Orbital by Samantha Harvey. My read of 2024. The most incredible prose I have read for a long time. A spellbinding book.
The Stories of Raymond Carver. Carver is the author I read most in my teens. His work made me consider brevity in narrative, and the domestic space as valid material. He was a huge influence on my early poems.
Death of Naturalist by Seamus Heaney. The poem 'Trout' from this collection was read aloud to me by my Dad when I was a teenager. It was a lightbulb moment. I remember thinking I want to do that. I want to write a poem where I offer an image of something, and make that image precise, lasting.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. This book was on my school English syllabus. I became utterly immersed in the inventiveness of the novel's structure, the multiple narrators, the vernacular language that was new and strange to me. It wasn't always easy, and I remember the careful unpicking of paragraphs in class with our teacher, and the resulting wonder when I saw what Faulkner wanted us to see.
Images of Women: an Anthology of Contemporary Women's Poetry ed. by Myra Schneider and Dilys Wood. I frequently recommend and return to this rich volume of women's voices. Second Light is unfortunately closing its doors as a press, but there is a current 'farewell offer' on all their anthologies.
Rebecca Goss
Comentarios