Poets and publications

Mohammed Moussa - Salted Wounds

Palestinian poet and journalist Mohammed was one of three writers shortlisted for the 2022 international Freedom of Expression Awards organised by the Index on Censorship. Born in Gaza, he grew up in the Jabalia refugee camp, studied English at college, and in 2018 founded the Gaza Poets Society. Salted Wounds, written in English, is marked by a pared-down lyricism, an acute observation of the trauma of war, and loving evocations of his homeland.

Holly Magill - 20

From Kylie to Camus, the X-Files to Pizza Hut, suburbia to call centre shifts . . . this witty and poignant sequence of poems forms takes the readers through the preoccupations of a twenty-year-old in the late 1990s. Holly Magill's portrait of a burgeoning poet navigating her way through British society in the throes of social and political change is not to be missed.

Marcas Mac an Tuairneir - Cruinneachadh

Cruinneachadh – A Gathering brings together a range of poets in a groundbreaking work that highlights the diversity of languages on these islands – and further. Poet and songwriter Marcas Mac an Tuairneir has edited and translated their work to create a remarkable travelogue through English, Scots (Lallans, Ullans, Doric and Shetlandic), Gaelic, Irish, Cornish, Welsh, Jerriais, Valencian, Sami and Manx.

Dareen Tatour - I Sing From the Window of Exile

Powerful poetry in English and Arabic by a Palestinian writer who draws directly from her experience of exile, injustice and the struggle for humanity over brutality . . . In  'I Sing From the Window of Exile' (164 pages), Dareen Tatour chronicles her experience of exile in Sweden, reflects on her violent imprisonment for the 'crime' of writing a poem - 'Resist, my people, resist them' - and her longing for her homeland. Dareen has now returned to live in the Occupied Territories.

Mark Vernon Thomas

An outstanding debut collection full of wit, insight and invention by New Zealander Mark Vernon Thomas, now based in Scotland. Dancing with Shadows and Stones finds mystery in the everyday and domestic, and magicality in the familiarities of the natural world. This may be his first volume - but he's sure to become a familiar name to poetry readers here and internationally.

Sharon Black - The Red House

Sharon Black's The Red House superbly excavates meaning and history out of the artefacts of France's last silk spinning mill. In doing so, she uncovers the stories of a people and community in innocuous details - and tells a wider story about our relationships with time and place. This is poetry that teases out the wonders in everyday happenings and items as it invites us to look anew.

Julie McNeill

Football, feminism, motherhood and friendship – Julie McNeill brings a sharpened perspective on the familiar and everyday in these poems that address both our personal lives and wider society. Here’s a poet with a ready knack for observational storytelling, a playful wit and a way with language that is as appealingly accessible as it is fresh.

The Leaves of the Years

'The Leaves of the Years' brings together essays, poems and memories from a diversity of Scottish writers in tribute to the bilingual Galloway poet Willie Neill. This book addresses the neglect of one of the most influential and admired Scottish poets of recent times.

Helen B. Grehan - The Return

Helen B. Grehan's 'The Return' brings together a selection of tone-prose poems and songs that best represent the breadth and originality of Helen's work. She does not flinch from ugliness, while revealing beauty hidden in plain sight. Helen has been a musician, writer and songwriter for sixty years - one of the Grehan Sisters who were at the forefront of the Irish folk music revival. This is her first book, edited by Jessamine O'Connor.

George Gunn - Chronicles of the First Light

George Gunn stalks the ramparts of his native Caithness is these lyrical sequences of poems about life, landscape and death. He has a restless eye for the immediate and distant, for the topography of politics, folklore, legend and language and remains always the non-conformist, disdaining authority and speaking for the lost and disenfranchised.

Harry Smart - A Plain Glass

A remarkable return to the front line of poetry book publishing by Harry Smart and a reminder that when he fell silent, the poetry of these islands lost. From explorations of faith, football to politics and legacies of violence, 'A Plain Glass' is a reminder of what poetry can do and say. Available for £10.50 from

Josie Neill - There's Ma Mammy Wavin

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