International Book & Pamphlet Competition – serie

In Rosalind Easton’s lively and inventive debut collection, everyday objects are invested with glamour and drama: a mascara wand and a pair of peacock suede stilettos are brought to life in poems exploring the complexities of relationships, and a Mayfair lingerie store provides the setting for a transformative bra fitting experience. A diverse range of literary and cultural references inspires several poems, with the poet’s grandmother coming back to life as a book to ‘play intellectual drinking games with Shakespeare’, and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor taking over the running of a secondary school. In other poems, Tilda Swinton’s magazine photo shoot as David Bowie sparks an exploration of the relationship between history and identity, and a night at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire with Suede becomes a celebration of the enduring power of teenage memories.

In Your Absence is a response to a year of bereavement, a murder and a trial, estrangements, departures and insights. Troubled by ghosts, these poems are ultimately a gift to anyone stranded in the whiteout of loss.

The Last Dinosaur in Doncaster is an exuberant journey down the ginnels of Yorkshire; from The Miners’ Strike and its ramifications, to men who should have been astronauts and no-nonsense women who get stuff done. These poems celebrate the importance of belonging, in all its gritty splendour.

Majid Sits in a Tree and Sings is a pamphlet of people who have something to whisper in your ear - mothers, children, those who want to tell you a secret or explain something to you before it’s too late. A young boy who loves his mother joins the people who don’t fit and the people who don’t want to, seeing the same things repeatedly, trying to find something different each time, whenever that time might be.

Winner of the 2017/18 Book & Pamphlet Competition

A large and various cast of strange, sad, joyous, repellent and poignant characters. A sort of travelogue or bestiary. I liked its oddity, gusto – and unemphatic pathos. – David Constantine