"This is sanity speaking, with a mask of tragedy pulled up from its face. This is a stunning poet arguing with the failing authority of her culture, the whole Silk Road curled up and hissing by her feet." Valzhyna Mort

Yaa de Villiers' silence-smashing poems (in this manner reminiscent of Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife) are sensitive, unafraid to be erotic, sometimes tragic, and always irreverent - Tolu Ogunlesi, Wasafiri magazine

I'm drawn to what you might think of as traditional lyric poetry; it's an enduring, effective, powerful means of expression.

In the face of loss - human, natural, temporal - McQueen finds salvation in language. Often her work is about artistic endeavour itself: the desire to freeze time, the realisation that this is impossible - Sarah Quigley

I take what the world throws at me, and spin, twist, skim, fly, flip, throw it back - Selima Hill

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste / Brought death into the world, and all our woe. 'Paradise Lost'

Good words are worth much, and cost little.

This marvellous book has exceeded my expectations...it displays admirable craftsmanship, a subtle, musical ear and immense variety. John Mole on the Collected Poems of Sylvia Townsend Warner, South West Review

Pain is filtered in a poem so that it becomes finally, in the end, pleasure. Mark Strand

I suppose what I really like is to set up a system which looks wonderfully secure when you first encounter it on the page, but within the framework there are crazy things which tip the reader off-balance. - Bill Manhire

Poetry is a way of living...a human activity like baking bread or playing basketball. - Robert Hass