Rachel Long – författare

Finn had always wanted to have a threesome but would he ever fulfill his fantasy?

Until recently, a wedding was no place for reinvention: everything from the location to the outfits to the language of the ceremony was decided by our particular cultures, religions and social expectations of gender and domestic roles; and of course, many of us were unable to get married at all. Now gay marriage is legal in Britain; heterosexual couples can have civil partnerships; we can get hitched in a yurt or a cave or on a rollercoaster.But the old traditions die hard, and despite these apparent new freedoms, the word ‘wedding’ still retains so many connotations, controlling our imaginations in ways that can feel alienating or limiting. When it comes to the ‘wedding poem’, even a Star Trek themed do, with guests in bumpy skull-caps, can still translate the same old Shakespeare sonnet into Klingon.This anthology aims to shake that up, featuring poems you won’t find on any ‘lists’ in your frantic Google search. Alternative poems for alternative weddings, be they small, huge, camp as Christmas, hilarious, glamorous, shot-gun, a third wedding held in a nursing home, or the low-key but profound culmination of a forty-year love. If you’re looking for a non-cringey wedding poem, or want to be reminded of the multiplicity of love, this is the book for you.

Rachel Long’s much-anticipated debut collection of poems, My Darling from the Lions, explores shame, love and healing through her intimate poetic voice.Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio PrizeShortlisted for the Costa Poetry AwardShortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First CollectionShortlisted for the Jhalak Prize'An enchanting and heartwarming new voice in poetry.' – Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, OtherEach poem has a vivid story to tell – of family quirks, the perils of dating, the grip of religion or sexual awakening – stories that are, by turn, emotionally insightful, politically conscious, wise, funny and outrageous.Long reveals herself as a razor-sharp and original voice on the issues of sexual politics and cultural inheritance that polarize our current moment. But it's her refreshing commitment to the power of the individual poem that will leave the reader turning each page in eager anticipation: here is an immediate, wide-awake poetry that entertains royally, without sacrificing a note of its urgency or remarkable skill.'This debut collection is the modern poetry we need to read right now' – Stylist'Beautiful. I'm so glad it was written.' – Hollie McNish, author of Nobody Told Me

Rachel Long’s much-anticipated debut collection of poems, My Darling from the Lions, explores shame, love and healing through her intimate poetic voice.Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio PrizeShortlisted for the Costa Poetry AwardShortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First CollectionShortlisted for the Jhalak Prize'An enchanting and heartwarming new voice in poetry.' – Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, OtherEach poem has a vivid story to tell – of family quirks, the perils of dating, the grip of religion or sexual awakening – stories that are, by turn, emotionally insightful, politically conscious, wise, funny and outrageous.Long reveals herself as a razor-sharp and original voice on the issues of sexual politics and cultural inheritance that polarize our current moment. But it's her refreshing commitment to the power of the individual poem that will leave the reader turning each page in eager anticipation: here is an immediate, wide-awake poetry that entertains royally, without sacrificing a note of its urgency or remarkable skill.'This debut collection is the modern poetry we need to read right now' – Stylist'Beautiful. I'm so glad it was written.' – Hollie McNish, author of Nobody Told Me

'Exceptionally brave and urgent... Moves, shocks and inspires’ BERNARDINE EVARISTO'A wonderful read from an arresting voice’ DIANA EVANSRachel Long’s vivid new collection is a study of toxic love, crisis and recovery, at once moving and whip-smart, from one of our brightest stars in poetry.'At first you eat less because you’re happy, / so fricking happy, the way you are in high summer / when you just can’t because of the sun.'Sparrow on the Rooftop tells a story of new love: the summer-like giddiness of it, the ferocity of obsession, and the stark hollowing of absence. Alongside this affair, and unleashed by its intensity, unfolds another story, half-buried, about our young narrator’s uneasy relationship with her body: ‘Black girls// don’t get/ eating disorders./ That’s a white girl/ thing.’Desire, indulgence, denial, and transformation are some of the themes that animate this engrossing, at times frighteningly intimate, narrative collection. With fierce wit and uncommon insight, Sparrow interrogates the self and other, and the experience of self as other. These remarkable, penetrating, headlong poems chart disorder and desire, break-up and breakdown, and the hard path towards recovery, confirming Rachel Long as one of the most gifted poets of her generation.'Gruesome and intimate, alive to the rot, funny' SABA SAMS'Satire and play and unflinching honesty' RAYMOND ANTROBUS