Martyn Halsall – författare

In this compelling collection of poems, Martyn Halsall embraces the Lenten season not just as a Christian observance but as a state of being – one of wilderness, waiting and transformation. His poetry resists straightforward answers, instead inviting readers into a space of stillness and questioning, where meanings shift and possibilities unfold. From personal memories to historical and contemporary struggles, Halsall’s work moves through exile, pilgrimage and alienation, always attuned to the unexpected and the peripheral. His poems do not assert but explore, asking, ‘What if?’ and answering, ‘Yes, but …’ – offering both reflection and reappraisal. With a journalist’s eye and a poet’s heart, Martyn Halsall crafts a collection that is both a passport and a signpost, guiding readers through Lent’s deeper resonances. Life itself, he suggests, is something we are lent – a gift, a process, a question still unfolding.

Cathedrals offer a place for people to encounter the divine without demanding membership or commitment. They offer unconditional hospitality in ancient sacred spaces for those jaded by the secular present. They offer sanctuary.Celebrating the life of one particular cathedral, Sanctuary is a collection of poems that emerged from prize-winning poet Martyn Halsall’s year in residence at Carlisle Cathedral. They are born from his quiet observation of daily comings and goings, chance conversations, the rhythm of daily worship and the building itself.They focus on the everyday and the sublime: entrances and exits, light and shadows, nightfall and silence, ancient carvings and modern souvenirs, soaring music and timeless words, tour parties and visitors seek solitude. Here is the whole of human life in microcosm, held in one place.