Jacob Polley

Jacob has written a new poem, ‘A Book of Water’, to celebrate the re-opening of the New Bookshop, in Cockermouth, Cumbria, which was flooded in 2009. READ the poem as it appears on the Guardian’s site here, and LISTEN to Jacob read it here.

It’s been announced that ‘Talk of the Town’ has received the 2010 Somerset Maugham Award from the Society of Authors. Details here.

On June 23rd the results of the Desmond Elliot Prize will be announced. ‘Talk of the Town’ is on the shortlist, along with Ali Shaw’s ‘The Girl with Glass Feet’ and Maria Allen’s ‘Before the Earthquake’.

Jacob has written a new story, ‘The Bugle’, for The Verb, on BBC Radio 3, and reads it this Friday (April 30th) at 9.15pm. Also featured on the show is a look back at the life and work of the great Peter Porter, a piece by Polar Bear, and a new poetry app…

Jacob has a new short story, ‘Watch’, published in the April Issue of Esquire, the one with Leonardo di Caprio on the cover. Though he’s not in the story…

Way back in December 2009,the Independent on Sunday named Talk of the Town, along with Wells Tower’s wonderful Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, ‘Most Impressive Debut of the Year’ in its books of the year round-up. Talk of the Town is due out in small format paperback in May.

Jacob has a new poem, ‘Keepers’, and an article, ‘The World in the Mouth, the Mouth in the World’, in the new issue of Magma, edited by Clare Pollard. Link here. There’s a new interview with Jacob on the EncompassCulture website, which takes in poetry and prose, reading and writing. Link here. There was a new poem, ‘Eviction’, in the Summer 2009 issue of Poetry London. Link here.