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Worple Press was founded in 1997 and is co-directed by Peter and Amanda Carpenter. We publish collections of poetry, and arts titles. We like to showcase new writing and we welcome diversity of format and approach. Above all, we look for excellence. Read more »


Latest News

Michael McKimm reviewed on London Grip

Because we could not dance at the wedding book cover image

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Jean Atkin has reviewed Michael McKimm’s Because we could not dance at the wedding at London Grip.

“Michael McKimm writes beautifully, at once vivid, embodied and restrained. […] What a marvellous ear McKimm has. As his reader I was engaged by openness, alertness and love, qualities which characterise this memorable, sensitive collection.”

The wide-ranging review, with close analysis of poems and themes, can be read online at London Grip.

5 Star Review for McKimm’s new collection

Because we could not dance at the wedding book cover image

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Michael McKimm’s Because we could not dance at the wedding has been reviewed by Andrew Hordle on Goodreads.

“Offers many pleasures for the reader […] McKimm’s work focuses on what is “secure”. No, not safe: rather those qualities that endure and stabilize the mind within a relationship or within the world.

Certainly, McKimm knows his poetical roots […] But the real delight in McKimm’s poetry is how he is not predictable and breaks new ground. He is acutely aware of language and how to bring a poem alive with a sharp phrase.

This book offers a real variety of poetical forms. And what is really noticeable is how McKimm is prepared to write the long poem, the poem that goes where it wants to go. […] in “What the River Carries”, McKimm demonstrates two qualities that bind this volume together: his eye for perception and ear for music.

At last, a poetry book worth re-reading!”

Read the full review here.

Reviews of Beyond the Gate

Congratulations to Clare Best, whose new collection Beyond the Gate has received rave reviews in London Grip and The Friday Poem.

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In London Grip, Alex Josephy finds it a “warmly intelligent, questioning collection’ with ‘luminosity and moments of playful beauty.”

“Best has united a wide range of poems with care and tact, in a way that seems to me in itself musical, so that the whole collection plays out its themes across the five inter-connected parts.”

“Throughout the collection, Best is in conversation with nature. Country life, its people and history are present in almost all the poems. There are moments of pure delight.”

Read the full review here.

In The Friday Poem Charlotte Gann writes “Throughout this rich collection the poet walks the line between physical and spiritual.”

“Part of what makes Clare Best’s poetry evocative is the observational precision she brings to bear – whether to her old, familiar, chalkland Sussex landscape or her newer adopted flatlands of Suffolk. She writes great ‘nature’ poetry. And something pronouncedly different.”

“Her unifying themes – of nature and love and loss and consolation – reverberate throughout the book as we walk for a spell with this keenly-observant and deeply-informed poet.”

Read the full review here.