A Swan's Neck on the Butcher's Block

The new collection from one of Scotland's most original voices. Jenni Fagan converses with the poets of the past; through them, she communes with demons and explores a world that is continually at odds with itself. The poet voyages, as ever, on the outskirts, calling out the nuances of class, of care, of misogyny and brutality. Yet even here, too, in her response, there is always love, humour, hope and defiance. From one of Scotland's most original voices, this collection places the poet's life under the microscope. Each line brims with verve and wit and absolutely soars. It is, at once, heartbreaking and haunting, visceral and challenging and full of raw passion. These poems sing like only someone who has traversed the most arduous roads, pen in hand, can.

Dr Jenni Fagan is an award-winning poet, novelist and screenwriter. After the publication of her debur novel The Panopticon, Jenni was selected as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists. She has been on lists including the Desmond Elliott Prize, James Tait Black, Sunday Times Short Story Prize and the BBC International Story Prize. The Sunlight Pilgrims saw her win Scottish Author of the Year at the Herald Culture Awards. Her third novel Luckenbooth was praised in The New York Times Book Review, who named her The Patron Saint of Literary Street Urchins. In 2022, Polygon published her most recent novel, Hex, and The Bone Library, a poetry collection written during her time as a Writer in Residence at the Dick Vet Bone Library. In 2024, her memoir Ootlin is due to be published, as is her seventh poetry collection A Swan's Neck on the Butcher's Block. Fagan recently wrote two hundred poems for a collectors book called Heart of the Spirit, celebrating 200 years of The Macallan whisky.