Shows
Arji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - Mona ArshiMona Arshi's third collection of poems, Mouth was published in July 2025 by Chatto and Windus, and is the PBS Choice. So we decided to sit down for a chat about the book. Two beautifully read poems, an amazing back and forth about myths, nature and love and all in 30 minutes. If you haven't bought the book, go get it, as this interview really opens it up in a new way
2025-09-0230 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 48 - Erica HeskethSorry about the poor frequency of this podcast at the moment. I'm doing a lot of stuff at the same time and believe it or not I have a tendency to drop the ball sometimes! Regardless, thanks for sticking by me. Today’s guest is Erica Hesketh. She's a brilliant poet, editor, and producer, she spent eight years leading the Poetry Translation Centre, helping bring international voices to UK readers. She is the editor of Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet, and a member of the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective 2023–24. Now her debut collec...
2025-05-2718 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society with Fiona BensonHappy to be back for another PBS Special. Featuring a chat with the brilliant Fiona Benson.She has published three previous collections of poetry, all of which were shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize: Bright Travellers, which won the 2015 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry's Prize for First Full Collection, Vertigo & Ghost, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize and won both the Roehampton Poetry Prize and the Forward Prize for Best Collection, and Ephemeron, which was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the London Hellenic Pri...
2025-04-1123 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society with Richard ScottIt's another PBS pickle jar special this week featuring Richard Scott's new book.Richard Scott's poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies including Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, Swimmers, The Poetry of Sex (Penguin) and Butt Magazine. His pamphlet 'Wound' (Rialto) won the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2016 and his poem 'crocodile' won the 2017 Poetry London Competition. Soho (Faber & Faber) is his first book. His second poetry collection That Broke into Shining Crystals is available with Faber.
2025-02-1724 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - A conversation with Ian DuhigWe're back again. This week I'm joined by Ian Duhig, a poet who has won the Forward Best Poem Prize, the National Poetry Competition twice and been shortlisted for the T.S Eliot Prize four times. A poet with six books to his name. A poet who continues to work with community projects pushing the power of words. Today his book An Arbitrary Light Bulb is the winter selection for PBS and so we invited him into the Pickle Jar to talk about it.
2024-11-1524 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 47 - Charlotte Shevchenko KnightShe's the winner of the Eric Gregory. Her new debut book Food for the Dead was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best first collection and was the winner of the Laurel Prize 2024.
Today we discuss Sharon Old's poem 'True Love'. As well as talk about experimental poetry, the power of poems and everything in between. Enjoy the vibes.
2024-10-2916 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - A conversation with Raymond AntrobusRaymond Antrobus MBE FRSL was born in London, Hackney to an English mother and Jamaican father. He is the author of Shapes & Disfigurements (Burning Eye, 2012) To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press, 2017), The Perseverance (Penned In The Margins / Tin House, 2018), All The Names Given (Picador / Tin House, 2021), Signs, Music (Picador / Tin House, 2024).
His individual poems have been published in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Granta, Poetry Foundation, Lit Hub, London Review of Books, The Poetry Review, The Deaf Poets Society and elsewhere. In 2019 he became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work...
2024-09-2026 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 46 - Gail McConnellSo proud to get Gail McConnell into the studio today. She's the writer of two pamphlets and one amazing book. The Sun Is Open was brought out on Penned a few years back and it really is a groundbreaking book and well worth a read.
It won the The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Award and The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. It was a Poetry Book of the Month in the Guardian and in The Observer, a book of the year in the TLS and The White R...
2024-09-0317 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 45 - Ellen CranitchVery happy to be back with Ellen Cranitch in the Pickle Jar.
She is a poet and lecturer. Her first collection, The Immortalist, was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Award for Best First Collection. Her new collection, Crystal, was published by Bloodaxe, named “Dignified, moving and sure…" by The Observer where it was named book of the month, it was also recommended by Stephen Fry and Ian McMillan.
Today she brings a Prynne Poem into the Pickle Jar and we speak of line breaks, intensity and the importance of synt...
2024-08-1318 min
The Verb21/07/2024Crocodile-like men, fireflies, a soul hitching a ride on a bee, the coolness of Switzerland, anagrams, and a mysterious rhyming poem - all this and more from
Ian McMillan's guests this week - as they explore the way a poetic image can change the way we see things,Arji Manuelpillai is a poet and creative facilitator. His poetry collection 'Improvised Explosive Device' (Penned in the Margins) emerged through research and interviews with academics, sociologists, and former members of extremist groups and their families. He also presents a poetry podcast: 'Arji's Pickle Jar'.Mona Arshi is...
2024-07-2141 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 44 - Salena GoddenWith two books on the horizon, I'm extremely excited to bring Salena Godden into the Pickle Jar.
Salena Godden is an English poet, author, activist, broadcaster, memoirist and essayist. Born in Hastings, UK, of Jamaican-Irish heritage, Godden based in London. Widely anthologised, she has published several books. She has also written for BBC TV and radio and has released four studio albums to date.
Today we crack open a Nikita Gill poem to see what we can find.
2024-07-1616 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 43 - Bryony LittlefairVery excited to bring Bryony Littlefair into the Pickle Jar. Partly because her debut poetry collection Escape Room (Seren, 2022) was excellent. Also because her pamphlet Giraffe won the Mslexia Pamphlet Prize in 2017. But mostly because we both LOVE Tony Hoagland.
So here's us geeking out over Tony Hoagland for 20 minutes!
2024-07-0220 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - A conversation with Paul MuldoonImmensely proud and thankful to PBS for bringing Paul Muldoon into the studio.
Paul Muldoon is so big he's off the charts. I don't think there's many awards he hasn't won in his huge career. Today we celebrate his 14th book 'With Joy in Service on Rue Tagore'.
We chat about all things poetry, about what it's like doing poems for that long, about his practice, his muse, the work and the joys of fact checkers.
I learnt alot in this episode and so will you.
2024-06-1828 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep.42 - Yomi SodeHe's a tour de force for poetry. The pioneer of some ridiculously good live poetry events. A workshop facilitator, a father and the author of a brilliant debut called Manorisms. That book was shortlisted for the Eliots and the Rathbones. It is of course Yomi Sode and today he's brought a Gary Soto poem in called Oranges. You going to love this one!
2024-06-1118 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 41 - Golnoosh NourWe're finally back.
This week I'm joined by Golnoosh Nour. A Tehran born poet who has two fantastic collections. The most recent was Rocksong on Verve and it blew my face off. So I invited her in to talk about a poet and poem she really loves. Amongst Darkness by Forough-farrokhzad.
Enjoy it. Share it. Pass it on.
2024-05-2820 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarUni_Slam Live Pickle Jar SpecialThis week we are taking a trip to Birmingham to celebrate with the crew from Uni_Slam.
Uni_Slam is a huge event that takes place yearly in The Birmingham Hippodrome. Each year University students come together to share their poems in a competition that celebrates the diversity of poetry in this country.
On the same weekend the Uni_Slam team invites to the festival some of the Poetry Collectives that hold some of the best emerging poets of the scene.
I am honoured to give a podcast stage to...
2024-04-1825 min
Breaks & Joins PodcastSeries 5, Episode 3: Arji ManuelpillaiArji Manuelpillai is a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. He was the Jerwood/Arvon Mentee mentored by Hannah Lowe. Arji’s debut pamphlet ‘Mutton Rolls' was published with Out-Spoken Press in 2020 and his newest book ‘Improvised Explosive Device’ was released in the Autumn of 2022 with Penned in the Margins. This highly acclaimed book was noted in The Telegraph’s Top 20 poetry books of the year, as well as in The Guardian’s best recent poetry section. It was also the Winter PBS selection and Shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize. Arji has been facilitating for over 20 years both n...
2024-04-0428 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - A conversation with Victoria KennefickHey everyone. I'm working on a new series so please subscribe and support by sharing.
Happy to be back here to present another special speaking with the wonderful Victoria Kennefick
Victoria grew up in Cork and lives in Kerry. Her debut collection, Eat or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021), won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Costa Poetry Book Award, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry,
...
2024-02-2220 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - A conversation with Kwame Dawes.I am so massively excited to bring Kwame Dawes into the Pickle Jar.
He is the author of twenty books of poetry and numerous other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. In 2016 his book, Speak from Here to There, a co-written collection of verse with Australian poet John Kinsella appeared. He is Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner and teaches at the University of Nebraska and the Pacific MFA Program. He is Director of the African Poetry Book Fund and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival.
Often called 'the busies...
2023-10-1925 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar X Poetry Book Society - a conversation with Daljit NagraYes. Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar are so excited to collaborate with Poetry Book Society to bring you this exclusive interview with Daljit Nagra.
Daljit's book Indiom was the PBS Choice and so we invited him into the studio to talk about the process and journey. It's a brilliant little interview.
Daljit is as big as they come. He's had 4 poetry collections, all with Faber & Faber. He won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Book, the South Bank Show Decibel Award and the Cholmondeley Award, and...
2023-09-0522 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 40 - Rachel LongWhat a pleasure it is to be here for the 40th Birthday. This week we have the brilliant Rachel Long. She is the author of My Darling from the Lions (Tin House, 2021; first published by Picador, 2020), a TIME Best Book of the Year also shortlisted for the 2020 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Long is the leader of the Octavia Poetry Collective for Women of Colour.
Today she talks about a poem by Maggie Milner from her book called couplets.
You going to love this....
2023-08-0817 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 39 - Sarah Fletcheran American-British writer. Her work has appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The White Review, and other publications. Today she speaks about a poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt. It's old skool and super fun!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45589/they-flee-from-me
2023-07-2517 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep.38 - Emily BerryI'm over the moon to have Emily Berry in the Pickle Jar. She is a poet, writer and editor living in London. She is the author of three books of poems published by Faber & Faber, Dear Boy (2013), Stranger, Baby (2017) and Unexhausted Time (2022), and a co-writer of The Breakfast Bible, a compendium of breakfasts.
Today we pickle a poem by Fran Lock called Melpomene. You can read it here - https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/melpomene/
enjoy your meal!
2023-07-1120 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 37 - Jacqueline SaphraJacqueline is T.S. Eliot Prize nominated, award-winning poet, a playwright, editor, agitator, teacher and organiser. She is the author of ten stage plays, four chapbooks and five collections. Jacqueline is a keen performer and collaborator, working with composers, musicians, visual artists and other poets. She offers mentoring and teaches poetry in all kinds of settings including The Arvon Foundation and The Poetry School. Her fifth collection Velvel’s Violin will be out from Nine Arches Press in July 2023.
Today she comes into the Pickle Jar to talk about a poem called 'Limits' By Raymo...
2023-06-2817 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 36 - Joe Carrick VartySo excited to be back in series 4. To open this series we have the brilliant Joe Carrick-Varty. He's a British-Irish poet, writer and founding editor of bath magg. He is the author of More Sky (Carcanet Press, 2023), 54 Questions for the Man Who Sold a Shotgun to My Father (Out-Spoken Press, 2020) and Somewhere Far (The Poetry Business, 2019).
Today he talks about an awesome poem by Max Ritvo. The poem is called 'Poem to my dog, Monday, on night I accidentally ate meat.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geJeUXEQADo - here's a link to Max Ritvo reading it.
come get i...
2023-06-1317 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 35 - Emma JeremyEmma Jeremy is the author of Safety Behaviour (Smith|Doorstop, 2019) and a former winner of the New Poets Prize. Her poems have featured in publications such as Poetry London, Poetry Review and Magma. sad thing angry is her debut collection.
Today she brings in a firecracker of a poem by Katie O'Pray called 'in the dream'.
2023-05-3017 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 34 - Dean AttaSuch a pleasure to invite educator, novelist and poet Dean Atta into the studio. He's had his second collection out with Nine Arches called There is (still) love here, he is a hugely successful Young Adults novelist with books including The Black Flamingo and Only on the Weekends. He is also a fantastic educator teaching young people across the country.
This is a wonderful resource for schools teachers as Dean brings in a poem called Acknowledgements by Keith Jarrett.
You going to love it!
2023-05-1617 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 33 - Meryl PughToday we are joined by poet and writer Meryl Pugh. She is the author of three pamphlets; The Bridle (Salt Publishing, 2011), Relinquish (Arrowhead, 2007) and Wife of Osiris (Verve Poetry Press, forthcoming). Her first collection, Natural Phenomena (2018), was a Poetry Book Society Spring Guest Choice and longlisted for the inaugural Laurel Prize. Her latest book Feral Borough was released with Penned in the Margins.
Today she shares with us a poem by Mimi Khalvati called Overblown Roses. It's available online here - https://poetryarchive.org/poem/overblown-roses/
2023-05-0217 minThe VerbThe Interview VerbThis Verb could change the way you think about dreams, it might change your perception of your own doctor, or your perception of those who become extremists. That's because the writers who join Ian McMillan this week all interviewed people to enrich the texture of their work, and the concepts at the heart of it.Steven Moffat is a writer and television producer - celebrated for his writing on Doctor Who. He is joined on the programme by Dr Peter Dong (Peter runs a research programme in particle physics at the Large Hadron Collider) to explore a...
2023-04-2844 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 32 - Will HarrisIn this episode we are joined by the brilliant Will Harris. Will's debut poetry book RENDANG (2020) was a Poetry Book Society Choice, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. His second book of poems, Brother Poem, is published by Granta in the UK and by Wesleyan in the US in March 2023. It was the PBS Spring Selection.
Today he brings in a poem by Inger Christensen called Light. It is translated by Susanna Nied.
2023-04-1818 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 31 - Liz BerryWelcome to another series of Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar. Today we are joined by a wonderful woman and poet named Liz Berry. Her first book of poems, Black Country (Chatto 2014) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, received a Somerset Maugham Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award and Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Liz's pamphlet The Republic of Motherhood (Chatto, 2018) was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice and the title poem won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. Her new book The Home Child is just out and is GREAT.
Today she discusses one...
2023-04-0416 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarPickle Jar Special - Improvised Explosive DeviceAs part of the research for my new book I interviewed a number of people affected by radicalisation, extremism and violence. These interviews were so interesting and fruitful. I'm very proud of my book and all journey of how it came into being. So I decided to put together a podcast episode to help unpack some of the poems and the process.
Please purchase the books here - https://tinylink.net/W8XYc
Please Note - In this episode I refer to an 'ethnological approach' - that should be 'ethnographic approach'. I'm always learning these t...
2022-11-0922 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarPickle Jar Special - Wayne Holloway-Smith's Living room SeriesA special today recorded live at Wayne Holloway-Smith's house. Three wonderful poets share new work many of which have never been heard before! Presenting the brilliant Will Harris, known for his brilliant book Rendang. Also, the great Richard Scott who's published with Faber his book Soho was a game changer. And finally, Lucy Mercer whose debut book Emblem is something to behold. All of these great poets here to entertain you for 15 brilliant minutes.
Will Harris - https://willjharris.com/poems
Richard Scott - http://richardscott.info/poetry.html
Lucy Mercer - https...
2022-09-2919 min
Arji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 30 - Clare PollardThe final episode of this series features the wonderful Clare Pollard. She's a poet with more than 6 books under her belt, she's a novelist, she's a critic, she has judged more competitions that I could count and she is an immensely lovely person. Such a pleasure to share this with you all.
Today Clare brings in the powerhouse Anne Sexton with a poem called The Truth the Dead Know. You can read the poem here.
2022-04-1217 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 29 - Deryn Rees-JonesAnother instalment this time with a poet so bloody brilliant it feels almost pointless to give her an introduction. She was named as one of Mslexia’s ‘top ten’ women poets of the decade, as well as being chosen as one of the Poetry Book Society’s Next Generation poets. Her book ‘Burying the Wren’ was published in 2012; it was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and a Times Literary Supplement book of the year.
She has such a wealth of knowledge, I can honestly say I learnt a lot in this session...
2022-04-0518 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 28 - John McCulloughThis week we are joined by award-winning poet John McCullough whose poems have appeared in magazines including Poetry Review, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Poetry London and Best British Poetry. His first collection The Frost Fairs (Salt, 2011) won the Polari First Book Prize and was Book of the Year for The Independent and The Poetry School. His last collection Reckless Paper Birds was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. Finally he has his new collection called Panic Response out with Penned in the Margins.
Today he gives us a poem by the brilliant Caroline Bird. We talk space, paus...
2022-03-2915 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep27 - Paula HarrisManaged to take a trip across the sea to New Zealand where I'm joined by the delightful Paula Harris. Her poetry has been published in various journals, including Passages North, Barren, New Ohio Review, SWWIM, Glass, Diode, The Spinoff, Poetry New Zealand Yearbook and Aotearotica. Her essays have been published in The Sun, Passages North, Hobart, The Spinoff and Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (Victoria University Press). Today we are looking at a poem by Hannah Mettner called : Schrödinger's pink corduroy miniskirt
2022-03-2217 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep. 26 - Fran LockSo excited to do this episode. Fran Lock is the author of several poetry collections, including Contains Mild Peril (2019), Raptures and Captures (2019), Ruses and Fuses (2018), Muses and Bruises (2017), Dogtooth (2017), The Mystic and the Pig Thief (2014), and Flatrock (2011).
Today she brings in a hefty poem called 'Through A Screen Darkly' by Golnoosh Nour from her debut collection Rocksong. It's a good poem, good enough for me to buy the whole book
2022-03-1518 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Episode 25 - Maia ElsnerExcited to bring you yet another instalment of the Pickle Jar. A place where we invite the best poets to talk about their favourite poems. This week we are joined by Flipped Eye favourite Maia Elsner who brings in a little known poem called Five Men by Polish writer, Zbigniew Herbert. We talk politics in poetry, we discuss violence and how to portray it and we also share our thoughts on what makes this poem so special.
Come get it.
2022-03-0818 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep24 - Daniel SlumanIt's a pleasure to be joined by the brilliant Daniel Sluman. Daniel’s writing first began to be published whilst studying at University, and in 2012 his debut poetry collection Absence has a weight of its own was published to critical acclaim by Nine Arches Press. He was named one of Huffington Post’s Top 5 British Poets to Watch in 2015, the same year his second book the terrible was released. His third collection, single window, was published through Nine Arches Press in September 2021, and was nominated for the T.S Eliot Prize.
Today we speak about a brilliant poem...
2022-03-0118 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep23 - Kim MooreThis week we are joined by the brilliant Kim Moore. Her first full length collection The Art of Falling (Seren) won the Geoffrey Faber memorial prize in 2017. She won a New Writing North Award in 2014, an Eric Gregory Award in 2011 and the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2012. Her latest book was recently released under Seren.
Today she shares a great poem by Vicki Feaver called 1974. We talk sexism, self-reflection and all things poetry.
2022-02-2218 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 22 - Chrissy WilliamsThis week we are joined by the super woman Chrissy Williams. She is the author of Bear (Bloodaxe Books, 2017) and more recently Low. She's had an array of cross-art, creative excavations which have resulted in visual art, poetry pamphlets, and everything in between. She also curates and edits the online journal Perverse.
She introduces me to a poet I hadn't heard of before called Oli Hazzard
2022-02-1517 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep. 21 - Jack UnderwoodSo proud to be back, not least because now I have a child and am doing some extreme juggling. To open this series I've got the amazing Jack Underwood. His double pamphlet Solo for Mascha Voice/Tenuous Rooms was published by Test Centre in 2018. Happiness was published by Faber & Faber in 2015. He is senior lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. He comes into the studio to talk about metaphysics, Awards culture and the wonderful Natalie Shapero.
This week's poem is The Sky by Natalie Sharpero. you can read it here - https://poets.org...
2022-02-0817 min
Time for one PoemTime for one Poem – credit cardWelcome to Time for one Poem! In the first part of this episode I talk to Arji Manuelpillai: a poet, rapper, and educator whose debut poetry pamphlet Mutton Rolls came out in 2020.
In the second part I talk to poetry-sceptic Andy, a team leader for the unemployment charity Apex Scotland, about Arji's poem, 'credit card'.
Although Andy describes poetry as "not [his] thing" and wishes someone would just "tell [him] what it means", we manage to come to an understanding of this poem together - discussing identity theft and the perfect leek and potato soup.
2021-11-0344 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 20 - Ella FrearsThe final episode of the second season and it is a special one. We are joined by the wonderful Ella Frears. She is a poet and artist based in London. Her debut collection, Shine, Darling, (Offord Road Books, 2020) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry.
She has had poetry published in the LRB, Poetry London, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Ambit, The Rialto, and the Moth among others.
Today she brings in two strange, short poems. One...
2021-06-0116 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 19 - Indran Amirthanayagamthis week we are off across the waters again joined by Poet, essayist, and translator Indran Amirthanayagam. He is a Sri Lankan born poet raised in Colombo London, and Honolulu. He’s the author of numerous poetry collections, including The Elephants of Reckoning (1993), Ceylon, R.I.P. (2001), The Splintered Face (2008), Uncivil War (2013), and Coconuts On Mars (2019). He writes, translates, and publishes poetry and essays in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Kenyon Review, the New England Review, and many other magazines.
Today we dissect a poem cal...
2021-05-2516 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 18 - Charlotte AnsellAnother brand-spankingly new episode of the Pickle Jar. This week we speak to Charlotte Ansell. Charlotte performs her poems regularly and her work has appeared in Poetry Review, Mslexia, Butcher’s Dog, Prole, Algebra of Owls and various anthologies; most recently ‘These are the hands’ – an anthology of poems by NHS workers. She has won various competitions (Red Shed, BBC Write Science competition in 2015, Watermarks in 2016, commended in Yorkmix in 2016 and shortlisted in the Poetry in film category of the Outspoken prize for poetry in 2017). Her latest collection Deluge was a PBS Winter choice and is out with Flipped Eye.
2021-05-1815 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 17 - Deborah AlmaDeborah Alma is a UK poet, with an MA with distinction, in Creative Writing from Keele University. She is editor of Emergency Poet-an anti-stress poetry anthology, The Everyday Poet- Poems to live by (both Michael O’Mara), and #Me Too – rallying against sexual harassment- a women’s poetry anthology (Fair Acre Press, March 2018). Her True Tales of the Countryside was published by The Emma Press in 2015 and her first full collection Dirty Laundry was published by Nine Arches Press (May 2018).
Deborah is also the Emergency poet and owner of The Poetry Pharmacy in Shropshire.
...
2021-05-1115 min
Poetry in AldeburghPerformance in the Pub at the virtual 'Cross Keys'
After Dinner Event (2): Performance in the Pub at the virtual 'Cross Keys' (E10), Saturday 13th November 2020, 9-10 PM
Our host for this event is Jill Abram
A delicious tone of eavesdropping binds these three readings as we are called to contemplate the binds that tie us to one another. Fact, fiction and fantasy share an equal playing field through poems of dream lovers, friends and inner-city neighbours. In These Queer Merboys, Serge ♆ Neptune invites the reader into his mythical dreamscape of mermen, a world charged with powerful eroticism where desire is fraught with danger. Al...
2021-05-0444 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 16 - Amy AcreThis week we are joined by poet and performer Amy Acre. She has two pamphlets both of which were Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choices, she also won the Verve poetry Prize with a memorable poem called every girl knows, but bigger than that, she is the editor of one of the biggest and wildest small presses in the country, BAD BETTY PRESS.
Today we talk about this exert from Dionne Brand’s The Blue Clerk you can download it here
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/amriss56owc8jqb/AACM357cp4pdukBknElETOkza?dl=0
2021-05-0418 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 15 - Lewis BuxtonAnother week Arji’s pickling the poems you'll love. This week’s guest is a poet, producer and workshop leader. His poems have appeared in Ambit Magazine, Oxford Poetry and Ink, Sweat and Tears. He is the director and co-founder of TOAST Poetry, an organisation dedicated to the professional development of poets. Lewis Buxton has his new book Boy in Various Poses out with Nine Arches Press. Today we are looking at beautiful piece by Ellen Bass. You can read it here - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/04/what-did-i-love
2021-04-2720 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 14 - Carlos Andrés GómezThis week we travelling to the states to hit you up with Carlos Andrés Gómez. He's a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, author of Fractures, Hijito, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood. This man has too many awards to fit into this bio, he's star on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and TV One’s Verses and Flows and today he is bringing in a poem by Rachel Eliza Griffiths called Seeing the body. You can read it here : https://poets.org/poem/seeing-body
2021-04-1318 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 13 - Vidyan RavinthiranIn today's Pickle Jar we're joined by Vidyan Ravinthiran. He's a poet who grew up in a mixed area of Leeds (in the North of England), studied at Oxford and Cambridge, and is now an Associate Professor of English Literature at Harvard. He's the author of two books of verse. Grun-tu-molani (Bloodaxe, 2014) was shortlisted for several first collection awards, with individual poems appearing in The Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Financial Times. The Million-Petalled Flower of Being Here (2019) won a Northern Writers Award, was a PBS Recommendation, and was shortlisted for the Forward and the T.S. Eliot Prizes...
2021-04-0617 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 12 - Natalie WhittakerOn today's show we are joined by Natalie Whittaker poet and secondary school teacher from South East London. Her debut pamphlet Shadow Dogs was published by Ignition press in 2018. And She is one of London Library’s emerging writers for 2020 / 2021. Her poems have been widely published in UK magazines and anthologies. Her latest pamphlet Tree is just OUT on Verve Publishing. It is writing dealing with her personal experience of stillbirth and the mental illness that can follow such a traumatic event.
We look closely at a poem by Jack Underwood. You can read it here https://poetry...
2021-03-3016 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 11 - Katrina NaomiBack for series two. This week we are joined by Poet, Mentor and Facilitator Katrina Naomi. She has four collections under her belt. these include Wild Persistence, published by Seren and Typhoon Etiquette, published in 2019 by Verve Poetry Press. She has also had her poetry appear on on Poems on the Underground, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and Poetry Please, and in The TLS, The Poetry Review and Modern Poetry in Translation. Today she is bringing Ink-Light by Natalie Diaz. It is a wonderfully magical poem so come have a listen.
2021-03-2317 min
mango masalaShamima Begum & managing lockdown easing expectations / Arji Manuelpillai on poetry in British educationGVRNZ, Simran & Halima discuss the recent Supreme Court decision to not allow Shamima Begum to return to the UK to fight her British citizenship case. They also talk about the confirmed roadmap out of lockdown, whether we should be getting our hopes up so soon, and what plans they have for post-lockdown life. We finish the episode with an interview carried out by Sakshi Karanjkar with Arji Manuelpillai, a poet, performer and education artist. They discuss his past in hip-hop and transition to poetry, his work with refugees, the problematic way in which poetry is covered in British education...
2021-03-101h 14Arji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 10 - Cecilia KnappFor this tenth instalment of the Pickle Jar we invite Cecilia Knapp into the jar. She's a poet, playwright and novelist and the current Young People’s Laureate for London. Her poems have appeared in The White Review, Magma and Bath, She’s a former resident artist at The Roundhouse and a Ted X speaker, and her debut novel is forthcoming from The Borough Press (Harper Collins.) as well as all this she is a great facilitator and advocate for poetry for all people
Today she brings a brilliant poem by Rachel Long called Self-portrait with a baby...
2021-02-0217 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 9 - Jo BellToday we are joined by poet, performer, playwright, project manager, programmer, producer and former Canal Laureate of the UK, Jo Bell. She devised the immensely successful online poetry group 52 which is a good reflection of her personal mission to use social media as a stimulus to encourage new writers into the fray. She also has a collection called Kitch published with Nine Arches Press.
Today she brings us a sweet little poem about doing a shit in a wood, it's called Giant Puffballs and it's by Neil Rollinson. Have a read of it here:
2021-01-2616 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 8 - Abi PalmerIn this episode we are joined by artist and amazing human being Abi Palmer. She is an artist and writer exploring the relationship between linguistic and physical communication. her latest book on Penned in the margins is Sanatorium—a fragmented memoir that jumps between a luxury thermal pool and a blue inflatable bathtub.
Today she is taking us on a long poem ride of a life time as we look at this whopper from Matthea Harvey. Come get it.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51614/pity-the-bathtub-its-forced-embrace-of-the-human-form
2021-01-1917 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar - Ep 7 - Carole BromleyThis week we are joined by Carole Bromley. Carole’s pamphlets (Unscheduled Halt and Skylight) and collections (A Guided Tour of the Ice House, The Stonegate Devil and Blast Off!) are available from Smith/Doorstop Books
Her newest poetry pamphlet about her recent experience of brain surgery is called Sodium 136, by Calder Valley Poetry.
Today, we discuss the Hugo Williams Dialysis Days. You can read the poem here:
https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/article/six-poems-hugo-williams/
2021-01-1215 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 6 - Anthony AnaxagorouIn today's Pickle Jar we are joined by the brilliant Anthony Anaxagorou. His recent collection After the Formalities (Penned in the Margins, 2019) was nominated for a TS Eliot Prize. In today's episode he shall be bringing in a little known poem by Robin Beth Schaer called Holdfast.
check out the poem here : https://poets.org/poem/holdfast
2021-01-0516 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 5 - Jonathan EdwardsThis week we travel to Wales to talk to Poetry Wales Editor and amazing poet Jonathan Edwards. He's a Costa Prize winner for his debut collection and more recently he has brought his second collection Gen to rave reviews.
He brings with him a poem called 'In the Green Baize' by Alan Perry. A snooker poem guaranteed to get you potting the black. Come have a listen and a learn
2020-12-2215 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 4 - Simon MoleIn today's Pickle Jar we are joined by Children's Poet Simon Mole. Simon has shared the bill with Simon Armitage, John Cooper Clarke and Kate Tempest. He has also been featured on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb. Simon co-founded Chill Pill Collective, curating and hosting popular poetry nights at Soho Theatre and the Albany, and was the first ever Poet Laureate for the London borough of Brent. Simon is an experienced facilitator with over 10 years’ experience working with rap and poetry in community and education settings.
Today's episode looks at a wonderful poem by poet Kate Wakeling. Kate...
2020-12-1515 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 3 - Hannah LoweIn today's Pickle Jar we are joined by the brilliant Hannah Lowe. She is a poet, memoirist and academic. Her first poetry collection Chick (Bloodaxe, 2013) won the Michael Murphy Memorial Award for Best First Collection. Her family memoir Long Time, No See (Periscope, 2015) featured as Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Her second collection, Chan, is also published by Bloodaxe. Her latest brand new collection is expected out in 2021. She undertook her AHRC-funded PhD in Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and now lectures in Creative Writing at Brunel University.
Hannah is blessing us with a Marie Howe poem ca...
2020-12-0816 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 2 - Peter KahnAnother instalment of the Pickle Jar, this week we are joined by amazing teacher and poet Peter Kahn.
Peter Kahn was commended in the National Poetry Competition 2009 and 2017. He is a founding member of Malika’s Kitchen and co-founder of the London Teenage Poetry Slam. He has been a school teacher and university lecturer, as a Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths-University of London, he founded the Spoken Word Education Training Programme. Peter holds an MA in English Education from The Ohio State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. Along with Patricia Smith and Ravi Shan...
2020-12-0115 minArji's Poetry Pickle JarArji's Poetry Pickle Jar Ep 1 - Rishi DastidarThe opening episode of Arji's Poetry Podcast. Each week we bring in some of the world's best poets to discuss the poems they truly love.
Today we're joined by poet Rishi Dastidar. Rishi's poetry has been published by Financial Times, New Scientistand the BBC amongst many others. His debut collection Ticker-tape is published by Nine Arches Press, and a poem from it was included in The Forward Book of Poetry 2018. He is a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, and his latest collection Saffron Jack has received rave reviews.
Today he brings the brilliant poem 'Lou...
2020-11-2315 min