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Cor what a scorcher! Time to bask in the company of Will Harris. You will delight in his fresh and distinct style, with cuttlefish-fast leaps of metaphor and imagery as we explore his two Granta volumes, RENDANG published in 2020 and Brother Poem (2023). His multileveled work finds inspiration in Jakarta and London, the contemporary experience of a dual heritage, and by looking sideways at an imagined brother. 

Expect the usual poetic bants from Robin and Peter as we check into Hotel Petroleum (Broken Sleep Books) by Mark Fiddes. Enjoy the subtleties of Intimate Architecture (Blue Diode) by Tess Jolly, and explore the Cuckmere Pilgrim Path with Judith Shaw's pamphlet, The Land Called Me Back. Plus we enjoy Martha Sprackland’s fine translation for Penguin: Dark Night, by John of the Cross.

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Another gem from the Archive: Paul Stephenson, interviewed in 2024 about his debut collection Hard Drive (Carcanet).

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Plump up your pillows! Planet poetry is back with Mara Bergman. We'll trace a journey from New York state  to the UK, sharing poems from The Disappearing Room and The Night We Were Dylan Thomas, both published by ARC.  Her photographic, poignant, sometimes humorous eye for detail will draw you into a narratives with unpredictable conclusions. Will you meet your husband? Will you become engulfed by the sofa in cream coloured room? You must find out.

Meanwhile Peter marks the passing of the high modernist J.H.Prynne, and Robin reports hotfoot from Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair -- where she uncovers a wealth of exuberant creativity.

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We're going back to September 2021 for this interview with the fabulous Kim Addonizio...

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 Minneapolis is once again facing violence and repression. From afar we watch in horror, and in this episode from our archive featuring Danez Smith we offer our solidarity with the people of Minnesota. Originally recorded in October 2024, Peter speaks with Danez about their remarkable collection Bluff (Chatto & Windus), much of which is rooted in life in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It’s tragic that one of our favourite interviews now sounds like a missive from a more hopeful time.

Planet Poetry will return with a brand-new episode in the spring.

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Never mind the baubles... Here's the magic from Niall Campbell, who shares spellbinding poems from his Bloodaxe collection The Island in the Sound, which blend unique elements from his South Uist upbringing into a meditative, sometimes joyful poetry that weaves history, literature, folklore with the lives of ordinary people.

Plus your podcast stocking is positively bulging with other goodies. Robin and Peter share a poem from Mat Riches, a dip into yellow noon-day a new collection by Kay Syrad from Cinnamon Press, the poem Argonauts, by George Seferis plus a spirited rendition of A Visit from St. Nicholas, by  Clement Clarke Moore. Allegedly...

Happy holidays everyone!    

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Surprise! We're back again and starting Season Six with a distinctive Black Country jewel from our trove of interviews. Liz Berry delighted us all in April 2023 when she spoke with Robin about her (then) new collection, The Home Child (Vintage). Hear her read from that and also from her Forward Prize-winning Black Country (2014, Chatto & Windus). Well worth hearing again. Stay tuned... There's more to come from Planet Poetry.

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Join your podcast pals at a table at the Beachy Head pub. Enjoying a view of  sloping fields down to the Belle Tout Lighthouse and the sea beyond and take a moment to reflect on another season of Planet Poetry podcasts. Over spent packets of crisps and peanuts we revisit conversations with Danez Smith, Isabel Galleymore, Richard Scott and Isabelle Baafi chosen from among the panoply of marvellous guests we've had this season.  

As ever, thank you for lending us your ears. Look for us in the Autumn and for the time being, we wish you a splendid and memorable summer. 

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It's a tag team episode! With Robin and Peter meeting poet Charles G Lauder, Jr  and publisher poet Jo Colley of Blueprint Poetry Press - who have published his 2025 pamphlet Year of the Rat, a profound collection informed by long engagement with Daoism. Also we speak to Jo Colley, who with Julie Hogg, runs  Blueprint Poetry Press. Jo tells us what moved her about Charles's work, and shares insights into the selection and editing process and the sheer pleasure that publishing fine poets brings - as well as the balance between her own poetry practice and publishing.    

Robin discovers spare and lovely work by Ritchie McCaffery, whose pamphlet Skail just published by New Walk Editions.  And Peter is shocked to find himself enjoying Frank O'Hara's poem Why I Am Not a Painter.

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What was that? A bat or swallow? Something flitted past, but we can't agree on what we've just seen ... Erica McAlpine reads from Small Pointed Things (just published by Carcanet) that makes that uncertain territory her own,  with meticulously crafted poems that harbour hard questions.

And talking of things that flit past your window, Peter gets an early look at White Teeth, Red Blood, selected Vampire Verses published shortly by Pushkin Press. We'll listen to John Keats's 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', and hear why the knight is alone and palely loitering... Meanwhile Robin discovers Hope Mirrlees, and a long Modernist poem 'Paris' - which predated Old Possum's 'The Waste Land' by two years. Plus we read an affectionate poem by Tim Relf, for Father's Day. 

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Planet Poetry is a labour of love!
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