Graeme Richardson
@ravoon.bsky.social
Poetry Critic for the Sunday Times. Anglican Priest. Poetry Collection, "Dirt Rich", out from Carcanet in January 2026. TLS contributor since 2010. All views very much my own.
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
Lord help me, I have entered the sonnet discourse—but for a good cause. My latest for @thetls.bsky.social is a review of Paul Muldoon’s wide-ranging SCANTY PLOT OF GROUND: www.the-tls.com/literature/p...
January 21, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Lord help me, I have entered the sonnet discourse—but for a good cause. My latest for @thetls.bsky.social is a review of Paul Muldoon’s wide-ranging SCANTY PLOT OF GROUND: www.the-tls.com/literature/p...
Good piece by Mathew, but I think it's likely JC was right about Barker -
January 21, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Good piece by Mathew, but I think it's likely JC was right about Barker -
On the universally acclaimed Karen Solie www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Why you should read Karen Solie — the prizewinning poet from Moose Jaw
The Canadian’s collection Wellwater won the TS Eliot prize this week — here’s why her poems are ‘perfect, intense little miracles’
www.thetimes.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:35 PM
On the universally acclaimed Karen Solie www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
Congratulations to Karen Solie on winning the TS Eliot Prize for her most recent collection Wellwater, published by @picadorbooks.bsky.social
Karen Solie teaches for half the year at St Andrews University and lives the rest of her time in Canada. Karen is part of @northseapoets.bsky.social group.
Karen Solie teaches for half the year at St Andrews University and lives the rest of her time in Canada. Karen is part of @northseapoets.bsky.social group.
January 20, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Congratulations to Karen Solie on winning the TS Eliot Prize for her most recent collection Wellwater, published by @picadorbooks.bsky.social
Karen Solie teaches for half the year at St Andrews University and lives the rest of her time in Canada. Karen is part of @northseapoets.bsky.social group.
Karen Solie teaches for half the year at St Andrews University and lives the rest of her time in Canada. Karen is part of @northseapoets.bsky.social group.
...winner of the TS Eliot prize - and I can now complete this old tweet from @nemoloris.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 8:48 AM
...winner of the TS Eliot prize - and I can now complete this old tweet from @nemoloris.bsky.social
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
Robert Potts, former editor of Poetry Review and a critic who inspired me when I was starting out, has started a Substack about John Berryman’s 77 Dream Songs, after learning them all by heart. I just bought an old copy on eBay to keep to hand as I read along every week substack.com/home/post/p-...
'Dream awhile'
In which the project is introduced, and we consider our resources
substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Robert Potts, former editor of Poetry Review and a critic who inspired me when I was starting out, has started a Substack about John Berryman’s 77 Dream Songs, after learning them all by heart. I just bought an old copy on eBay to keep to hand as I read along every week substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
A selection of poems from new books I'm reading, beginning with a beauty by @ravoon.bsky.social someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/pinks-39-t...
Pinks #39: The Patter of Thaw
A week of poems from books I'm enjoying
someflowerssoon.substack.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:33 AM
A selection of poems from new books I'm reading, beginning with a beauty by @ravoon.bsky.social someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/pinks-39-t...
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
I have a book out in a couple of months. It's only taken me 50 years to get there. So of course I have been mired in total lethargy as I regard its emergence on the event horizon.
Then I fixed a toilet lid yesterday and now I am all POETRY ACTION. #DIYDONTDIE
Then I fixed a toilet lid yesterday and now I am all POETRY ACTION. #DIYDONTDIE
January 17, 2026 at 8:09 PM
I have a book out in a couple of months. It's only taken me 50 years to get there. So of course I have been mired in total lethargy as I regard its emergence on the event horizon.
Then I fixed a toilet lid yesterday and now I am all POETRY ACTION. #DIYDONTDIE
Then I fixed a toilet lid yesterday and now I am all POETRY ACTION. #DIYDONTDIE
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
Lovely interview. Found myself nodding along. I hadn’t understood how ambitious @lukekennard.bsky.social work is. Definitely digging into it this year.
open.substack.com/pub/thelittl...
open.substack.com/pub/thelittl...
Looking hard at Luke Kennard
Lamentable success, the Simpsons and the Orthodox Church
open.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:07 AM
Lovely interview. Found myself nodding along. I hadn’t understood how ambitious @lukekennard.bsky.social work is. Definitely digging into it this year.
open.substack.com/pub/thelittl...
open.substack.com/pub/thelittl...
I found this piece fascinating - especially in the links it makes. If you have the spare change, do subscribe to the LRB - www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Colm Tóibín · Yeats, Auden, Eliot: 1939, 1940, 1941
Who was English; who was American? If Auden was English, was T.S. Eliot American? Or was it the other way around?...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 15, 2026 at 9:07 AM
I found this piece fascinating - especially in the links it makes. If you have the spare change, do subscribe to the LRB - www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Here's a thing I wrote for Carcanet about my forthcoming book: featuring toast, marmite, Tom Baker, and taphophobia
From Graeme Richardson's article on his new collection Dirt Rich, which is published this month!🏦
Read in full here:
open.substack.com/pub/carcanet...
Read in full here:
open.substack.com/pub/carcanet...
January 13, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Here's a thing I wrote for Carcanet about my forthcoming book: featuring toast, marmite, Tom Baker, and taphophobia
Please be there for the online launch! And I welcome being attacked in the Q and A - www.carcanet.co.uk/events/dirt-...
Dirt Rich: Carcanet Online Launch - Carcanet Press
Join us online to celebrate the launch of Dirt Rich by Graeme Richardson. The event will be hosted by Jeremy Noel-Tod.
www.carcanet.co.uk
January 13, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Please be there for the online launch! And I welcome being attacked in the Q and A - www.carcanet.co.uk/events/dirt-...
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
Looking forward to this chat with my very old mucker @ravoon.bsky.social. Come along! We may even reminisce about the *Nineties* -- and, specifically, the time we cornered Paul Muldoon having a quiet pint in a pub...
📚 Dirt Rich by Graeme Richardson, hosted by Jeremy Noel-Tod - Tuesday 3 February, 7pm.
Rooted in religion, grounded and earthy, this debut collection delivers frank and humorous poems about mortality, desire, and the joys and griefs of fatherhood.
www.carcanet.co.uk/events/dirt-...
Rooted in religion, grounded and earthy, this debut collection delivers frank and humorous poems about mortality, desire, and the joys and griefs of fatherhood.
www.carcanet.co.uk/events/dirt-...
January 12, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Looking forward to this chat with my very old mucker @ravoon.bsky.social. Come along! We may even reminisce about the *Nineties* -- and, specifically, the time we cornered Paul Muldoon having a quiet pint in a pub...
It's grand here in the snow
January 10, 2026 at 3:39 PM
It's grand here in the snow
Very grateful for this generous and perceptive review from Jade Cuttle - observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Confessions of a parish priest | The Observer
In frank, witty, soul-searching poems, clergyman turned archaeologist Graeme Richardson draws on both strands of his career for his debut collection Dirt Rich
observer.co.uk
January 7, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Very grateful for this generous and perceptive review from Jade Cuttle - observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Confessions of a parish priest | The Observer
In frank, witty, soul-searching poems, clergyman turned archaeologist Graeme Richardson draws on both strands of his career for his debut collection Dirt Rich
observer.co.uk
January 6, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Very grateful for this generous and perceptive review from Jade Cuttle - observer.co.uk/culture/book...
In my teens, I used to visit an old lady, Lilian, who had advanced dementia. I talked to her, hoping to spark something. If I talked to her about politics, she suddenly piped up: "Rogues do die" she said, "Rogues do die".
January 3, 2026 at 9:49 PM
In my teens, I used to visit an old lady, Lilian, who had advanced dementia. I talked to her, hoping to spark something. If I talked to her about politics, she suddenly piped up: "Rogues do die" she said, "Rogues do die".
"if you are ever going to improve you must keep biting off more than maybe you can chew; otherwise, the bites get smaller and smaller and eventually all you have is the taste of your own saliva" (Updike - aged 28 - in a letter to the Rector of his local church)
December 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
"if you are ever going to improve you must keep biting off more than maybe you can chew; otherwise, the bites get smaller and smaller and eventually all you have is the taste of your own saliva" (Updike - aged 28 - in a letter to the Rector of his local church)
...
December 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
...
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
This time of year.
December 20, 2025 at 7:28 PM
This time of year.
THE HAPPIEST CHRISTMAS DOG IN THE WORLD!
December 20, 2025 at 7:12 PM
THE HAPPIEST CHRISTMAS DOG IN THE WORLD!
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
Nobody in The Moral Maze gets eaten by the Moral Minotaur, which is a fundamental flaw in the programme.
December 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Nobody in The Moral Maze gets eaten by the Moral Minotaur, which is a fundamental flaw in the programme.
Great tribute. JC's approach to reviewing is an approach I share, and one which poetry needs. If your review only cements a friendship, or solicits a good review in return, or is only written for "the community", it's not doing its job.
December 15, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Great tribute. JC's approach to reviewing is an approach I share, and one which poetry needs. If your review only cements a friendship, or solicits a good review in return, or is only written for "the community", it's not doing its job.
Reposted by Graeme Richardson
As we move into “foreigners are cancelling Christmas in the name of political correctness” season it’s worth remembering that Christmas was indeed once banned in England. By Christians. And the man who enforced the ban has a statue in his honour outside the Houses of Parliament.
December 14, 2025 at 2:37 PM
As we move into “foreigners are cancelling Christmas in the name of political correctness” season it’s worth remembering that Christmas was indeed once banned in England. By Christians. And the man who enforced the ban has a statue in his honour outside the Houses of Parliament.
Raban on Carey: "Carey brings to academe all the virtues of Grub Street: cleverness, wit, concision, impertinence, and an endearing readiness to sacrifice messy accuracy for a memorable and slashing phrase. He is the hatchet man’s hatchet man.’"
December 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Raban on Carey: "Carey brings to academe all the virtues of Grub Street: cleverness, wit, concision, impertinence, and an endearing readiness to sacrifice messy accuracy for a memorable and slashing phrase. He is the hatchet man’s hatchet man.’"