Primers 7 celebration with Antonia Taylor and Laura Varnam

In 2023 Nine Arches Press launched their nationwide Primers scheme for a seventh time, this time with author Katie Hale as the selecting editor. After reading through hundreds of entries, and narrowing down the choices from longlist to shortlist, three poets emerged as clear choices: Jade Cuttle, Antonia Taylor and Laura Varnam.

Primers Volume Seven showcases the three distinctive poets, exploring everything from mudlarking and making a ‘mossary’, to the borderlands of conflicts and a bold retelling of an Old English epic. Through lively engagement with language, deep connection to place and time, and unearthing the stories of myth, history and peoples, these revealing poems offer an insightful collection of new work from some of poetry’s most talented emerging voices.

We will be chatting to (Caversham local) Antonia and Laura about everything!