Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar

This week is another PBS special. We are joined by the brilliant Sarah Howe. She is a British poet, academic and editor. Born in Hong Kong moved to England as a child. Her pamphlet won an Eric Gregory Award, and her first collection, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), won the T.S. Eliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. She is currently the Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus and an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool.This episode is brought to you through Poetry Book Society. The good people of PBS are offering podcast listeners 10% off PBS Membership. Simply enter the code PODCAST (All caps) at the checkout here.

Sorry about the poor frequency of this podcast at the moment. I'm doing a lot of stuff at the same time and believe it or not I have a tendency to drop the ball sometimes! Regardless, thanks for sticking by me. Today’s guest is Erica Hesketh. She's a brilliant poet, editor, and producer, she spent eight years leading the Poetry Translation Centre, helping bring international voices to UK readers. She is the editor of Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet, and a member of the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective 2023–24. Now her debut collection, In the Lily Room, is out with Nine Arches Press exploring motherhood, mental health, and transformation.

It's another PBS pickle jar special this week featuring Richard Scott's new book.Richard Scott's poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies including Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, Swimmers, The Poetry of Sex (Penguin) and Butt Magazine. His pamphlet 'Wound' (Rialto) won the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2016 and his poem 'crocodile' won the 2017 Poetry London Competition. Soho (Faber & Faber) is his first book. His second poetry collection That Broke into Shining Crystals is available with Faber.

She's the winner of the Eric Gregory. Her new debut book Food for the Dead was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best first collection and was the winner of the Laurel Prize 2024. Today we discuss Sharon Old's poem 'True Love'. As well as talk about experimental poetry, the power of poems and everything in between. Enjoy the vibes.

So proud to get Gail McConnell into the studio today. She's the writer of two pamphlets and one amazing book. The Sun Is Open was brought out on Penned a few years back and it really is a groundbreaking book and well worth a read. It won the The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Award and The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. It was a Poetry Book of the Month in the Guardian and in The Observer, a book of the year in the TLS and The White Review, and a poetry book of the year in The Telegraph and The Irish Times. The Sun is Open was warmly reviewed in the Dublin Review of Books, Some Flowers Soon and Blackbox Manifold. I wrote about the book in The Irish Times and further coverage appeared in The Telegraph and the Belfast Telegraph. I discuss the book in conversation with Emily Berry for the Poetry Society podcast, with Pádraig Ó Tuama for the Corrymeela podcast and on Sunday with Steven Rainey on Radio Ulster. With Conor Garrett I made 'The Open Box', an arts feature based on the book for BBC Radio 4. Today we talk extended metaphors, animals and descriptive language in this homage to the American poet Kay Ryan. The poem is called Spiderweb. Guys. If you are reading this PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE as it helps me a lot.

Very excited to bring Bryony Littlefair into the Pickle Jar. Partly because her debut poetry collection Escape Room (Seren, 2022) was excellent. Also because her pamphlet Giraffe won the Mslexia Pamphlet Prize in 2017. But mostly because we both LOVE Tony Hoagland. So here's us geeking out over Tony Hoagland for 20 minutes!

He's a tour de force for poetry. The pioneer of some ridiculously good live poetry events. A workshop facilitator, a father and the author of a brilliant debut called Manorisms. That book was shortlisted for the Eliots and the Rathbones. It is of course Yomi Sode and today he's brought a Gary Soto poem in called Oranges. You going to love this one!

This week we are taking a trip to Birmingham to celebrate with the crew from Uni_Slam. Uni_Slam is a huge event that takes place yearly in The Birmingham Hippodrome. Each year University students come together to share their poems in a competition that celebrates the diversity of poetry in this country. On the same weekend the Uni_Slam team invites to the festival some of the Poetry Collectives that hold some of the best emerging poets of the scene. I am honoured to give a podcast stage to some of those collectives. In this episode we listen to poets from Roundhouse Poetry Collective The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network Collective Barbican Young Poets Nottingham's Speak Easy South Yorkshire's : Hive Young Poets Manchester's Young Identity Hope you enjoy! FOLLOW, SHARE, MESSAGE... let's get it bigger!

Yes. Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar are so excited to collaborate with Poetry Book Society to bring you this exclusive interview with Daljit Nagra. Daljit's book Indiom was the PBS Choice and so we invited him into the studio to talk about the process and journey. It's a brilliant little interview. Daljit is as big as they come. He's had 4 poetry collections, all with Faber & Faber. He won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Book, the South Bank Show Decibel Award and the Cholmondeley Award, and has been shortlisted for the Costa Prize and twice for the TS Eliot Prize. Also... we have an exclusive deal from PBS to offer too - To celebrate this special edition of Arji’s Poetry Pickle Jar, the Poetry Book Society is offering a FREE copy of INDIOM by Daljit Nagra to all new members. The Poetry Book Society is a unique poetry book club, founded by TS Eliot to share the joy of poetry. Every quarter their expert poet-selectors choose the very best new poetry books to deliver to members across the globe, alongside a lively quarterly poetry magazine. Annual Poetry Book Society Membership is the perfect way to keep up to date with all the latest poetry releases, discover new voices and inspirational world-class poetry. Join the Poetry Book Society today to start your year of poetry discovery and claim your freebie at www.poetrybooks.co.uk

an American-British writer. Her work has appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The White Review, and other publications. Today she speaks about a poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt. It's old skool and super fun! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45589/they-flee-from-me

Jacqueline is T.S. Eliot Prize nominated, award-winning poet, a playwright, editor, agitator, teacher and organiser. She is the author of ten stage plays, four chapbooks and five collections. Jacqueline is a keen performer and collaborator, working with composers, musicians, visual artists and other poets. She offers mentoring and teaches poetry in all kinds of settings including The Arvon Foundation and The Poetry School. Her fifth collection Velvel’s Violin will be out from Nine Arches Press in July 2023. Today she comes into the Pickle Jar to talk about a poem called 'Limits' By Raymond Carver.

Emma Jeremy is the author of Safety Behaviour (Smith|Doorstop, 2019) and a former winner of the New Poets Prize. Her poems have featured in publications such as Poetry London, Poetry Review and Magma. sad thing angry is her debut collection. Today she brings in a firecracker of a poem by Katie O'Pray called 'in the dream'.