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'Poetry is definitely having a renaissance'

22 February 2021

‘Poetry is definitely having a renaissance.There's been a real sea-change in terms of how it's seen, especially in lockdown. Poetry is the perfectly transportable art form. Owning a book is all you need to experience it. Poetry doesn't necessarily give us the answers, but it does give us the tools to think with and helps us process issues.

Writing poetry might be a slow art - but publishing it well is an extremely slow art. The lifespan of a book can be much longer than in other genres and, if it hits the big-time, you can feel the benefits for many years. Even those that don't go stellar can sell gradually, but well, for a long time.

The best publishers work hard at becoming a lifelong home for their writers and at creating evergreen titles. Having a really strong backlist is vital, too, so you're publishing second, third and fourth collections, as well as debuts.'

Jane Commane, publisher of Nine Arches Press https://ninearchespress.com/ in Bookbrunch, behind the paywall