Gillian Allnutt Launch Readings
Gillian Allnut's new collection Lode will be published by Bloodaxe Books in May 2025.
The lode in Gillian Allnutt’s title picks up on two of the many meanings of the word. A lode can be a course, a way, a journey; also a road, a lane. Her collection traces a journey through time, the time of her own life and of our lives, since the Second World War. Lode also means guidance, here the guidance afforded by the continuity and relative stability – economic, cultural, spiritual – of Britain’s postwar years, the setting of the first part of the book.
Gillian's earlier collections Nantucket and the Angel and Lintel were both shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Poems from these collections are included in her Bloodaxe retrospective How the Bicycle Shone: New & Selected Poems (2007), which draws on six published books plus a new collection, Wolf Light, and was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. Her most recent collections from Bloodaxe are indwelling (2013) and wake (2018), with a new collection Lode published in May 2025.
Gillian Allnutt was awarded The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, 2016. The Medal, awarded for excellence in poetry, was made on the basis of her body of work. Her poetry has been published by Bloodaxe Books since 1994.
‘From her first collection published in the early 1980s, Gillian Allnutt’s work has always been in conversation with the natural world and the spiritual life. Her writing roams across centuries, very different histories and lives, and draws together, without excuse or explanation, moments which link across country, class, culture and time. The North is a constant touchstone in her work; canny and uncanny, its hills and coast, its ancient histories and its people. Her poems progress over the years to a kind of synthesis of word-play and meditation. In her work the space between what is offered and what is withheld is every bit as important as what is said. She has the power to comfort and to astonish in equal measure. In her outlook, her imagination, her concerns and her lyric voice she is unique.’ – Dame Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, for The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry Award Committee 2016
FORTHCOMING LAUNCH EVENTS
Saturday 10 May 2025, 7.15pm-8.15pm, Hexham Book Festival
Hexham Library, Queens Hall, Hexham
Gillian Allnutt & Katrina Porteous
Two of the North East’s most-loved poets unite on stage with their publisher for a very special event.
Gillian Allnutt will be reading from her new collection Lode alongside Katrina Porteous. Katrina will be reading alongside will be reading from her fourth collection Rhizodont, which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize 2024.
Chaired by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley.
Tickets £10.50/£8.50
Further information & bookings here.
Wednesday 21 May, 7.30pm
Gillian Allnutt & remembering William Martin
The Lit & Phil Library, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1SE
Free event with Gillian Allnutt launching her new collection Lode and William Martin’s Marratide: Selected Poems, presented by the book’s editors Peter Armstrong and Jake Morris-Campbell with audio recordings of Bill Martin reading and singing his poems.
More information and booking here.
Tuesday 27 May 2025, 7pm
Gillian Allnutt & remembering William Martin
The Chapel, St Chad’s College, 18 North Bailey, Durham DH1 3RH
Free event with Gillian Allnutt launching her new collection Lode and William Martin’s Marratide: Selected Poems, presented by the book’s editors Peter Armstrong and Jake Morris-Campbell with audio recordings of Bill Martin reading and singing his poems.
Link with more information and booking coming soon.
Friday 6 June (time TBC)
Gillian Allnutt at The People’s Bookshop, Durham
The People’s Bookshop, Prince Bishops Place, 19 High Street, Durham DH1 3UJ.
Gillian Allnutt will be reading from Lode at The People’s Bookshop.
More information coming soon.
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Gillian Allnutt spoke about and read from wake on Radio 4's Front Row in May 2018. Click here to listen. Archived in chapters (final item). Download the podcast to hear an extra poem.
An interview with Gillian Allnutt was featured in MONK Magazine in October 2021 and is available online here.
[17 March 2025]
