Alison Brackenbury

After studying English at St Hugh’s College, Oxford[1] she now lives in Gloucestershire.[2] Her work has appeared in the Kenyon Review,[3] Ploughshares.[4] Stand,[5]

• Eric Gregory Award
• Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
• 1997 Cholmondeley Award

• "In the gap"; "Affairs"; "Plucked from", The Chimera, October 2007
• "When"; "Mud"; "March ending"; "Passing", nthposition, March 2008
• "6.25", The Guardian, 2 February 2008
• "Obit". Magma 39. November 2007.
• "Autumn Street". Magma 19.
• "Have you heard?; The story of Sigurd; A fuel blockade". Signals. Summer 2004.
• Dreams of Power. Carcanet New Press. 1981. ISBN 978-0-85635-352-9.
• Breaking Ground. Carcanet. 1985. ISBN 978-0-85635-503-5.
• Christmas Roses. Carcanet. 1988. ISBN 978-0-85635-750-3.
• Selected Poems. Carcanet. 1991. ISBN 978-0-85635-924-8.
• 1829. Carcanet. 1995. ISBN 978-1-85754-122-9.
• After Beethoven. Carcanet. 2000. ISBN 978-1-85754-454-1.
• Bricks and Ballads. Carcanet. 2004. ISBN 978-1-85754-751-1.
• Singing in the dark. Carcanet. 2008. ISBN 978-1-85754-914-0.
• Shadow. HappenStance. 2009. ISBN 978-1-905939-35-0.

Singing in the Dark is Alison Brackenbury's seventh collection of poetry. Her work has always been characterised by a concern with stillness and natural detail, by a closeness to the ballad form, and, most of all, by a quiet lyricism and delight that is constantly being challenged, constantly under threat. The book's title is taken from the opening poem, "Edward Thomas's daughter", in which the final stanza sets up the book's challenge:

"The robin brushes me at dusk. /
Our good bones fail. We leave no mark. /
His voice, she writes, was clear and quiet. /
I hear him singing in the dark."

That last line captures a sense not only of fragility but also of defiance and this distinctive combination underpins the new collection.[6]

• "Author's website"
• Alison Brackenbury reads poems on PoetCasting
• "Interview: Alison Brackenbury talks to Paul Stevens", The Chimaera, May 2008