On This Page
- Meet our Reviews Editor
- Read our Reviews Policy
- Send us your book for consideration
- Apply to be part of our reviewers pool
Our Reviews Editor
Frances Cannon
As well as being our Reviews Editor, Franky is an editorial reader for The Kenyon Review, and an affiliated scholar at Kenyon College, where she recently completed the Mellon Science and Nature Writing Fellowship. She is the author and illustrator of several books: Walter Benjamin: Reimagined, MIT Press, The Highs and Lows of Shapeshift Ma and Big-Little Frank, Gold Wake Press, Tropicalia, Vagabond Press, Fling Diction,with Green Writers Press, and Queer Flora, Fauna, Funga, forthcoming with Valiz Press. She has an MFA in creative nonfiction from Iowa and a BA from the University of Vermont.
Our Reviews Policy
Why we review
At Poetry Wales we believe that reviews are an essential bridge between writers and readers. Reviews help to expand the audience of poetry, as well as to draw connections between poets who at first glance may seem very different.
Reviews allow for an active conversation within the literary community, disrupting the passive, unidirectional line from writer to reader. At Poetry Wales, we understand the importance of reviews in any poet’s career. We are not out to ‘make or break’ a poet’s reputation, but to support and uplift poets and their work by engaging in nuanced critique of selected books in a way that is above all honest and respectful.
Who writes our reviews
Each issue of Poetry Wales features reviews written by a selection of freelance writers, with an emphasis on writers based in Wales or with a connection to Wales’ literary community, alongside international writers. Reviewers are selected from a diverse pool of applications and from within the literary networks of Poetry Wales. All our reviewers are compensated for their time and effort.
Find out more about becoming a reviewer here.
What we review
We primarily review poetry collections, anthologies, and pamphlets, but we are open to reviewing other genres with poetic slants on occasion – for example novels in verse, studies of poetry, books on Welsh poetry, poets writing prose or craft books.
The books selected for review represent a diverse range of perspectives, ideas and forms of poetry. Whilst we prioritise books by writers living and writing in Wales or with a connection to Welsh culture and language, we also review books from across the UK and the rest of the world.
We choose books which have been published within six months to one year prior to the review being published, although we may sometimes review new editions of previously published works.
We are committed to platforming a range of creative voices, including those historically marginalised, and publish reviews of books by a rich diversity of writers in age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, language, origin, ability, and other aspects of identity that might otherwise have limited a poet’s exposure to a wider audience in the past. We also want to balance reviews of both emerging and established writers and are keen to feature debut books just as often as books by more established poets.
How reviews are chosen
It is up to the creative discretion of the Reviews Editor alone to make a balanced selection of texts for review. Neither the Editor or the Magazine Manager are involved in choosing which books we review.
Our reviews section features a variety of books, with the aim of inspiring readers to explore further. We only have space to review a handful of books each year which means we can’t review everything we might be interested in. No one should expect their book to be reviewed by the magazine, even if they have been featured in Poetry Wales before, are published by Seren Books or had a book reviewed previously.
Submitting Your Work for Review
If you would like to submit your collection to be considered for review, please fill out the form below or email a press release and PDF to reviews@poetrywales.co.uk. If we are interested in reviewing the collection, we will request a PDF by email.
We kindly ask that physical copies of collections are not sent to our office unless we specifically ask for them – this saves us space and saves you postage, so it’s a win-win!
Writing Reviews for Poetry Wales
If you would like to join our reviewers pool, you can register your interest below. By joining the pool, your name will be added to a list of potential reviewers for the Reviews Editor. Please remember that we publish on average nine review pieces per year (three per issue), so there is no guarantee that everyone in the pool will be asked to review for us.
Pitching Reviews
While we primarily commission reviews, we are open to considering pitches. Please note that all reviewers, whether commissioned or pitched, will be paid in line with our standard rates, which you can find here.
If you would like to pitch a review, you can email reviews@poetrywales.co.uk.