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
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.
Reposted by Clare Best
Delighted to be one of the judges for The London Library's Emerging Writers Programme; masterclasses, networking peer support and year's membership to the library. Give it a go. More deets: www.londonlibrary.co.uk/about-us/ll-...
January 7, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Delighted to be one of the judges for The London Library's Emerging Writers Programme; masterclasses, networking peer support and year's membership to the library. Give it a go. More deets: www.londonlibrary.co.uk/about-us/ll-...
Reposted by Clare Best
Delicious variety & new collaborations celebrating poetry.
If you haven’t already, join our newsletter via our website for details on featured events, workshops and poets.
It’s the best way to keep up to date on what’s when who and why.
If you haven’t already, join our newsletter via our website for details on featured events, workshops and poets.
It’s the best way to keep up to date on what’s when who and why.
December 5, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Delicious variety & new collaborations celebrating poetry.
If you haven’t already, join our newsletter via our website for details on featured events, workshops and poets.
It’s the best way to keep up to date on what’s when who and why.
If you haven’t already, join our newsletter via our website for details on featured events, workshops and poets.
It’s the best way to keep up to date on what’s when who and why.