New poetry podcast to be launched for National Poetry Day

This autumn sees the launch of The Seren Poetry Podcast, nine interviews over nine weeks with some of the UK’s best poets.

Recorded on location at the Seren office, in the poets’ homes and at Wordsworth Grasmere, the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, series one will launch on National Poetry Day 6 October 2022.

Each poet featured in the series has recently published a collection with Seren.

Episode one will feature an interview with Polly Atkin whose collection Much With Body was longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2022.

Other featured poets include Forward Prize shortlisted poet Kim Moore, critic and lecturer Ben Wilkinson, and veterinarian poet Ilse Pedler.

There will also be episodes featuring Ben Wilkinson, Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Rhian Edwards, Christopher Meredith, Rosalind Hudis, and Eric Ngalle Charles.

Through the podcast, Seren will bring these books, many of which were published during the pandemic, to new audiences.

In each episode the poets talk in depth about their craft and inspiration, as well delving beneath the surface of their latest book.

There will also be a healthy dose of poetry read expertly by the poets themselves. The podcast will be essential listening for poetry lovers.

Bubbling with ideas

Sarah Johnson, Deputy Publisher at Seren says: “We’ve been working on The Seren Poetry Podcast behind the scenes for some time.

“The majority of the poets featured in the first series missed out on chances to promote their books due to the pandemic which is partly where the idea came from.

“We’re bubbling with ideas for how the podcast can develop for future series.”

“Chris Gregory, founder and producer of audio production company Alternative Stories has helped with the project.

“We first started working with Chris in 2019, when he featured Jim Neat by Mary J. Oliver on the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.

“As well as conducting the interviews for series one, he’s also produced the series and trained Seren staff in the tech so that we can create episodes ourselves in the future.”

The Seren Poetry Podcast will be available on all platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.

A preview of what’s to come is currently available to listen to and download. Listeners can also subscribe to be the first to hear when episode one is released.