Featured image: Megan Levick

Cornwall-based national award-winning publisher Guillemot Press ventured North to Manchester Poetry Library on Thursday, to showcase the work of three of their recently published poets, Genevieve Carver (Birds / Humans / Machines / Dolphins), Nina Mingya Powles (Slipstitch) and Maia Elsner (Colours of Mourning).

The evening celebrated the work of Martha Harris and Elliot Ruff, co-chairs of the event and graduates from the MA Publishing course at Manchester Met who had the opportunity to work with Guillemot Press over the summer.

Harris said: “I have always loved beautiful, hand-crafted books. When the opportunity to work with Guillemot came up, I was so excited to work for a publisher whose values align with my own.”

Guillemot Press are an independent contemporary small press who celebrate “the simple, thoughtful and beautiful”, creating hand-crafted literary magic with their publications of elegantly illustrated poetry and short-story pamphlets. 

In their own words: “We have a love of the edges, the coasts and moors, woods and sea, and of all the beasts and fishes hidden beneath the surface. We also have a love of abstraction, absence, play and experiment – new ways of looking at where we are and who we are.”

Introduced by Harris, Carver opened the evening with a reading from her newest collection Birds / Humans / Machines / Dolphins (2024), a sequence of poems which came as a result of an exciting arts-science collaboration with ecologists from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences, blending creativity with scientific facts and data. Carver works in poetry, fiction, and interdisciplinary collaboration and was awarded The Nature Moth Writing Prize for her work on this collection. 

In Birds / Humans / Machines / Dolphins, Carver took inspiration from research into marine mammals and seabirds, crafting a multifaceted collection of creative responses to her residency in the form of poetry, spoken word, audio and video.

Carver said: “Reading alongside two other Guillemot poets was a real treat. Every other book that Guillemot produces is such a unique and precious thing, with press and authors working closely to weave together the sonic and the visual, the textual and the conceptual, in a way that enhances both the poetry and the book as an object of art in its own right.”

Carver’s reading was followed by Nina Mingya Powles, a UK-based artist from Aotearoa, New Zealand, who read from Slipstitch (2024), her recently published collection of poetry, prose and collage. Powles’ collection draws inspiration from a patchwork quilt sewn by her grandfather before she was born. Powles uses the art of sewing as a medium to weave a sequence of poems and prose that navigate themes of inheritance, identity and heritage.

The final reading was from Leeds-based poet Maia Elsner, winner of an Eric Gregory Award, a Somerset Maugham Award and the Vivian Shipley Award. Elsner read firstly from her second collection with Guillemot, Colours of Mourning (2024), a profound sequence of poems exploring themes of intergenerational trauma through ekphrastic dialogue with her grandfather’s artwork.

Elsner also read a selection of poems from a video-game sequence, explaining: “The poems I shared were from a video-game sequence trying to think about loss… The idea that if you could replay or play better that x, y, z might not have happened, the imaginative space of what might have happened, what could be – but also the limits of the imagination, what it is to live in a delineated universe and how much choice is possible.”

Elsner also told aAh! about her experience performing at Manchester Poetry Library: “Manchester Poetry Library is such a beautiful, warm, space, full of zines and big windows and lots of light. I was so moved to be there with other Guillemot Press writers and two students, Martha and Elliot, who have worked on Guillemot Press projects, illustrating their very beautiful books. A pipe dream to read alongside Nina and Gen, to think collaboratively and to share!”

Harris added: “I loved having the opportunity to listen to three talented poets whose work I have enjoyed for so long. It changed how I view their work – definitely for the better!”

The event culminated in a Q&A, where the poets and Guillemot Press founder and editor Luke Thompson engaged in a discussion with the audience about their work.

Dr Brian Sneeden, poet, Deputy Programme Leader for BA English and Creative Writing and senior lecturer on the MA Publishing course, spoke about his passion for cultivating strong connections with publishers like Guillemot.

He said: “It was a unique privilege to welcome Luke Thompson, publisher of Guillemot Press, along with three of the press’s published authors, for an event celebrating their outstanding literary achievements and our students’ involvement in the publication of these books. The event was the first to showcase links between Manchester Met and Guillemot, which we hope to foster going forward.”

Sneeden added: “Poetry plays an integral role in the literary publishing landscape, and Guillemot Press represents a dynamic voice in the market through their emphasis on award-winning, handmade, limited-edition pamphlets.”

Follow @guillemotpress on Instagram to keep up to date with their upcoming events and publishing journey. To see what else is coming up at Manchester Poetry Library, take a look at their website.