The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

In Conversation

Photo of Aaron Kent. He has brown hair and a beard.

Unicorn flavour

We talk to Aaron Kent, poet, editor, and publisher of Broken Sleep Books
Photo of Kim Moore with a purple track suit style top. She has red hair and she is leaning against a tree.

Poetry and Everyday Sexism

We talk to Kim Moore about everyday sexism, her recent Forward prize-winning poetry collection All the Men I Never Married, and her new collection of lyric essays Are You Judging Me Yet?
A photograph of Phillip Gross. He is looking quizzical and has grey hair and a beard.

The difficult visiting times

Philip Gross discusses writing poetry about his family in The Wasting Game and Deep Field, the importance of self-knowledge, and what makes a 'good' poem
Black and white photo of Chris Hamilton-Emery. He is outside with sea in the background and is wearing a newsboy hat, tinted glasses and a neckerchief.

We have to find the right authors and the right commercial strategy to recover. It may take us five years

The Frip talks to Chris Hamilton-Emery, poet and director of Salt Publishing, about the new Salt Modern Poets list, building readerships, and writing every day "without hope and without despair"
Close up of Mike Bartholomew-Biggs' smiling face. He has light coloured hair, a greying small beard and glasses.

We certainly like our poets to be challenging in what they say but perhaps less so in how they say it!

We talk to Mike Bartholomew-Biggs from London Grip about managing poetry reviews, London Grip New Poetry, the re-launch of Poetry in the Crypt, and the joy of maths
Ink stencil style picture of a cat (the Mariscat cat) on a cream watercolour background.

Vivat Mariscat

The Friday Poem talks to Hamish Whyte of Mariscat Press about current Scottish Galvanisers, the timidity of contemporary review culture, and to blurb or not to blurb
Black and white composite image of Zoë Brigley and Rhian Edwards.

We punch above our weight and compete with the big five

The Friday Poem talks to Zoë Brigley and Rhian Edwards, the new Poetry Editors at Seren Books
Line drawing of a lily on a pink background

Gathering flowers

In Conversation: The Friday Poem talks to Kathryn Gray and Andrew Neilson, founders and editors of digital poetry journal Bad Lilies
The word 'iamb' in white a light grey circle on a dark grey background. Underneath it says 'poetry seen and heard' in small white lower-case text.

Inside iamb

The Friday Poem talks to Mark Antony Owen, founder and editor of poet directory and quarterly journal iamb
photo of Sharon, she has dark hair and is smiling

The poet has to have the last word

We talk to Sharon Black, editor of Pindrop Press, about the impact of Brexit, living and writing in two languages, and what’s new with Pindrop
Lorna with short gray hair, she is wearing glasses.

Ups and Downs

In Conversation: Lorna Dowell talks about her first teachers at school, setting up Poetic Licence, and how creative expression is key to general well-being and mental health
a man sitting at a table reading a book which hides his face, also on the table is a tabby cat

I’m enjoying the anonymity while it lasts

We talk to the Poet Laureate of Twitter, Brian Bilston, about pressure to publish, how writing about politics can be a form of therapy, and why he's writing love poems now