Genre: Poetry, Autobiography

Daley-Ward has poured themselves completely within this collection. It is clear from the outset that we will be travelling along a personal and yet emotional journey with this poet.

​From the start we are greeted with images of love, family, happiness, loss, pain and sorrow. It’s a collection that has everything you would want to find within a collection of poetry.

The Poets intention with this book is obviously to touch deep in the emotional depths of the readers phsyche, which they achieve in good measure.

It’s obvious as well that the poet has decided the let the metaphorical pen flow within this collection as well, allowing for a freer and less constrained verse.

There were moments of reflection whilst reading this book as the content matter was constantly kept at such a high emotional level that I had to refocus my mind to fully appreciate what they were trying to achieve here.

Daley-Ward has clearly showed off their skills as an imaginative and immersive writer - this is the reason why I gave this collection four out of five stars.

If you have a poetry ‘to-read’ list then this must definitely be on it - you won’t be disappointed.

Genre: Poetry, Autobiography

This collection has everything you want - intrigue, drama and nostalgia fill it's pages. Not only are we treated to ​some insightful and powerful poetry, but we are taken on an emotional journey alongside the poet.

What is unique about this collection is that each poem is created from another pre-existing poem from other well known poets, including; Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Andrew Motion, Seamus Heaney - to name just a few of such an incredible line-up of poets and their works included in this book.

Not only is this collection of verse autobiographical in nature it is also a compendium of poetry from other contemporary poets, which makes it act like an anthology of poetry also - thus, it has a dual purpose of which I thank Inua kindly for sharing.

When thinking about the construction of this volume it is interesting to note how hard the admin must have been for this - to obtain permissions from each of the poets for their poems that are included in this collection. It must have been quite the undertaking.

In a rare insight the poems included within this collection are supplemented by diary entries from Inua. We were treated to view the poets thought processes when construction each piece and the collection as a whole - adding context to such personal stories.

​There is some really stoic and personal poetry within this collection - which shows Inua's story from Nigeria, to Ireland and finally to England. It's a journey of not only destinations but also by emotions. All the time however not detracting from the original pieces - each piece holds resonance and form.

It's a credit to the way Inua approached and researched each piece that although he's telling his story - as the reader you can clearly see the rationale for the choice of each piece.

My reasoning for awarding this book four stars is because this collection is quite complex and I had to pop it down a couple of times to digest but also to flip between pages so I could see the relationship and connection with the original poem.

I would highly recommend this collection - it's a great and powerful read, that only looks to inspire creativity. Go and grab yourself a copy - you won't be disappointed.

Genre: Poetry, Autobiography

​I picked up this little gem of a collection at it's launch night at the Union Chapel in Islington, London - just over a week ago, and I loved it. Click here for a write up of this launch event.

Plum had everything you would want from a ​contemporary collection of poetry.

Poet, Hollie McNish, provides the reader with an in-depth autobiography within the pages of this book. She does this is a clever, funny and very unique way.

What is evident is that Hollie is focused on 'thought processes' around growing up and life experiences.

However, what makes this resonate deeply is it's powerful gritty realism and the relatable context included within its pages.

The syntax and structure of the book flowed seemlessly and it's rhythm allowed the mind to drift along to hollies words.

An example of one of Hollies poems from the book, 'Language Learning', below:

I gave this five out of five stars because frankly it delivered on every level. I could not fault it in any way.

Go get yourself a copy - you won't be disappointed...