Eloise Hendy: the blue room

Eloise Hendy’s debut is a candid collection of poems that are sardonic, arresting and fiercely feminist. the blue room is dotted with sharp imagery—the heart rate of smashed glass, a dentist with stiff fingers, regurgitating confetti. Hendy’s brilliant voice seems to relish the role of both salvager and confidante of memory. Retold glimpses punctuate the narrative, from the unpredictability of cyclical relationships to the rhythm of the things we grasp.

Alanna McArdle: split ends

The residue of trauma is ever present in Alanna McArdle’s stunningly-achieved debut poetry collection split ends. These are 12 confrontational poems that swell and contort perspective, conversing with and following one another. McArdle’s words are emotional, arresting, and obtrusive. She writes, “crepuscular, fetid, she sniffs like a fox / screams like a fox” and as the ripples retreat, she leaves readers to decide which way they view the conversation.

“Alanna McArdle’s poetics carves for itself a place between insouciant wit and the stingingly vulnerable. It claims agency and reclaims symbolic space over the terrible, the oppressive, by biting down hard on the articulate nerve of the thing. I’m excited by this pamphlet, and so so glad it exists.”
—Wayne Holloway-Smith

Alanna McArdle is a writer from London. She has had poetry published in print and online in Shabby Doll House, Prelude Magazine, Poems in Which, For Every Year, and The Chapess, among others, and she was recently included in episode three of the podcast Poets In Bed. Her non-fiction and journalism has featured in Pitchfork, Crack Magazine, The NME, The Talkhouse, Noisey, and Broadly. Her short story ‘Butter’ was shortlisted for the 2018 Desperate Literature short fiction prize.

Eloise Hendy is a poet and writer living in London. Her work has appeared in Ambit, The Tangerine, and The Stinging Fly, amongst others, and she was recently shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize 2018

NEW WORDS Launch at Pages Cheshire StreetMakina Books invites you to the launch of the blue room, split ends and the New Words series at Pages Cheshire Street on Thursday 16 January from 7pm to 9pm. Readings from Eloise Hendy, Alanna McArdle + more TBA!

The Lisa and John Slideshow at Martin Parr Foundation and in the BJP!

I had a great time running a table at BOP Bristol 19′ Photobook Festival. Huge thanks to Jenni, Nathan and everyone at MPF and RPS for having me there. Copies of Lisa and John are now in good book shops (distributed by Cornerhouse) including Tate Modern and The Photographers’ Gallery—and with 20% off in our online shop—it makes a great gift! Marigold Warner wrote a nice piece about the project in the British Journal of Photography, you can read that here

 

David was also a guest on Ben Smith’s excellent podcast, A Small Voice, which you can listen to here and on all podcast platforms.Lastly, I’ll be at the London Centre of Book Arts BOOK FAIR this Sunday 1 December, 11am–6pm, at the London Centre for Book Arts. Last year they welcomed more than a thousand visitors to their beautiful studio in east London to celebrate artist books and publications by independent publishers.

Where: LONDON CENTRE FOR BOOK ARTS an artist-run print studio and bindery housed within one of the few remaining Victorian industrial buildings in Fish Island E3

OK thats it. Thank you for reading! Robin x