The release of Rhiya Pau’s upcoming poetry collection, Routesmarks fifty years since her family arrived in the U.K. Routes began as an attempt to chronicle the history of Rhiya’s family, and her community, and much of the collection draws on the experience of Rhiya’s grandparents – her Ba and Bapuji.
We asked Rhiya about her favourite poem in Routes, and she chose ‘Enough’, which paints a portrait of her grandmother, through her well-stocked kitchen cabinets:
My grandmother houses gods in her closet
among tower blocks of cereal boxes and canned
chickpeas so we may always know enough.
“Enough paints a portrait of my grandmother and her ability to be in two places at once. How she can know about the miners, the tower blocks, the Post Office – live in this country for fifty years and still not feel British enough. It’s about longing and belonging, the sacrifice of the mother tongue, and how even in the absence of language we find ways to love.
Over the past two years, I have been on my own migratory journey, trying to obtain a visa to live and work in the USA. This poem is a favourite of mine because it articulates an enduring sense of displacement that has only been amplified for me as I move back and forth between places.”
This month we are delighted to be launching Rhiya Pau’s debut poetry collection, Routes, almost exactly a year since we published Rhiya’s first poem ‘Departure Lounge’ in our Where We Find Ourselves anthology.
Routes chronicles the migratory histories of Rhiya’s ancestors and explores the conflicts of identity that arise from being a member of the South Asian diaspora. Ahead of publication, we asked Rhiya about the inspiration behind the collection:
“In many ways, my grandfather has been the inspiration behind Routes. Bapuji was born in Kenya but moved to India in the 1940s to become a freedom fighter in the Independence movement. He participated in marches and sit-ins, and was laathi-charged several times by British soldiers for his disobedience. In one instance he was even shot in the leg. Later in life, after moving to the UK he was awarded Membership of the British Empire by the Queen for his community work, an accolade he was incredibly proud of. I created Routes as a space in which to document the migratory history of my family and community and explore the conflicts of identity that emerge. The release of this collection reflects on the fifty years since much of our community moved to the UK, following the expulsion of the Asians from Uganda.
My grandfather was a salt-march pilgrim
in a fleeting incarnation of this nation. Now how do I wash the blood from his flag?
Bapuji is remembered as a bold and principled man, who was unafraid to stand by his convictions in the face of disapproval. He believed this to be a necessary act in service of societal progress. In Routes I hope to pay tribute to his legacy. It is only by examining our history that we can begin to answer – what is worth holding on to? What memories, what stories, what truths? When we piece these together, what is the narrative we choose to tell? And how are we going to address the silences that remain?“
Today is exactly one year since we published A Voice Coming From Thenby Jeremy Dixon. Largely written and edited during lockdown, A Voice Coming From Then recently won the English-language Poetry award at the Wales Book of the Year 2022 and this has given us another chance to celebrate Jeremy and his extraordinary collection in real life.
We’re building an A Voice Coming From Then tour of Wales this Autumn, with events already planned at several libraries, independent bookshops and Waterstones stores across Wales this October and November.
If you run a bookshop, library, arts venue or poetry night, then please get in touch with us on outreach@arachnepress.com and let us know if you’d be interested in hosting an event with Jeremy Dixon as a part of this tour.
If you’re in Wales (or close by) and would like to see Jeremy reading from A Voice Coming From Then, please keep an eye on our blog and social media channels for the event dates and locations – coming soon!
For now, we are celebrating A Voice Coming From Then‘s book birthday with an online offer: buy a copy of the print book from our webshop and we’ll send you a code for 50% off the ebook or audiobook, which is beautifully narrated by Nigel Pilkington.
A Voice Coming From Thenstarts with Jeremy Dixon’s teenage suicide attempt and expands to encompass themes of bullying, queerphobia, acceptance and support.
As well as exploring identity, the tragic effects of bullying and the impact of suicide, this collection also includes unexpected typography, collage, humour, magic, discotheques and frequent appearances from the Victorian demon, Spring-heeled Jack.
One of the Wales Book of the Year judges commented: “I really admire Jeremy’s ability to be so vulnerable. I felt like he just really put his heart and his whole self into the collection.” Congratulations to Jeremy on having this immensely personal and moving collection out in the world for a whole year.
Beyond thrilled that our lovely Jeremy Dixon has WON the English @BangorUniversity Poetry Award for Wales Book of the Year 2022 (administered by Literature Wales) for his glorious
An exciting weekend for Clare Owen, author of Zed and the Cormorants, who describes herself as ‘beyond chuffed’ that not only did Zed win the YA Holyer An Gof award for 2022, but Clare herself won the Ann Trevenen Jenkin cup for authorship of a book for children or Young Adults.
We’ve agree the cup can stay with Clare for the year – it’s all hers! We get a certificate.
There will be an interview between Tiffany Truscott, who chaired the ceremony and Clare and winners in other categories on Radio Cornwall in the near future, when we find it we’ll let you know!
The Holyer An Gof awards are administered by Gorsedh Kernow
We couldn’t be more excited to share the news that A Voice Coming From Then by Jeremy Dixon is on the shortlist (of three!) for the 2022 English-language Wales Book of the Year, in the Poetry category.
We are celebrating by holding an online event with the other shortlisted poets, Angela Gardner and Abeer Ameer, on 20th July at 7pm. Get your free ticket here.
A Voice Coming From Then, which we published in August 2021, starts with poet Jeremy Dixon’s teenage suicide attempt and expands to encompass themes of bullying, queerphobia, acceptance and support.
As well as exploring identity, the tragic effects of bullying and the impact of suicide, this collection also includes unexpected typography, collage, humour, magic, discotheques and frequent appearances from the Victorian demon, Spring-heeled Jack.
Jeremy Dixon said: “I am beyond delighted that my collection of poems dealing with bullying, queerphobia and attempted suicide has made the shortlist of Wales Book of the Year 2022. My greatest hope throughout the difficult writing process was that the book would be understood and resonate with an audience beyond myself. For the book to have been selected by the judges is the most unexpected and welcome compliment!”
‘beyond delighted…’
The Wales Book of the Year Award is an annual prize celebrating outstanding literary talent from Wales across many genres and in both English and Welsh. Today, Friday 1 July, Literature Wales announced which books have reached the English-language Wales Book of the Year Short List 2022.
YOU can VOTE for the people’s choice from the shortlist via Wales Art Review
The winners will be announced on BBC Radio Wales on 29 July.
Congratulations Jeremy! We are so pleased A Voice Coming From Then is getting the attention it deserves.
We are delighted to share the news that Rhiya Pau has been named as a winner of this year’s Eric Gregory Award for her forthcoming poetry collection, Routes.
Routes explores the journeys taken by Rhiya Pau’s parents and grandparents across multiple countries to arrive in the UK. We are publishing the collection in November 2022, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Ugandan Asians in the UK.
Rhiya Pau is one of seven winners of this year’s Eric Gregory Award, given annually by the Society of Authors. Judged by Raymond Antrobus, Wayne Holloway-Smith, Sarah Howe, Gwyneth Lewis, Roger Robinson, and Joelle Taylor, the award is presented to a collection or collections of poems by poets under 30.
The judges said of Routes: ‘This is a collection in which routes and roots tug against one another: a family is scattered in the wake of India’s Partition; its children and grandchildren make new homes for themselves within a kaleidoscope of tongues. This is a work of humane intelligence, formal experiment and linguistic verve that promises much.’
Congratulations Rhiya – this is a daring collection that exhibits vast formal range and wrestles with language, narrative and memory. We’re excited to be publishing Routes.
Did we mention? We won the Saboteur2014 Best Anthology award! to celebrate we are giving away 10 copies on GoodReads. Off you go… win, read, review… of course if you already have a copy feel free to review its socks off everywhere you can think of, especially if you voted for us! Some people already have. You have a couple of weeks to be in with a chance.
One of the great things about the Saboteur2014 Awards is that they are voted for by the public, another great thing is that the voters get to say WHY they are voting, and another,really great thing is that the organisers share the voters comments with you. I’ve left the time stamps to prove I’m not making them up, but you know, this is NO time to be modest!
A cracking anthology! 5/25/2014 9:50 PM
Cherry Potts is a brilliant writer! 5/25/2014 5:56 PM
Small press, but who doesn’t love a weird short tale or two? 5/25/2014 5:34 PM
powerful and quirky. always. 5/25/2014 4:30 PM
v enjoyable book 5/25/2014 9:12 AM
quality of writing, variety of stories, fun! 5/25/2014 8:38 AM
Variation of theme, yet a high standard throughout and often surprising in its content. 5/25/2014 8:15 AM
Eclectic mix. Very supportive of emerging writers 5/25/2014 7:00 AM
Because Kart Darby rocks! 5/24/2014 3:49 PM (I’m guessing they mean Katy)
Excellent collection Nuff said? 5/24/2014 3:33 PM
Great selection – well-written and varied.. 5/24/2014 2:17 PM
Great mix. 5/24/2014 2:07 PM
Because they are Bloody Brilliant 5/23/2014 8:35 PM
one of the most original writers herself Cherry Potts provides opportunities for unusual and thought provoking writing 5/20/2014 12:25 PM
Time to reward these two 5/16/2014 12:23 PM
coz its awesome 5/14/2014 6:05 PM
Amazing collection of quirk. 5/14/2014 1:59 PM
It’s a brilliant mix of the macabre, the futuristic and the funny 5/9/2014 11:32 AM
It’s brilliant! So often anthologies have only a few good stories, but I loved them all. 5/6/2014 3:25 PM
Great! 5/6/2014 12:29 AM
It’s a good title. 5/5/2014 9:25 PM
Great writing! Future journalists? 5/5/2014 4:38 AM
It was amazing!!! 5/4/2014 11:49 PM
Hands down the best 5/4/2014 9:02 PM
Interesting stories 5/4/2014 7:29 PM
Was great 5/4/2014 6:49 PM
The best of the best when it comes to creativeness, story telling and well written! Very well done. 5/4/2014 3:58 PM
Great talent 5/4/2014 3:52 PM
Great read 5/4/2014 3:18 PM
best variety 5/4/2014 2:57 PM
Creative entertaining stories 5/4/2014 9:09 AM
Because of the panache of their invitation to out weird the weirdest and the aplomb with which they make the unbelievable believable. 5/3/2014 2:37 PM
It’s really good! 5/2/2014 9:03 PM
Because Liar’s League should’ve been in *both* the ‘best Spoken Word’ categories! 5/2/2014 1:49 PM
Fascinating collection of stories. 5/1/2014 9:36 PM
ace anthologies 5/1/2014 5:30 PM
The world needs more weird! More well-written slipstream, more surrealism, more speculative fiction. 5/1/2014 2:19 PM
This an amazing collection with an appeal to those who don’t generally read scifi/fantasy as well as aficionados of the genre 5/1/2014 1:20 PM
I’m in it, to be honest. 5/1/2014 1:10 PM
Really original and a fab read. Arachne Press makes very impressive choices. 5/1/2014 11:47 AM
A great selection of strange tales which give new meaning to slipstream fiction. 5/1/2014 11:29 AM
Great variety and weirdness 5/1/2014 11:22 AM
Compilation of weirdness from previously performed Liars League stories. 5/1/2014 10:54 AM
Fabulous book from a great indie press! 5/1/2014 10:47 AM
Storytelling with intelligence, invention and wit. 5/1/2014 10:35 AM
Thank you to all 377 of you who voted for us, whoever you are, and especially those of you who bothered to add a comment: you are marvellous, well read and lovely people.
I’m going to be spending the morning editing all references to the lovely Weird Lies on the website to AWARD WINNING Weird Lies, because, ladies, gentleman and aliens… WE WON!!
Our award, and the one won by our dear friends Liars’ League snuggle up for a proud photo.A Big thank you to Sabotage Reviews for their brilliant organisation and for their reviews, and for putting on the awards in the first place.
So what does it all mean, apart from the warm glow and the little star thingy and the aforementioned editing of the website?
It means that a lot of people like what we do – the award is by public vote (THANK YOU everyone who nominated and voted for us, you are lovely, lovely people).
It might mean it’s easier to get books into bookshops, and sold – you might think that creativity is its own reward, but we all need to eat.
It might mean we get more gigs for our readings – speaking of – TONIGHT you can hear lovely Liars’ League actors Tony Bell, Silas Hawkins, Carrie Cohen, Sean Patterson, Lisa Rose and Sarah Feathers reading from AWARD WINNING* Weird Lies, and it’s equally terrific stable fellow, Lovers’ Lies, at Misty Moon, where we will also be PREVIEWING the animated trailer (by upcoming animator Nick Page) for our next book, Devilskein & Dearlove. I will say nothing more, other than it’s ACE (Misty Moon aficionados, yes that is what I mean.)
(* wondering how long it will take to get bored with typing that)
It was an excellent event, which kept the energy going all afternoon and all evening, with live readings from all sorts of poets and authors, including London Lies author and Oxford local, Emily Cleaver.
A BIG thank you to everyone I forgot to thank last night, I hadn’t written a speech, so it was very off the cuff.
And a very big thank you to all the writers, in AWARD WINNING Weird Lies and all the other books, you are all brilliant.
And an especially big thank you to Alix, who turns out for almost every live event and does front-of-house so brilliantly. For someone who said she didn’t want to be involved, she does an epic amount, and it wouldn’t happen without her.
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