Exciting and accessible at the same time as being formally brave and lyrically skilful, Rachel Long’s debut collection skewers sexual politics and vexed notions of identity with wit, warmth and precision.
Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2021
Shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2021
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021
Shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award 2020
Shortlisted for the The Forward Prize Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection 2020
Rachel Long's much-anticipated debut collection of poems, My Darling from the Lions, announces the arrival of a thrilling new presence in poetry.
Each poem has a vivid story to tell - of family quirks, the perils of dating, the grip of religion or sexual awakening - stories that are, by turn, emotionally insightful, politically conscious, wise, funny and outrageous.
Long reveals herself as a razor-sharp and original voice on the issues of sexual politics and cultural inheritance that polarize our current moment. But it's her refreshing commitment to the power of the individual poem that will leave the reader turning each page in eager anticipation: here is an immediate,wide-awake poetry that entertains royally, without sacrificing a note of its urgency or remarkable skill.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781529045161
Number of pages: 96
Weight: 156 g
Dimensions: 197 x 154 x 9 mm
Rachel Long is an enchanting and heartwarming new voice in poetry. - Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other
I loved reading these poems. They are immediate, accessible and necessary, but also joyful, witty and elegant. They tell stories we so much need to hear. - Kate Clanchy
A delight. It takes melancholic, surprising turns every couple of pages, with poems centred around combating body shame, sex and faith. - Roger Robinson, The Week
In My Darling From the Lions, Long embodies through verse at once sensual and breathless the tempo of desire. Here is life as sacred and profane, rendered by a voice so clear it cuts through everything and rings like a bell. - Mary Jean Chan, author of Fleché
The pages of Rachel Long’s gorgeous debut collection My Darling From the Lions crackle with the nostalgia of growing up and the hum of desire . . . [one] of the most exciting new poets to start reading today - Evening Standard
[A] fresh, exciting voice . . . She writes of family, race and sexuality . . . The exhilarating work of these two young women reminds me that though we age like autumn leaves, the greenness is always there, waiting for spring. - Daily Mail
Night Vigil made me sob; Sandwiches made me sob and laugh then call all of my friend to thank them for being my friends - many of the poems did that; Danielle's Dad is a unrelenting piece of genius. I've not read a poem where so many individual lines made me want to congratulate the author for her craft. There's so much in this book that had me laughing and shuddering and standing up waving my arms in breathless recognition. Beautiful. I'm so glad it was written. - Hollie McNish, author of Nobody Told Me
These are smart witty poems on race, religion, sexuality with a striking hair-themed central section but it’s their grasp of the precarious unknown that makes them powerful, fresh and new. - Irish Times
Rachel Long’s first collection of poems sings with a sharp, sensual energy, grappling with subjects as cosmic as salvation and as quotidian as playground fights and Zoopla wish lists. The intimacy of her poetic voice enhances its power to disarm; the stabs she takes at the evils of society are precise, and alive with demotic sound patterning and loose rhythms. - TLS
A collection of stunning poetry, full of strength, covering themes from sexuality to religion, this just cries out of grit, reality , of female and power in being a woman, of her race, a powerful Black female voice... More
Reading this book I realised, finally, what I find hard about reading poetry. I need things spelled out to me and poetry relies a little too much on nuance and vagueness often. As such I felt myself pulled in and... More
This is a brilliant collection of poems. So accomplished that it seems impossible that this is actually a debut collection.
Long is such a sharp writer. Scalpel sharp observations that puncture through the...
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