News 2024
2024 News
NOVEMBER 2024
Kennings is one of my favourite poetry devices, so I am very pleased that my poem ‘Eik-Sǫngr’ has been published in Green Ink Poetry’s Autumn Equinox collection, Kennings, which can be ordered via this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DL5KMS2D
5TH NOVEMBER
I really enjoyed being interviewed for this engaging Radio 4 programme exploring wedding poems. Tune into The Poetry Detective and hear me speak about reading at the marriage ceremony of my friends Ford and Will, and sharing two poems: ‘We two boys together clinging’ by Walt Whitman, and my own version of it, ‘Two Men’.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024ngw
11TH NOVEMBER
I am very much looking forward to guest-reading online for the excellent Café Writers on Monday 11th of November, at 7.30pm. This event takes place over Zoom and will also include a friendly open mic session, with free tickets being available via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cafe-writers-november-2024-tickets-1068012537249
For more information, please visit
https://www.cafewriters.co.uk/
https://www.cafewriters.co.uk/11th-november-2024-tara-bergin-and-sarah-doyle/
OCTOBER 2024
I am thrilled to see another of my Dorothy Wordsworth collage poems from Something so wild and new in this feeling being republished. ‘Lights and Shadows’ is included in a beautiful new anthology, The Book of Bird Poems, edited by Ana Sampson and published by Laurence King. Available online or in bookshops, this book would make a wonderful Christmas present for anyone.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Having been shortlisted by judge, Roy McFarlane, in the Oxford Canal Festival Poetry Competition 2024, I was delighted that my poem ‘Sea Dreams’ was awarded 3rd Prize, among a very strong field of contenders. My poem can be read alongside other winners at the first link below, while the second link leads to a SoundCloud recording of me reading the poem.
https://the-writing-well.com/canal-fest-winning-poems
https://soundcloud.com/user-634675665/sea-dreams-by-sarah-doyle
A lovely honour to see my poem ‘Sea Dreams’ shortlisted in the Oxford Canal Festival Poetry Competition, judged by Roy McFarlane. Winners will be announced at the Festival on Saturday 21st of September, with more details here:
https://www.oxfordcanalheritage.org/oxford-canal-festival-2024
AUGUST 2024
I am deeply appreciative to have placed a poem, ‘Fret’, in an important forthcoming anthology being edited by Charley Barnes and Claire Walker. Case Studies will explore care and care-giving from a variety of perspectives, and I will share more details when a publication date is announced.
It was a joy to record a new podcast for the Pre-Raphaelite Society, this one shimmering with summer-themed Pre-Raphaelite poetry, including a poem of my own as well. Listeners can expect apples and corn, sunshine and showers, birds and rainbows, insects and flowers!
The podcast is free to access, and can be played via Spotify at this link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6xYeu5oHzCQkcRbpmUFaP2
JULY 2024
I’m delighted that my poem ‘The Art of Astronomy’ has won 3rd prize in Frome Literary Festival’s Crysse Morrison Prize for Poetry, judged by Emma Purshouse. Hearty congratulations to all prize-winners, and to the highly commended poets as well. More information can be found here:
https://fromefestival.co.uk/cryssepoetry2024/
‘The Art of Astronomy’ can be read at this direct link:
https://fromefestival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/The-Art-of-Astronomy.pdf
JUNE
I’m looking forward to reading my poem ‘Portrait of sleep apnoea as lightning’ as part of the Zoom launch celebration of The Alchemy Spoon, which is being held on Sunday 2nd of June at 7pm, with free registration at this link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-launch-of-issue-12-of-the-alchemy-spoon-tickets-901326179867
MAY
I’m very pleased that my poem ‘Portrait of sleep apnoea as lightning’ has been published in the exciting new ‘Elements’ themed edition of The Alchemy Spoon, alongside many poets whose work I admire. More details are available here:
APRIL 2024
I’m very grateful that (m)othersongs has received a glowing review from Pam Thompson in Orbis #207. To be read with such sensitivity is a dream come true. Sincere thanks to Reviews Editor, Maria Isakova Bennett, for her generosity and care as well.
“... in (m)othersongs, form and content are matched skilfully in service of the emotive main subject, that of not being a mother, and the ‘othering’ which happens in personal and public realms. [...] The poems are unflinching, and yet tenderness, not bitterness, predominates even in the face of difficult acceptance...”
For details of the magazine, please visit the Orbis website:
For (m)othersongs purchasing details, please visit the V. Press website here:
https://vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/mothersongs.html
My latest commissioned poem as Poet-in-Residence to the Pre-Raphaelite Society has been published in the Spring 2024 edition of the PRS Review. Inspired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting ‘Proserpine’ (and his accompanying sonnet), ‘Dire Fruit’ uses seasonal meteorology and natural-world imagery to explore notions of constraint and emergence, stasis and rebirth, and the triumph of the female spirit. For more information about the PRS, including membership details, please visit:
https://www.pre-raphaelitesociety.org/
MARCH 2024
My urban flora haiku sequence CHLOROPHYLL IN CONCRETE has been published in a lovely new edition of Green Ink Poetry, Enclosure: Equinox Collections: Spring, alongside work from many other fine poets. This illustrated anthology can be purchased from Amazon via this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CYM4LMX8
For more about Green Ink, please visit:
https://www.greeninkpoetry.co.uk/
3RD MARCH 2024
I’m honoured to announce that (m)othersongs was selected by the editors of Atrium Poetry as their Featured Publication for March/April 2024. Sincere thanks to Holly Magill and Claire Walker for this valuable platform, where people can read four poems from the book, and find ordering details at V. Press. Atrium publishes lots of amazing and brilliant single poems along with extracts of their Featured Publications, so please do explore the site beyond this link:
https://atriumpoetry.com/2024/03/03/featured-publication-mothersongs-by-sarah-doyle/
16TH MARCH 2024
I had great fun recording some poems for the Pre-Raphaelite Society’s Podcast recently, and the episode is released today. I’m reading Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and Keats’ ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, along with my own PRS-commissioned poem, ‘Cursed’. Many thanks to PRS Committee member Karl Merrick for the encouragement and technical wizardry, and to the entire PRS Podcast team for all of their great work. The recording can be found (and heard!) at this link:
https://www.pre-raphaelitesociety.org/podcast
FEBRUARY 2024
Thursday 22nd February… I’m very pleased to be among the guest readers supporting talented poet Corinna Board as she launches her beautiful new Black Cat Press pamphlet, Arboreal. This free event will take place online via Zoom, with tickets available through this link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arboreal-book-launch-tickets-834539107937
JANUARY 2024
It’s great to kick off 2024 with a publication! My poem ‘The woman who was weather’ was longlisted in 2023 Yaffle Poetry Prize and is included in Whirlagust IV, the competition anthology. More information at this link:
https://www.yafflepress.co.uk/competition-1
It was a lovely surprise to see that my new V. Press pamphlet (m)othersongs was one of six selected for review in the Poetry Book Society’s Winter Bulletin, and I’m deeply grateful for this sensitive and generous reading: “Sarah Doyle's striking pamphlet explores deeply personal experiences of non-motherhood, endometriosis, infertility [...] These are poignant and painful poems [...] which will resonate with all those who are coming to terms with childlessness. [...] (m)othersongs bravely sings of ‘belief, courage, hope’.”
For more information about (m)othersongs (including purchase details), please visit:
https://vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/mothersongs.html
For further information about the Poetry Book Society, please visit:
https://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/