In the penultimate episode of our first series, Rachael and Jack are joined in the studio by Holly Pester and Sam Riviere, plus a pat of butter and a set of nail clippers, which inspire conversations about poetry writing and its relationship to research, archives and procrastination.


Audio postcards featured in this episode are:


‘Pathetic earthlings’ written and read by Will Harris.


‘Sparkhill’ written and read by Zaffar Kunial.


‘Nude in the Cat House’ written and read by Monica McClure.


For more information, author bios & links see here.


The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber & Faber. Editing by Billy Godfrey at Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Will Harris, Zaffar Kunial, Monica McClure, Holly Pester and Sam Riviere.


Catch up on our previous episodes here or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. If you like our show you can subscribe on iTunes so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes in our first six-part series and please rate and review us, if you feel inclined to do so, we're very grateful for the support of all our listeners – thank you!

S1 Ep5: Episode 5: Holly Pester & Sam Riviere

The Faber Poetry Podcast is a twice-monthly podcast bringing together some of the most exciting voices from the world of poetry, curated, produced and presented by poets Rachael Allen and Jack Underwood.

Whether you're a devotee or a newcomer to verse, join Rachael and Jack for lively conversation with their studio guests and audio postcards sent by acclaimed poets from around the globe.

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Oh what a night. . . In this special episode, recorded live at the London Review Bookshop, Rachael and Jack are joined by Ishion Hutchinson and Oluwaseun Olayiwola, and we have an audio postcard from Charlotte Mew, delivered by the actress Emilia Clarke.  



Show notes



Live guests



ISHION HUTCHINSON was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He is the author of the poetry collections Far District, winner of the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, and House of Lords and Commons, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize in Literature, the Whiting Award, and a Donald Windham–Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize, among other honours. His new collection, School of Instructions, is shortlisted for the 2023 T. S. Eliot Prize. 



OLUWASEUN OLAYIWOLA is a poet, critic, and choreographer living in London. His poems and criticism have been published in the Guardian, The Poetry Review, Oxford Poetry, the Telegraph, the TLS, and elsewhere. Seun was an inaugural member of the Southbank Poetry Collective. His debut collection, Strange Beach, is forthcoming in the US and UK. He recently began lecturing in the Kingston School of Art.



Audio postcards



'The Trees are Down' written by Charlotte Mew and read by Emilia Clarke. The poem is included in Charlotte Mew's Selected Poetry and Prose (Faber). 



About the presenters



RACHAEL ALLEN is the author of Kingdomland (Faber) and co-author of numerous artists’ books, including Nights of Poor Sleep (Prototype), Almost One, Say Again! (Slimvolume), Green at an Angle (Kestle Barton) and Material (Loose Joints). She was recently Anthony Burgess Fellow at the University of Manchester, is the poetry editor for Granta Publications, teaches Creative Writing at Queen Mary University, and her second collection of poems, God Complex, is forthcoming from Faber in 2024.



JACK UNDERWOOD is a poet, writer and critic. He is author of Happiness (Faber 2015), Solo for Mascha Voice (Test Centre, 2018) and A Year in the New Life (Faber 2021). His debut work of non-fiction, NOT EVEN THIS, was published by Corsair in 2021. He has collaborated widely with composers and artists, and his work has been published internationally and in translation. He is senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College.



The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber. This live episode was hosted by the LRB Bookshop. Special thanks to Emilia Clarke, John Clegg, Ishion Hutchinson, Gayle Lazda, Oluwaseun Olayiwola and Claire Williams. All three seasons of the podcast are available to stream on Audioboom, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast listening platforms.

S3 Ep5: Ishion Hutchinson & Oluwaseun Olayiwola + Emilia Clarke

Featuring guests Lucy Mercer and Maggie Millner, and poems by Susannah Dickey, Oluwaseun Olayiwola and Rowan Ricardo Phillips.

S3 Ep4: Lucy Mercer & Maggie Millner

Rachael and Jack welcome studio guests Raymond Antrobus and Victoria Adukwei Bulley, and there are poems from Declan Ryan, Holly Isemonger and Dawn Watson.

S3 Ep3: Raymond Antrobus & Victoria Adukwei Bulley

The second episode in the new season, hosted by the poets Rachael Allen and Jack Underwood.

S3 Ep2: Camille Ralphs & Stephanie Sy-Quia

Rachael and Jack are back with the first episode of the third season, with an unmissable mix of studio guests, audio postcards from around the world and general poetry chat.

S1 Ep5: Episode 5: Holly Pester & Sam Riviere

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