Mona Arshi's third collection of poems, Mouth was published in July 2025 by Chatto and Windus, and is the PBS Choice. So we decided to sit down for a chat about the book. Two beautifully read poems, an amazing back and forth about myths, nature and love and all in 30 minutes.
If you haven't bought the book, go get it, as this interview really opens it up in a new way
Sorry about the poor frequency of this podcast at the moment. I'm doing a lot of stuff at the same time and believe it or not I have a tendency to drop the ball sometimes! Regardless, thanks for sticking by me.
Today’s guest is Erica Hesketh. She's a brilliant poet, editor, and producer, she spent eight years leading the Poetry Translation Centre, helping bring international voices to UK readers. She is the editor of Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet, and a member of the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective 2023–24. Now her debut collection, In the Lily Room, is out with Nine Arches Press exploring motherhood, mental health, and transformation.
Happy to be back for another PBS Special. Featuring a chat with the brilliant Fiona Benson.
She has published three previous collections of poetry, all of which were shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize: Bright Travellers, which won the 2015 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry's Prize for First Full Collection, Vertigo & Ghost, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize and won both the Roehampton Poetry Prize and the Forward Prize for Best Collection, and Ephemeron, which was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the London Hellenic Prize.
Today we unpack two poems from her hotly anticipated new book, 'Midden Witch.'
We talk process, witches, magic and superstition. Hope you enjoy.
It's another PBS pickle jar special this week featuring Richard Scott's new book.
Richard Scott's poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies including Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, Swimmers, The Poetry of Sex (Penguin) and Butt Magazine. His pamphlet 'Wound' (Rialto) won the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2016 and his poem 'crocodile' won the 2017 Poetry London Competition. Soho (Faber & Faber) is his first book. His second poetry collection That Broke into Shining Crystals is available with Faber.
We're back again. This week I'm joined by Ian Duhig, a poet who has won the Forward Best Poem Prize, the National Poetry Competition twice and been shortlisted for the T.S Eliot Prize four times.
A poet with six books to his name. A poet who continues to work with community projects pushing the power of words.
Today his book An Arbitrary Light Bulb is the winter selection for PBS and so we invited him into the Pickle Jar to talk about it.
She's the winner of the Eric Gregory. Her new debut book Food for the Dead was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best first collection and was the winner of the Laurel Prize 2024.
Today we discuss Sharon Old's poem 'True Love'. As well as talk about experimental poetry, the power of poems and everything in between. Enjoy the vibes.
Raymond Antrobus MBE FRSL was born in London, Hackney to an English mother and Jamaican father. He is the author of Shapes & Disfigurements (Burning Eye, 2012) To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press, 2017), The Perseverance (Penned In The Margins / Tin House, 2018), All The Names Given (Picador / Tin House, 2021), Signs, Music (Picador / Tin House, 2024).
His individual poems have been published in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Granta, Poetry Foundation, Lit Hub, London Review of Books, The Poetry Review, The Deaf Poets Society and elsewhere. In 2019 he became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre.
Other accolades include The Ted Hughes Award, Lucille Clifton Legacy Award, PBS Winter Choice, A Sunday Times Young Writer of the year Award, Somerset Maugham Award and The Guardian Poetry Book Of The Year 2018, as well as a shortlist for The Griffin Prize, T.S. Eliot Prize and Forward Prize. In 2018 he was awarded The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize, (Judged by Ocean Vuong), for his poem Sound Machine. Also in 2019 and 2021 his poems (Jamaican British, The Perseverance and Happy Birthday Moon) was added to the UK’s GCSE syllabus
Today we talk about his PBS CHOICE SELECTED Book Signs, Music.
So proud to get Gail McConnell into the studio today. She's the writer of two pamphlets and one amazing book. The Sun Is Open was brought out on Penned a few years back and it really is a groundbreaking book and well worth a read.
It won the The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Award and The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. It was a Poetry Book of the Month in the Guardian and in The Observer, a book of the year in the TLS and The White Review, and a poetry book of the year in The Telegraph and The Irish Times. The Sun is Open was warmly reviewed in the Dublin Review of Books, Some Flowers Soon and Blackbox Manifold. I wrote about the book in The Irish Times and further coverage appeared in The Telegraph and the Belfast Telegraph. I discuss the book in conversation with Emily Berry for the Poetry Society podcast, with Pádraig Ó Tuama for the Corrymeela podcast and on Sunday with Steven Rainey on Radio Ulster. With Conor Garrett I made 'The Open Box', an arts feature based on the book for BBC Radio 4.
Today we talk extended metaphors, animals and descriptive language in this homage to the American poet Kay Ryan. The poem is called Spiderweb.
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Very happy to be back with Ellen Cranitch in the Pickle Jar.
She is a poet and lecturer. Her first collection, The Immortalist, was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Award for Best First Collection. Her new collection, Crystal, was published by Bloodaxe, named “Dignified, moving and sure…" by The Observer where it was named book of the month, it was also recommended by Stephen Fry and Ian McMillan.
Today she brings a Prynne Poem into the Pickle Jar and we speak of line breaks, intensity and the importance of syntax.
With two books on the horizon, I'm extremely excited to bring Salena Godden into the Pickle Jar.
Salena Godden is an English poet, author, activist, broadcaster, memoirist and essayist. Born in Hastings, UK, of Jamaican-Irish heritage, Godden based in London. Widely anthologised, she has published several books. She has also written for BBC TV and radio and has released four studio albums to date.
Today we crack open a Nikita Gill poem to see what we can find.
Very excited to bring Bryony Littlefair into the Pickle Jar. Partly because her debut poetry collection Escape Room (Seren, 2022) was excellent. Also because her pamphlet Giraffe won the Mslexia Pamphlet Prize in 2017. But mostly because we both LOVE Tony Hoagland.
So here's us geeking out over Tony Hoagland for 20 minutes!
Immensely proud and thankful to PBS for bringing Paul Muldoon into the studio.
Paul Muldoon is so big he's off the charts. I don't think there's many awards he hasn't won in his huge career. Today we celebrate his 14th book 'With Joy in Service on Rue Tagore'.
We chat about all things poetry, about what it's like doing poems for that long, about his practice, his muse, the work and the joys of fact checkers.
I learnt alot in this episode and so will you.
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We're finally back.
This week I'm joined by Golnoosh Nour. A Tehran born poet who has two fantastic collections. The most recent was Rocksong on Verve and it blew my face off. So I invited her in to talk about a poet and poem she really loves. Amongst Darkness by Forough-farrokhzad.
Enjoy it. Share it. Pass it on.
This week we are taking a trip to Birmingham to celebrate with the crew from Uni_Slam.
Uni_Slam is a huge event that takes place yearly in The Birmingham Hippodrome. Each year University students come together to share their poems in a competition that celebrates the diversity of poetry in this country.
On the same weekend the Uni_Slam team invites to the festival some of the Poetry Collectives that hold some of the best emerging poets of the scene.
I am honoured to give a podcast stage to some of those collectives.
In this episode we listen to poets from
The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network Collective
South Yorkshire's : Hive Young Poets
Hope you enjoy! FOLLOW, SHARE, MESSAGE... let's get it bigger!
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Happy to be back here to present another special speaking with the wonderful Victoria Kennefick
Victoria grew up in Cork and lives in Kerry. Her debut collection, Eat or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021), won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Costa Poetry Book Award, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry,
Today she talks about her new book 'Egg/Shell' and reads her favourite poem from it.
I am so massively excited to bring Kwame Dawes into the Pickle Jar.
He is the author of twenty books of poetry and numerous other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. In 2016 his book, Speak from Here to There, a co-written collection of verse with Australian poet John Kinsella appeared. He is Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner and teaches at the University of Nebraska and the Pacific MFA Program. He is Director of the African Poetry Book Fund and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival.
Often called 'the busiest man in literature', Today he joins us to talk about his new book Sturge Town.
This episode is brought to you with Poetry Book Society.
The Poetry Book Society is a unique poetry book club, founded by TS Eliot to share the joy of poetry. Every quarter their expert poet-selectors choose the very best new poetry books to deliver to members across the globe, alongside a lively quarterly poetry magazine. Annual Poetry Book Society Membership is the perfect way to keep up to date with all the latest poetry releases, discover new voices and inspirational world-class poetry. Join the Poetry Book Society today
Yes. Arji's Poetry Pickle Jar are so excited to collaborate with Poetry Book Society to bring you this exclusive interview with Daljit Nagra.
Daljit's book Indiom was the PBS Choice and so we invited him into the studio to talk about the process and journey. It's a brilliant little interview.
Daljit is as big as they come. He's had 4 poetry collections, all with Faber & Faber. He won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Book, the South Bank Show Decibel Award and the Cholmondeley Award, and has been shortlisted for the Costa Prize and twice for the TS Eliot Prize.
Also... we have an exclusive deal from PBS to offer too -
To celebrate this special edition of Arji’s Poetry Pickle Jar, the Poetry Book Society is offering a FREE copy of INDIOM by Daljit Nagra to all new members. The Poetry Book Society is a unique poetry book club, founded by TS Eliot to share the joy of poetry. Every quarter their expert poet-selectors choose the very best new poetry books to deliver to members across the globe, alongside a lively quarterly poetry magazine. Annual Poetry Book Society Membership is the perfect way to keep up to date with all the latest poetry releases, discover new voices and inspirational world-class poetry. Join the Poetry Book Society today to start your year of poetry discovery and claim your freebie at www.poetrybooks.co.uk
What a pleasure it is to be here for the 40th Birthday. This week we have the brilliant Rachel Long. She is the author of My Darling from the Lions (Tin House, 2021; first published by Picador, 2020), a TIME Best Book of the Year also shortlisted for the 2020 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Long is the leader of the Octavia Poetry Collective for Women of Colour.
Today she talks about a poem by Maggie Milner from her book called couplets.
You going to love this....
an American-British writer. Her work has appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The White Review, and other publications. Today she speaks about a poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt. It's old skool and super fun!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45589/they-flee-from-me