Newborn: Poems on Motherhood

by Kate Clanchy

Nothing transforms our lives like parenthood. Kate Clanchy's intimate and daring sequence of poems follows the switchback ride of human emotions from conception through the first years of new life. Newborn is Clanchy's most powerful and accomplished book of poetry to date. - Clanchy is becoming the Carol Ann Duffy of her generation, with a reputation as one of the most accessible young contemporary poets. She is the recipient of various awards, including the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Saltire Prize for the Scottish First Book of the Year (both for Slattern), while Samarkand was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2004

About the author

Kate Clanchy was educated in Edinburgh and Oxford University. She lived in London's East End for several years, before moving to Buckinghamshire where she now works as a teacher, journalist and freelance writer. Her poetry and seven radio plays have been broadcast by BBC Radio. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper; her work appeared in The Scotsman, the New Statesman and Poetry Review. She also writes for radio and broadcasts on the World Service and BBC Radio 3 and 4.

She is a Creative Writing Fellow of Oxford Brookes University and teaches Creative Writing at the Arvon Foundation. She is currently one of the writers-in-residence at the charity First Story. Her poetry has been included in A Book of Scottish Verse (2002) and The Edinburgh book of twentieth-century Scottish poetry (2006)

Reviews

[Thomas Goddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to first say that I agree with another reviewer on this: the cover really undersold the collection. I first picked this up because of the clean white spine. Then I turned it over to look at the cover and this is one of the strongest illustrations of why one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I don’t know. It looks like a congratulations card.

Which is a shame because the poems themselves are heart-rending and spectacularly tight and focused. They convey this really poignant portrait of motherhood that elevates it to one of the best poetry collections I’ve read in years!

So why did I pick it up, when the cover didn’t appeal...

I’d never have thought that this would be me, / content to tote the baby homewards / answering, rook-like, his horse calls, / counting the haws on the bare claw branches / the rose hips shining like blood.
The Burden

I mean... wow. Just spectacular poetry in my humble estimation. I really enjoyed this collection and plan on giving it to many fellow poets.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some beautiful poems about having a new child. Unsurprisingly resonant for me at this time.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Nikki Magennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, sweet and playful collection of poems, but I must say the blurb and the cover is pitched wrong. I suppose the publisher is trying to appeal to mothers or some kind of soft focus cute-baby market, but I really think that undersells the book. It looks like some kind of fairy liquid advert.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually read this in March some time.
A punch in the guts of a collection - I guzzled it down in one sitting, ignoring my children and blubbing like a baby.