Bloodaxe Books is a British

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

specializing in

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

History

Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Neil Astley Neil Astley, Hon. FRSL (born 12 May 1953) is an English publisher, editor and writer. He is best known as the founder of the poetry publishing house Bloodaxe Books. Life and work Astley was born in Portchester, Hampshire, and grew up in nearby Fa ...

, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

and its finance office to

Bala Bala may refer to: Places India * Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India * Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan * Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Romania * Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedin� ...

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

, in 1997. In 2013 Astley deposited the Bloodaxe Books archive at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

's Robinson Library, Special Collections.

Notable publications

*''Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Women Poets'', edited by Jeni Couzyn, an anthology of women poets, 1985. *''Hinterland'', edited by

E. A. Markham Edward Archibald "Archie" Markham FRSL (1 October 1939 – 23 March 2008) was a Montserratian poet, playwright, novelist and academic. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1956, where he remained for most of his life, writing as well as teaching at ...

, a Caribbean anthology, 1989. *''The New Poetry'', edited by

Michael Hulse Michael Hulse (born 1955) is an English poet, translator and critic, notable especially for his translations of German novels by W. G. Sebald, Herta Müller, and Elfriede Jelinek. Life and works Hulse was educated locally in Stoke-on-Trent unt ...

, David Kennedy and David Morley, 1993. *''Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry from Britain and Ireland'', edited by

Edna Longley Edna Longley (born 1940) is an Irish literary critic and cultural commentator specialising in modern Irish and British poetry. Early life and education Born in Cork in 1940, the daughter of mathematics professor T.S. Broderick and a Scottish ...

, an anthology of 60 poets, 2000. *''Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry'', edited by

W. N. Herbert W. N. Herbert , also known as Bill Herbert (born 1961) is a poet from Dundee, Scotland. He writes in both English and Scots. He and Richard Price founded the poetry magazine '' Gairfish''. He currently teaches at Newcastle University. Earl ...

and

Matthew Hollis Matthew Hollis (born 1971) is an English author, editor, professor, and poet, currently living in London, England. Career and background He was born in Norwich, the son of politician Patricia Hollis and academic Martin Hollis. He has studied ...

. Essays on poetry by poets, 2000. *''Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times'', edited by

, 2010.

Published authors

European poets

United States poets

French poets

Irish poets

British-Caribbean diaspora poets

South Asian poets

Poets from elsewhere

Poets whom Bloodaxe gave their first publication

British and Irish poets previously published by other imprints

Poets from earlier periods

New Generation Poets

The growth of Bloodaxe and other specialist poetry publishers coincided with the emergence of a new generation of British and Irish poets, mostly born in the 50s and early 60s, many first published by these imprints. Twenty of these writers were later tagged

New Generation Poets The New Generation Poets is a group of 1994 British poets whose work was featured in a month-long nationwide festival, many of the writers going on to considerable popular success. The 20 poets were chosen by a panel of judges comprising Melvyn Brag ...

in a promotion organised by the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

in 1994, but this particular grouping was artificial and should not be taken as a critical guide, for it excluded several key figures from that generation, including

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay, (born 9 November 1961), is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Guardian Fictio ...

, Ian McMillan, Sean O'Brien,

Jo Shapcott Jo Shapcott FRSL (born 24 March 1953, London) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Aw ...

and

Matthew Sweeney Matthew Gerard Sweeney (6 October 1952 – 5 August 2018) was an Irish poet. His work has been translated into Dutch, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, Latvian, Mexican Spanish, Romanian, Slovakian and German. According to the poet Gerard Smyth: "I ...

. The first anthology to represent this new generation was Bloodaxe's ''The New Poetry'' (1993), edited by

, David Kennedy and David Morley, which became a school set text. Sean O'Brien’s ''The Deregulated Muse: Essays on Contemporary British & Irish Poetry'' (Bloodaxe Books, 1998) is his account of poetry in the post-war period, from the generation of

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...

and

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

to the new poets of the 80s and 90s.

Women poets

One of Bloodaxe’s most significant achievements has been to transform the publishing opportunities for women poets. For many years Bloodaxe has been unusual in having a poetry list which is 50:50 male: female, not the result of positive discrimination but rather in relation to literary excellence. The first of several influential Bloodaxe anthologies of women poets, Jeni Couzyn’s ''Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Women Poets'' (1985) was published at a time when very little poetry by women was readily available to readers. Others have included

Carol Rumens Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944) is a British poet. Life Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her ...

’s ''New Women Poets'' (1990),

Linda France Linda France is a British poet, writer and editor. She has published eight full-length poetry collections, a number of pamphlets, and was editor of the influential anthology, ''Sixty Women Poets''. France is the author of ''The Toast of the Kit- ...

’s ''Sixty Women Poets'' (1993),

Maura Dooley Maura Dooley (born 18 May 1957) is a British poet and writer. She has published five collections of poetry and edited several anthologies. She is the winner of the Eric Gregory Award in 1987 and the Cholmondeley Award in 2016, and was shortlist ...

’s ''Making for Planet Alice'' (1997), Robyn Bolam's ''Eliza's Babes: four centuries of women's poetry in English'' (2005), and

Deryn Rees-Jones Deryn Rees-Jones is an Anglo-Welsh poet, who lives and works in Liverpool. Although, Rees-Jones has spent much of her life in Liverpool, she spent much of her childhood in the family home of Eglwys-bach in North Wales. She considers herself a We ...

’s ''Modern Women Poets'' (2005), published as the companion anthology to her critical study ''Consorting with Angels'' (2005).

Wider notoriety

Many other writers and books published by Bloodaxe have hit the headlines, arousing controversy and debate outside the poetry world.

Tom Paulin Thomas Neilson Paulin (born 25 January 1949 in Leeds, England) is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he was the G. M. Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford. Ea ...

’s essay collection ''Ireland & the English Crisis'' (1984) was savagely attacked by

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...

for its political stance. Another ''cause célèbre'' was provided by

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

’s '' v.'' (1985), his book-length poem set in a vandalised cemetery in Leeds during the UK Miners’ Strike which captured the angry, desolate mood of Britain in the mid-1980s. Two years after its publication,

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Biography Eyre was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, the son of Richard Galfridus Hastings Giles Eyre and his wife, Minna Mar ...

’s film of the poem sparked a national furore, not over Harrison’s politics but over his skinhead protagonist’s use of ‘bad language’. The poem was attacked by

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permi ...

("this work of singular nastiness") and by Tory MPs wanting Channel 4's broadcast to be stopped. The second edition of ''v.'' (1989) documents the media reaction to the film.

Awards

Neil Astley was awarded an honorary

DLitt Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

in 1995 for his work with Bloodaxe Books. In 2000 Bloodaxe received funding from the Millennium Festival and the National Lottery through

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

for an educational initiative to build a stronger awareness of 20th century poetry. This involved the publication of the literary critic

's ''Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry from Britain and Ireland'' and ''Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry''.

Other activities

In 2001

gave the first of the Newcastle/Bloodaxe poetry lectures at Newcastle University. Several other poets have since spoken about the craft and practice of poetry to audiences drawn from both the city and the university, with ten of these public lectures published in book form in the Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures series. Other initiatives to introduce contemporary poetry to new readers have included working with reading groups in Nottingham and in libraries across the West Midlands. In Birmingham, Jonathan Davidson's team at Book Communications have produced three touring theatre shows which have taken live poetry performances to venues across Britain. Themes have included ''Staying Alive''; ''Being Alive''; and ''Changing Lives'', which was a theatre piece using poems from books published by Bloodaxe over the previous 30 years.

DVD-books

In 2008, Bloodaxe celebrated its 30th birthday by publishing what it believed to be the world's first poetry DVD-book, ''In Person: 30 Poets.'' ''In Person'' was filmed by the film-maker Pamela Robertson-Pearce and edited by Bloodaxe's founding editor,

. It features six hours of readings on two DVDs by 30 poets, together with an anthology which includes all the poems read in the films. Bloodaxe's digital initiative has continued with further DVD-books featuring work by the poets John Agard and

Samuel Menashe Samuel Menashe (September 16, 1925 – August 22, 2011) was an American poet. Biography Born in New York City as Samuel Menashe Weisberg, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Menashe grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, and graduated from Tow ...

with films by Pamela Robertson-Pearce, as well as books published with audio CDs by Sarah Arvio,

and

Galway Kinnell Galway Mills Kinnell (February 1, 1927 – October 28, 2014) was an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1982 collection, ''Selected Poems'' and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright. From 1989 to 1 ...

, and a new edition of

Briggflatts ''Briggflatts'' is a long poem by Basil Bunting published in 1966. The work is subtitled "An Autobiography." The title "Briggflatts" comes from the name of Brigflatts Meeting House (spelled with one "g" in Quaker circles), a Quaker Friends meet ...

Basil Bunting Basil Cheesman Bunting (1 March 1900 – 17 April 1985) was a British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of '' Briggflatts'' in 1966, generally regarded as one of the major achievements of the modernist traditio ...

featuring an audio CD of the work read by the author, and a DVD with a film portrait of ''Bunting'' made by Peter Bell in 1982.

References

External links

*
Bloodaxe Books archive
at Newcastle University's Robinson library, Special Collections
Publisher profile of Bloodaxe Books on Poetry Book Society website
{{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Poetry publishers Publishing companies established in 1978 1978 establishments in England