My debut pamphlet with @fourteenpoems.bsky.social is out very soon! I’m so happy (and impressed at how many I can hold in each hand) link here www.fourteenpoems.com/shop/mango-s...

6. Reservoir Bitches, Dahlia de la Cerda

Going into bookshops and seeing cool books on the shelves/tables or being recommended by a bookseller are the ways I’ve found most of my faves this year. This one caught my eye in the local indie bookshop.

5. Nevada, Imogen Binnie

A roadtrip fueled by emptiness and repression, Binnie’s travel novel doesn’t answer your questions and poses its own. I love a book that doesn’t cater to the reader and would recommend this to anyone in a reading slump 🥳

5. The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell

Okay I know I’m late!!! I want to find more books like this. Historical fic, brilliant, gripping. Stayed up til 3am to finish. 1000/10 will recommend.

4. You Exist Too Much, Zaina Arafat

A queer wrecking ball of a novel narrated by a bisexual Palestinian American addicted to love. Messy in the best sense, illuminating and a lot of fun!🤩

4. You Exist Too Much, Zaina Arafat

A queer wrecking ball of a novel narrated by a bisexual Palestinian American addicted to love. Messy in the best sense, illuminating and a lot of fun!🤩

3. Colin Walsh, Kala

I was recommended this heavily when working at Waterstones. A group of friends revisit past nostalgia and barely hidden pain when their missing friend is finally found. Multiple narratives and a unique voice in crime I was gripped, hooked and loved every minute.

2. Chloe Michelle Howarth, Sunburn

This sticky sweet novel set in 90s Ireland was a sleeper hit for me. I loved it more and more I read it and found the characters excellently sketched. More of these pleaase!

Dark Vibrant Spaces

As a long term subscriber I was delighted one of my reviews was selected by @pnreview.bsky.social for Issue 278 which I’m pretty sure was published on my birthday! An honour to review these fantastic collections

The Love of My Life Is a Haunted House with a Picket Fence

@fourteenpoems.bsky.social are wonderful and brilliant. After years of trying my poem nestled its way into Issue 13, inspired by Phoebe Bridgers and pure elbow-grease love 💖💙💜

www.fourteenpoems.com/shop/issue-13

Anniversary-Dream

@poetrysociety.bsky.social
had a really cool exciting theme for Valentine’s Day 2024. Centos! I was fascinated by the form and wrote a poem

finding lines that fit the feeling sound unconsciously. grateful for their iconic writing comps

poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/annive...

I’m doing it less so chronologically and more on ✨aura

Type I is a lyric essay on mental health and the healthcare system in the UK. It’s loosely based on experiences of my own and discusses bipolar. Do read with caution and care

iselemagazine.com/2022/03/15/t...

1. Julia Armfield, Private Rites

I read all three of Armfield’s books this year and I was stunned by her characters and writing. A queer slant-telling of King Lear set against the climate crisis. Three sisters try not to drown in grief and paperwork. Cynical, honest and somehow hopeful I did cry