Amanda Dalton is a poet and playwright. Her first book-length collection, How to Disappear (Bloodaxe Books 1999), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and she was chosen as a Next Generation Poet in 2004. Her second collection, Stray, was published by Bloodaxe in 2012. In 2021 Arc published her experimental chapbook, 30 Poems in 30 Days and, in 2022, Smith|Doorstop published a pamphlet of two long poems, Notes on Water. A version of Notes on Water was re-created for two voices and soundscape for BBC Radio 3's Between the Ears. Her third full-length collection, Fantastic Voyage (Bloodaxe Books, 2023), also includes Notes on the Water.Amanda writes extensively for BBC Radio 4 and 3 including original drama, poetry-dramas, classic adaptations, re-imaginings of film, and lyric essays. Her theatre writing includes text for outdoor and site-specific performance, and drama for young people including commissions with Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres and Keswick’s Theatre By The Lake. Freelance since 2017, much of her career has been focused on teaching, mentoring and the curation and artistic leadership of innovative cross art-form projects, often in collaboration with other artists and communities. She lives in Hebden Bridge.

Here is a magnificent poem of poems: a surging, truth-bound voyage that offers no easy purpose, acceptance, or ending.

• 9 Fantastic Voyage10 Belly10 Takotsubo10 Gut10 A Ghost Story11 Look Inside!12 When Andrea was 713 Auntie Irene says14 One day I watch15 Andrea’s father16 One day I ask17 Mum says Nancy Gardiner18 Janet Bradley says19 One day I go for a colonoscopy20 Peter B says21 Aged 9, Andrea doesn’t know22 One day, I was sawn in half23 Notes on Water39 Haunts and Apparitions41 Nights I Squat42 Magic44 December 197945 Three Hauntings45 1 Pelican46 2 Girl in White with Trees47 3 Man Dressed as Bat48 Missing49 The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary51 like a tree53 The Possibility of Fog54 Ten Signs of Possession54 1 Superhuman Strength55 2 Knowledge of Previously Unknown Languages or Speaking in Tongues (glossolalia).56 3 Unnatural Body Movements57 4 Appearance of Wounds that Vanish as Quickly as They Appear58 5 Paranormal Capabilities59 6 Living Outside the Rules of Society60 7 Being Persistently Ill, Falling into Heavy Sleep and Vomiting Strange Objects61 8 Being Troubled by Spirits62 9 Being Uncomfortable, Ugly and Violent63 10 Making Sounds and Movements Like an Animal64 Aftermath67 Untitled68 Fantastic Voyage70 Notes71 Acknowledgements