The Salt Book of Younger Poets is both valuable, as an introduction to future big names and an indication of trends in the most contemporary poetry, and enjoyable, as an anthology of intelligent and energetic writing..What is most lovely to see in the Salt anthology is a wide range of well-written experimental poetry. Rachael Allen produces some stunningly controlled prose poems under that heading. Phil Brown plays with an impressive crossword poem, entitled 'Diptych'. Amy De'Ath writes tongue-tripping poems reminiscent of free association, setting up meaningful sound echoes that work the brain and are pleasant on the ear. Witness this from 'Poetry for Boys'. At the other end of the scale, poets such as Emily Tesh, Jack Underwood, James Brooks, Ben Wilkinson and Dai George are writing lavish, well-executed and fairly conventional lyrics that seek to communicate directly with the reader. Jack Belloli, too, wants to speak clearly, to be both accurate and resonant with language ('Yurt'). Sarah Howe is another original. Her poems surprise and hotwire themselves into your brain as you read.--"
The writing is assured, erudite and beautifully crafted. It is effortless to read, by which I mean that it is accessible -- the poets are too good not to be clear, they do not need to impress by obfuscation and obscurity, but communicate directly, as good writing should, to the intellect, the emotions and the senses.This collection should be an inspiration to older students considering English at degree levels, and also to those who wish to write. The poets here are a demonstration of what is possible, given 'wide-ranging, hard work and talent', and an introduction to the ways in which new voices can be heard, not just via the excellent publication cited here, but also through websites on which writers such as these, their ideas and work in progress will be easily accessible.
About the Author
Roddy Lumsden (born 1966) is a Scottish poet, who was born in St Andrews. He has published five collections of poetry, a number of chapbooks and a collection of trivia, as well as editing a generational anthology of British and Irish poets of the 1990s and 2000s, Identity Parade. He lives in London where he teaches for The Poetry School. James Brookes was born in 1986 and grew up in rural Sussex, a few minutes' walk from Shelley's boyhood home of Field Place. He received a major Eric Gregory Award in 2009 and a Hawthornden International Writer's Fellowship in 2011. He has published a pamphlet, The English Sweats, with Pighog Press and is currently the Williams Librarian at Cranleigh School in Surrey, where also he teaches. Sins of the Leopard is his first full collection. Kayo Chingonyi was born in Zambia in 1987 and came to the UK in 1993. His poems have been published in a range of magazines and anthologies including The Best British Poetry 2011 and The Salt Book Of Younger Poets. He also travels regularly across the UK, and internationally, to give readings. His work has been described as 'full of contrast, deftly managed with a buoyant and musical hand' (Poetry International Web) John Clegg grew up in Cambridge and currently lives in Durham, where he is completing a PhD on the Eastern European influence in contemporary poetry. A selection of his poetry was included in The Salt Book of Younger Poets (2010). Nia Davies was born in Sheffield in 1984. She studied English at the University of Sussex where she won the first Stanmer Prize for poetry. She writes poetry and fiction and works for Literature Across Frontiers www.lit-across-frontiers.org . Her poems have been published in several magazines and anthologies including the Salt Book of Younger Poets. She lives in London. Amy De'Ath was born in Suffolk in 1985. She studied at the University of East Anglia and in Philadelphia, US, before moving to Australia and then to London. Her poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals in the UK and US and will feature in the Salt Younger Poets 2011 anthology. She currently lives and works in London. This is her first book of poems. Tom Gilliver was born in North Yorkshire in 1990. He is currently a graduate student at Christ's College, Cambridge. In 2008 he was nominated for a Faber New Poets Award. This is his first poetry collection. Emily Hasler was born in Felixstowe, Suffolk and studied at the University of Warwick for a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing and an MA in Romanticisms. She now lives in London. In 2009 she won second prize in the Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition. Her poems have appeared in various publications, including the Rialto, Poetry Salzburg, Warwick Review and Horizon Review, and have been anthologised in Dove Release, Birdbook, Clinic 2 and Herbarium. Her poems will also appear in The Salt Book of Younger Poets and The Best British Poetry 2011. She is a regular poetry reviewer for Warwick Review. Colette Sensier is a prose writer and poet born in Brighton in 1988. She studied English at King's College, Cambridge, and Creative Writing at UEA. Her debut poetry collection, Skinless, is published by Eyewear, and her poetry is also anthologised in The Salt Book of Younger Poets. She has completed a historical novel (with the help of mentoring from Bernardine Evaristo during a Spread the Word mentoring scheme) and a dramatic adaptation of a Shirley Jackson novel, and is working on new contemporary prose. Born in 1986, Ahren Warner grew up in Lincolnshire before moving to London. His first collection, Confer (Bloodaxe, 2011), was both a PBS Recommendation and shortlisted in the Forward Prizes. He was awarded an Eric Gregory Award in 2010 and an Arts Foundation Fellowship in 2012. Ahren's second collection of poems, Pretty, is published in June 2013 and is a PBS Recommendation. He is poetry editor of Poetry London.
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