Thanks very much for signing up to my newsletter. Here’s the bookish or book-adjacent bits and pieces that have been occupying me over the past few weeks. (You can find more of this kind of thing on my website, too)

Why Women Write About Freedom

She Will Soar: Bright, Brave Poems of Freedom by Women is soon to come out in a beautiful neon green paperback (although the handsome hardback still makes a fabulous gift, I might add!)

Women faced bars to writing and publishing throughout history, and women who were not white, middle or upper class, cisgender, heterosexual or helpfully connected had even more stacked against them. Leisure, learning and liberty are key ingredients for any artist, and all have been in shorter supply for women than men.

Even aristocratic women were afforded a rudimentary education compared to their brothers, and none at all in the highfalutin subjects considered ‘proper’ literary subjects: the Classics, theology or blood-drenched battle histories. More recently, the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Sharon Olds was rejected from an American literary magazine for writing about her children: “If you wish to write about this sort of subject, may we suggest the Ladies’ Home Journal”, they acidly suggested.

The role of women was to play inspiring — but definitely silent — muse, not poet. Any who dared pick up a pen themselves faced ridicule, and eighteenth century mothers fretted that their bookish daughters would repel suitors: remember the treatment meted out to the admittedly awful Mary Bennet? Women faced condemnation because, in straying into the male arena of literature, they were obviously neglecting their key duties as housewives and mothers. Who will keep the gentlemen in clean waistcoats if the women are… shudder… writing?

Anne Bradstreet, the ‘first poet’ of America, had to pretend that her naughty brother-in-law published her work without her knowledge, and he was at pains to include a preface insisting that Anne went without sleep to write rather than slacking in her domestic duties. I found lots of beautiful nocturnal poems written by women from times past – and couldn’t help but wonder whether this was the only sliver of time they had to themselves, when their large families were finally asleep and they had a wash on. It was even more shocking for women to promote their own work… so thrusting! So unseemly!

The job description of the wild and free artist popularised by the Romantic poets, tramping off to rugged and solitary places, was inaccessible to their female contemporaries. It was difficult to pursue such a path when your corsets conspired against you, you needed a chaperone to cross the road, and nobody had yet invented hiking boots. In the Victorian era, many women, particularly of the middle and upper classes, were almost cloistered in the home. This constraint shows in the melancholy and often morbid notes of much women’s poetry from the period.

But: women did write, and women did publish. Through the centuries they resorted to all sorts of strategies, and took advantage where they found it. Hannah More, born in 1745, funded her literary career with an annual pension from the man who jilted her after a long engagement. Her independence – and freedom from continuous years of childbearing and rearing – enabled her to become a noted philanthropist and lady of letters. I bet he wasn’t good enough for her anyway.

Some published anonymously, others under male or gender neutral pseudonyms. But often, even if they enjoyed great acclaim during their lifetimes, they were forgotten or fell from fashion afterwards. When I studied English Literature in the 1990s, it was wall-to-wall lad-lit. Sappho was hailed as the Tenth Muse of the ancient world, but we have only scraps of her writing, many scavenged from rubbish dumps, now. (It has been suggested that a pope ordered her ‘scandalous’ poetry burnt, but scholars suggest that, in fact, it just wasn’t considered worthy of preservation: a familiar fate for women’s work.)

Aemilia Lanyer, who wrote a daring epic poem that imagined the crucifixion from the point of view of Pontius Pilate’s wife in 1611, was all but forgotten by scholars until she was put forward as a potential model for the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It seems that a woman is only of interest to posterity when she’s being energetically fancied in print by a man. (And if you’re interested in Aemilia, I recommend yet again Sandra Newman’s excellent novel The Heavens which resurrects her.)

No wonder women writers longed to spread their wings. And, in verse, they did. From the first African American poet, Phillis Wheatley, to civil rights activists and stars of the Harlem Renaissance such as Georgia Douglas Johnson and Anne Spencer, they wrote uplifting and inspirational poetry. From women as different as the reclusive Emily Dickinson and the outspoken Amy Lowell come poems that shout and shimmy with the delights of freedom. Suffragettes including Emily Wilding Davison write passionately about throwing open the door to a new world for women. It has been a pleasure and privilege to collect their words and bring them – I hope – to some new readers.

It’s also a thrill to present the works of these writers alongside work they might surely have enjoyed (and what a slam that would be!) from some of today’s most exciting poets. Women’s freedoms are still restricted - in some places dramatically, and in others insidiously. Girls and women in today’s world are still fighting for equal access to education, careers and independence. Here, my husband and I live in the same country, but I live under a different regime: one in which I was taught while still a child that an attacker might seize my ponytail and that, if that happened, I should shout, “Fire!” to raise the alarm because people don’t come to women’s aid. Women who don’t enjoy the many privileges I do face greater barriers in every sphere.

So, words of both fury and the joy of freedom are still important. Poets including Salena Godden, Hollie McNish, Safia Elhillo, Jen Campbell, Kathleen Jamie, Sheena Patel, Caroline Bird, Carol Ann Duffy and Nikita Gill have written blazing and brilliant verses that deserve to be shouted to the sky and written in words six feet high, and it was the best job in the world to gather their poems and those of so many other amazing talents for this collection. I hope their work soars into readers’ hearts.

She Will Soar: Bright, Brave Poems of Freedom by Women is published by Macmillan. The paperback is available to pre-order now from your local bookshop or online, or you can still buy the hardback while stocks last.

Writing and Talking

I gave an online talk to the writers of the Mum Poem Press this month about being your own publicist and turning off the guilt tap and found myself rather passionate about it all. I also gave my website a spring clean and sorted out the Events tab, so if you might like me to deliver a school / bookshop / library / writing group / literary festival event, please take a look. (It took ages and I am a huge tech dunce.)

Lovely Jen from Tandem Collective asked me about the 2022 books I’m excited for for their podcast Tandem Talks. Among others, I flagged Jennifer Saint’s Elektra, Fiona Benson’s upcoming collection Ephemeron and Rebecca Wait’s utterly glorious I’m Sorry You Feel That Way (on which I am working, disclaimer, but WHAT A WRITER, WHAT A BOOK.)

I was very honoured that Nicola Davies chose to talk about Night Feeds and Morning Songs on a recent episode of Tara George’s Bedside Reading podcast. You can listen to their lovely discussion here.

Recommended reading

Featured poem

I am the maddest of cat ladies and never met a feline I didn’t like — not even a schoolfriend’s vicious riot-tabby from whom I still bear scars. Here is ‘The Cat of Cats’ by William Brighty Rands with one of Sarah Maycock’s glorious illustrations from The Book of Cat Poems for all those similarly inclined. ‘Sleek as jam’ is lovely.

From the blog

Other bookish stuff

• I belatedly discovered this great interview by Susie Mesure with Pat Barker about The Women of Troy and writing to fill silences.

• The Baby Umbrella charity are hosting an online poetry event on Friday 11th February at 8pm, with tickets priced £8. I really enjoyed the last one and you can find more information here.

• My reading of Ulysses has very much stalled, I admit. This great article by Anne Enright has injected fresh vigour into my intentions, though.

• If, like me, you love the Backlisted Podcast, you’re likely to enjoy co-host Andy Miller’s incredibly entertaining The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life. I’ve been tearing through the audiobook, finding Andy excellent company and considering which classics I need to read or reread.

• This review by Moudhy Al-Rashid of Irving Finkel’s The First Ghosts is absolutely fascinating on Mespotamian ideas about the afterlife including malicious hooligan ghosts.

• I’m biased of course because she’s very kind about my books, but here’s a lovely piece by Jen Feroze on where to start with poetry.

• I loved Raven Leilani’s Luster and this is a brilliant interview with her. I was shocked to read about her initial plan for Edie!

• This was brilliant: In Our Time on Thomas Hardy’s poetry. If you’re a fan, look out for the excellent new novel by Elizabeth Lowry, The Chosen, coming in April.

Thanks for reading! Any feedback would be gratefully received, and if you enjoyed this newsletter please don’t hesitate to share with likeminded readers.