Primers

Primers

PRIMERS: VOLUME EIGHT - ANNOUNCING OUR FINALISTS


Nine Arches Press are thrilled to announce the three finalists of Primers Volume Eight, as selected by poet Laurie Bolger:


Carl Alexandersson is a queer poet based between Glasgow and London, hailing from Småland, Sweden. He was Highly Commended for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2022, a runner-up for the Grierson Verse Prize 2022, and selected for the BBC Words First programme in 2021. His work has appeared in Atrium, streetcake magazine, Ink Sweat & Tears, and more. His debut poetry pamphlet Förgätmigej // Forget-me-not was published by Stewed Rhubarb Press in 2023.

Read a poem by Carl at our blog.

Rachel Jeffcoat is a Yorkshire-born, Hampshire-based poet and educator whose work has been widely published, including in Poetry Ireland ReviewUnder the Radar, BansheeTears in the Fence and First Aid (Pan Macmillan 2025). She was one of the winners of the 2024 Candlestick Press competition, Poems of Light, has been nominated for Pushcart and Forward Prizes, and was most recently Commended in the 2025 Winchester Poetry Prize.

Read a poem by Rachel at our blog.

Olivia Tuck’s work has been published by the Poetry Society and Broken Sleep, and in PropelUnder the RadarPoetry Wales (forthcoming) and Magma (forthcoming). She won the 2025 Winchester Poetry Prize, was placed second in the 2023 Jane Martin Poetry Prize awarded by Girton College, Cambridge, and was longlisted for the Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poets’ Prize. She is an associate editor at Lighthouse.

Read a poem by Olivia at our blog.

As selecting editor Laurie Bolger says ~


“I’ve absolutely loved reading your work. On the go, in the bath, anywhere I could steal a moment. These manuscripts are so bold, so brilliant and they kept hanging out in my brain for ages! Every time I came back to them I found more to love.


As Caroline Bird describes, it’s sometimes about looking at the ‘game of the poem’ and these manuscripts didn’t just play new games but they played them brilliantly… pushing things further and experimenting with form and style that constantly kept me on my toes and showcased things I hadn’t seen before.


In the end my decisions came down to what stayed with me. New approaches and fresh ways in with voices I hadn’t experienced before now and inventive ways of experimenting with poems.


The final selections also came down to originality and memorable voices that lingered long after I’d read them. A huge congratulations to everyone! I absolutely cannot wait to see your work in the world and start shaping Primers Volume Eight so you lot can read and experience some of the poems I’ve been so lucky to meet on the page.”


Our hearty congratulations to everyone who made it to the shortlist, below, and the commended poets on our longlist (named further down). Our thanks to everyone who entered poems into the Primers Volume Eight call for submissions.


Please see the Nine Arches Press blog to enjoy poems by each of the finalist and shortlisted poets.

Mymona Bibi is a Bengali-British writer, creative facilitator, and ESOL teacher based in Newcastle. She is interested in multilingualism, urban landscapes, inequality, and home. Her writing has been featured in the Ilkley Literature Festival, Magma Poetry, Butcher's Dog, Corridor8 and Hajar Press. She has produced and performed at events such as the Newcastle Fringe Festival and NOVUM Festival. She is the founder of World Writes - a multilingual community writing group.

Read a poem by Mymona at our blog.

Becky Brookfield is a North West based poet whose work mixes poetry, theatre, and live art to explore nature, femininity, transformation, and the grittier, darker edges of life. Her writing is sharp, witty, and unflinching, finding connection and absurdity in the messy, everyday surreal. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University, and her work appears in Joy//Us: An Anthology of Resistance and Joy (Arachne Press, 2023).

Read a poem by Becky at our blog.

Oliver Carmichael was born and raised in County Durham. In 2024 he won the Winchester Poetry Prize and the Aurora Prize for Writing. He was longlisted for the 2025 Disabled Poets Prize and is the recipient of the Michael Donaghy Award which supports a poet to attend the first Arvon Advanced Writing Programme. He is a graduate of Lancaster University.

Read a poem by Oliver at our blog.

Alexis Deese-Smith is an emerging writer whose work appears in London Grip, ANMLY, and is forthcoming in Swim Press. In 2025, she was listed as an Honorable Mention by Plentitutude's Prizes in Nonfiction, shortlisted for The Poetry Society Free Verse competition, and named a finalist in Frontier’s Misfits Poetry Prize.

Read a poem by Alexis at our blog.

Natasha Kinsella is an Irish-born poet and writer based in Scotland. Her work explores silence, inheritance, and the rituals of repair. Her poems have appeared in AbridgedROOM: A Sketchbook for Analytic ActionBeyond Words Magazine, and New Writers. She was highly commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award and awarded second place in the New Writers competition. She also works within the visual arts as an advocate and development manager, supporting artists and makers across Scotland.

Read a poem by Natasha at our blog.

Rona Luo is a queer, neurodivergent poet interested in the spaces between borders and boundaries. Her visual poetry has been exhibited at Royal Festival Hall, and her writing has appeared in Magma, Propel, fourteen poems, The Massachusetts Review, Honey Literary, and more. She received the Creative Futures Gold Prize in Poetry in 2024. She has been supported by Tin House, Kundiman, Southbank Centre New Poets' Collective, and Poetry School London.

Read a poem by Rona at our blog.

Lisa Marie Shepherd is an English-Cypriot poet who lives in the West Midlands with her husband and 2 children. She was part of the 2023-2025 assistant writer's cohort for the Writing West Midlands Spark initiative, and her poems have been published in anthologies and online. In her limited spare time, she enjoys going to see indie bands, reading at open mics and walking her dog on Cannock Chase.

Read a poem by Lisa Marie at our blog.

 A further 20 poets were longlisted and are Highly Commended by our selecting editors:


Corinna Board • Zelda Cahill-Patten • Janet Dean • Caroline Druitt • Claire Harnett-Mann • Julie Irigaray • Maya Little • Anna Maughan • Natalie Moores • Mary Mulholland • Éloïse O'Dwyer-Armary • Margaret Poynor-Clark • Louise Renton • Lesley Sharpe • Tanya Smith • Gemma Strang • Laura Strickland • Miriam Swales • Catherine Sweeney • Kate Young

 

Primers is a biannual mentoring and publication scheme organised by Nine Arches Press, now in its eighth edition. It provides a unique opportunity for talented poets to find publication and receive a programme of supportive feedback, mentoring and promotion.


The three selected finalists will receive mentoring from poet Laurie Bolger, editorial support from Nine Arches Press editor and Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow Jane Commane, and publication in Primers Volume Eight in summer 2026, followed by events and readings.