Cover artwork: © Hugh Bryden
Andrew Forster’s second collection explores what it means to make a home in a particular place, and the relationship with the environment that this implies. Much of the collection is set in the remote former mining village of Leadhills in south-west Scotland, where these questions are encountered daily. The poems delve into the landscape, history and natural history of Leadhills, its surrounding area and beyond, looking at the uneasy balance of our relationship with nature.
‘His descriptions of country life through the seasons offer an evocative perspective on living amidst the forces of nature, which can both inspire and oppress in equal measure.’
PBS, Issue 225, Summer 10
‘Write about animals and nature – particularly if they are red in tooth and claw – and you quickly find that Ted Hughes casts a rather long shadow. But Andrew Forster is confident enough in this, his second collection of poems, to take on the rich legacy of Hughes from The Hawk in the Rain, Lupercal and Moortown and write about the lives, landscape, history and natural history of Leadhills, an old mining village in Lanarkshire.’
Keith Richmond, Tribune, 30 April 2010
His first book, Fear Of Thunder, was shortlisted for the 2008 Forward Prize best first collection. It drew this praise:
‘A notable Newcomer’ — the Scotsman
‘Fear of Thunder is a fine collection filled with poems which are both resonant and delicate. Forster is a wonderful storyteller and his poems are populated with family and memoir, characters from many walks of life. Great poets are seasoned and annealed by time and we will gladly look forward to more of Forster.’
— Daniel Thomas Moran, in Poetry Salzburg Review (Number 13)
‘These poems of people, places, and people in places...have the visual power of paintings and the depth and narrative structure of novels.’
— Vicki Feaver
Territory costs £7.50 and was published in April 2010.
ISBN: 978-1-906601-15-7
Andrew Forster was born in South Yorkshire but lived in Scotland for over twenty years before moving to Cumbria in 2008. He was Literature Development Officer for Dumfries and Galloway for five years before becoming Literature Officer for the Wordsworth Trust in 2008.
Dress Rehearsals, a pamphlet, was published by Flarestack in 2000, while his first collection Fear of Thunder (Flambard, ISBN: 978-1-873226940) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2008. His poetry is now included in GCSE teaching.
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