Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar

This week on the Pickle Jar we are joined by Martina Evans to talk about her PBS Choice book Drunken Driving. Martina Evans is one of Ireland's most distinctive contemporary poets and novelists. Raised in County Cork and now based in London, she is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose. Her collection American Mules won the 2022 Pigott Poetry Prize, while The Coming Thing was shortl...

This month I'm joined by Karen McCarthy Woolf. She's is a poet and editor of multiple literary anthologies. author of three major works: An Aviary of Small Birds , that was shortlisted for the Forward Felix Dennis and Jerwood Prizes and named an Observer Book of the Year; Seasonal Disturbances , which won the inaugural Laurel Prize for ecological poetry; and Top Doll , a verse novel shortl...

This week is another PBS special. We are joined by the brilliant Sarah Howe. She is a British poet, academic and editor. Born in Hong Kong moved to England as a child. Her pamphlet won an Eric Gregory Award, and her first collection, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), won the T.S. Eliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. She is currently the Poetry Ed...

Mona 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

Sorry 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...

Happy 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 th...

It'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 P...

We'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 invit...

She'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.

Raymond 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...

So 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 Memo...

Very 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 McM...

With 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 d...

Very 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!

Immensely 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,...

He'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!

We'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.

This 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 th...

Hey 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 o...

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 Paci...

Yes. 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....

What 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...

an 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

I'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 i...

Jacqueline 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 Foundat...