versus Versus anthology in The Guardian's Saturday magazine poetry books of the month feature.
August 2, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
📣 Our submission window is now OPEN for the month of August. Get your blooms to us while the sun is shining! badlilies.uk/submit
Submission FAQ — Bad Lilies
Guidelines to submit to Bad Lilies
badlilies.uk
August 1, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
This important anthology's available here in Canada as of today, folks. Received confirmation this morning that my copy has just shipped.
August 1, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Delighted that VERSUS VERSUS: 100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets, published by @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social & supported by the Royal Society of Literature, has made it into the Guardian. A short and sweet review from
@rebeccatamas.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Passion by David Morley; Versus Versus edited by Rachael Boast; So What by Frederick Seidel; In the Hollow of the Wave by Nina Mingya Powles; Transfigurations by Jay Wright
www.theguardian.com
August 1, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Rachael Boast
23 of us poets in VERSUS VERSUS: 100 POEMS BY DEAF, DISABLED & NEURODIVERGENT POETS, edited by @rachaelboast.bsky.social, perform:

vimeo.com/1102502312

Click Subtitles button for Closed Captioning. #CripLit
Poets from Versus Versus
23 of the poets included in Versus Versus share their poems from the anthology in this compilation of readings from around the world. Poets featured in the video…
vimeo.com
July 25, 2025 at 10:56 AM