New Old(ish) Poets Society

Posted on by Josephine Corcoran

Thanks to Afshan D’souza-Lodhi at The Common Sense Network for publishing my short piece, New Oldish Poets Society – which you can read here – detailing twelve women poets who’ve recently published their first pamphlet or collection in their late 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.  I’ve read a few articles recently charting the rise in poetry’s popularity yet nothing that I’ve seen mentions the rather wonderful phenomenon of more and more older women being published for the first time.

You can decide for yourself why it is that older women are increasingly making a space for themselves in the poetry world – in my article I suggest it’s to do with networking, education and publishing opportunities made available by the internet, as well as changed and changing attitudes towards women in general and a reassessment of what is considered ‘good’ poetry, along with different types of people making editorial decisions.

And you can draw your own conclusions about the reasons for the absence of older women in articles celebrating the current #poetryboom…

I am sorry that I didn’t include more poets in my piece.  The article would’ve been enormously long if I’d included all of the women recommended to me who fitted into the demographic of ‘first published over the age of 45 in the past 10-15 years’.  I tried to include names that might not be well-known in the mainstream world (or even in the poetry world, wherever that is) and I wanted to mention a range of publishers and small presses.

Clockwise larger half-images: Kathy Pimlott, Jessica Mookherjee, Robbie Burton, Susannah Hart. Clockwise smaller full images Pey Pey Oh, Carole Bromley, Kadija Sesay, Judy Brown, Jane Clarke, Deborah Alma Panya Banjoko, L. Kiew.

The poets I’ve mentioned are:

Do, please, leave names and links to books in the comment section below, or, even better, write your own piece about the same topic.  Happy International Women’s Day.

14 thoughts on “New Old(ish) Poets Society”

  3. Excellent piece, Josephine! Here is an addition for you:
    I can add The Glastonbury Three, all published in the last year, two of us for the first time.
    Rachael Clyne (in her late 60s) ‘Girl Golem’ 4Word Press http://www.4word.org/girl-golem-by-rachael-clyne/
    Michelle Diaz (in her mid 40s): ‘The Dancing Boy’ Against the Grain (debut pamphlet) https://againstthegrainpoetrypress.wordpress.com/michelle-diaz/
    Jinny Fisher (70): ‘The Escapologist’ V. Press http://vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/our-poets.html
    (debut pamphlet)

    Reading together at The Avalon Rooms, Glastonbury on 29th March, 7.30.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Thank you for putting the spotlight on those who just happened to be born before the others! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. Brilliant idea for a celebration!

    Liked by 1 person

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