Bloodaxe £12 (384pp) £10.80 from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030
Identity Parade, Edited by Roddy Lumsden
Friday 11 June 2010
Forget this generous anthology's iffy title: it brings to mind the tick-box poetry-by-label one contributor – Tim Wells – gently mocks in "The 1980s are a Long Time Dead".
Instead, Lumsden hosts a supremely eclectic party for 85 "new" British and Irish poets – more women than men, for once - whose newness turns on book-length debuts within the past 15 years rather than calendar age. So we have Diane Pooley (b.1941) as well as Ahren Warner (b.1986).
They mingle with generation-definers such as Daljit Nagra and Kate Clanchy, Colette Bryce and Alice Oswald, and a host of guests who will count – for many readers – as smart or seductive discoveries. The overarching theme? That there isn't one. Pluralism is our poetic blessing – and curse?
Arts & Ents blogs
The Fall ‘Darkness Visible’ – Series 1, episode 2
There is a good many moments in the second episode of this psychological thriller that deserve refle...
‘Vicious’ – Series 1, episode 4
The opening titles squeal ‘Never Can Say Goodbye…’. Oh Lord how I wish I could heave this series off...
Game of Thrones ‘Second Sons’ – Season 3, episode 8
Even though there was a complete absence of our favourite odd couple Brienne and Jaime, we got anoth...
-
Coronation Street triumphs over EastEnders at British Soap Awards 2013
-
Hollywood practices random acts of red-carpet kindness
-
The Freemasons' Code: Dan Brown reveals the message that told him the door to the lodge is open
-
World's most concise short story writer Lydia Davis wins Booker International Prize 2013
-
Cannes Film Festival 2013: And why exactly are vous here?
- 1 Exclusive: Woolwich attack suspect attended meetings of banned Islamist group - and were known by security services
- 2 'Sickening, deluded and unforgivable': Horrific attack brings terror to London’s streets
- 3 Grace Dent: I’m not sure how these people can avoid being called ‘bigots’. And the more ‘civilised’, the worse they are
- 4 Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, the mother-of-two hailed as a hero for confronting Woolwich attackers, thought: 'better me than a child'
- 5 Woolwich attack: The EDL will seek to exploit this evil crime for their own evil ends
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Visit York
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them
Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness
Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’


Comments