Longbarrow Press

When we’re fluent
in the language of rivers and seas
let that be our currency.

Longbarrow Press is delighted to announce the publication of Fay Musselwhite‘s debut full-length collection, Contraflow.

Rising from peat moorland north-west of Sheffield, the fast-flowing river Rivelin, and the valley it etched out, is the setting for many of Musselwhite’s poems. Contraflow harnesses these energies to carve its own rugged course, with its bottlenecks, bends and counter-currents: tales that slant, swell and spill.

A beautifully produced 112-page hardback, Contraflow is available now from Longbarrow Press for £12.99 (inc UK P&P). You can order the book from the Contraflow microsite
(which also has poems, recordings and essays relating to the collection), or by clicking on the relevant PayPal link below (major debit cards accepted – no PayPal account required):

Contraflow: £12.99 (inc UK P&P)

Contraflow: £16 (inc Europe P&P)

Contraflow: £18 (inc Rest of World P&P)

Contraflow will be launched at The Shakespeare, 146-148 Gibraltar Street, Sheffield S3 8UB on Tuesday 26 April (7.30pm start), with a unique stage design and collaborative readings from the book by Fay Musselwhite, Matthew Clegg and Andrew Hirst. All welcome; admission free.

You are also welcome to join us for the Sheffield launch of Angelina D’Roza‘s debut collection, Envies the Birds, at The Fat Cat, Alma Street, Sheffield S3 8SA on Wednesday 18 May (7.30pm start, admission free). For further details (and to order the book), click here. Angelina D’Roza’s ‘Fairytale No. 13’ (from Envies the Birds) is our current Featured Poem (accompanied by a new recording); click here to read and listen to it.

Finally, poet Mark Goodwin and filmmaker Martyn Blundell have created a new short film based on a recent visit to Watermead Park, north of Leicester, in which Goodwin’s ‘rail-balancing’ is to the fore. Watch the film below:

This quiet is more shul than nothingness and must be given due respect. She thinks it’s like the grass on Lose Hill, that doesn’t muddy where others have been, but tilts gold at certain times of day, and leads her down from the top.

Longbarrow Press is delighted to announce the publication of Angelina D’Roza‘s debut full-length collection of poems, Envies the Birds.

In Tibetan, shul is the impression left after whatever made it has gone. Envies the Birds is the tarmac blueprint where a tower block once stood, “the channel worn through rock where a river runs in flood, the indentation in the grass where an animal slept last night”.

A beautifully produced 80-page hardback, Envies the Birds is available now from Longbarrow Press for £12.99 (inc UK P&P). You can order the book from the Envies the Birds microsite (which also has sample poems, recordings and essays relating to the collection), or by clicking on the relevant PayPal link below (major debit cards accepted – no PayPal account required):

Envies the Birds: £12.99 (inc UK P&P)

Envies the Birds: £16 (inc Europe P&P)

Envies the Birds: £18 (inc Rest of World P&P)

Envies the Birds will be launched at The Fat Cat, Alma Street, Sheffield, S3 8SA on Wednesday 18 May (7.30pm start). Admission is free; all are welcome. Click here for further details of the launch. 

‘Somewhere else, days are getting shorter. And somewhere else again, spring and autumn are barely words.‘ Angelina D’Roza‘s new post on the Longbarrow Blog, ‘Late for the Sky’, takes up some of the themes of Envies the Birds, including seasonal (and unseasonal) change, hope in the desert, and the transformative potential of song. You can read it here.

‘Everything starts with the voice, though; if the conviction and necessity are missing, if the tone is weak or indistinct, then no amount of technical finesse will compensate.’
A new interview with Brian Lewis for The Poetry School reflects on the origins of Longbarrow Press, the importance of rethinking and rebuilding books through collaborative design, and the practical challenges (and rewards) of running a small press. Click here to read the interview.