Bloodaxe Books is one of Britain’s foremost poetry publishers, based in Northumberland for the past 25 years. We welcome Editor, Neil Astley back to Berwick for the ever popular Bloodaxe Poetry annual showcase.

Menna Elfyn: Parch
In Welsh, ‘parch’ (the ‘ch’ is guttural) simply means respect. But it is also the common word for a chapel minister (a ‘reverend’). Menna Elfyn’s collection explores the many ways in which respect can be expressed, as well as how our world can so often feel parched of simple kindnesses.

Gillian Allnut: Lode
Lode traces a journey through time, the time of Gillian’s own life and of our lives, since the Second World War. The first of the book’s three sections, titled Postwar, includes poems about the wartime experiences of family members. The last section, Earth-hoard, takes us into what promises to be a difficult future with poems touching on Climate Change and the need to mend our relationship with the earth. Lode asks: What more can we learn to do than ‘Love one another’?