Brontë Writer in Residence
Ian has been appointed Writer in Residence at the Brontë Parsonage Museum for 2023/24.
News
Poetry Prize
Ian’s second collection, Tormentil, due from Nine Arches Press in September 2023, has won a Royal Society of Literature ‘Literature Matters’ Award while in progress.
BBC Commission
Ian is working on a new poem and short film in collaboration with Ascension Dance Company to debut at the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Festival in September. He has also been appointed a festival poet at Contains Strong Language which this year will take place in Coventry, UK City of Culture 2021. Continue Reading
Sylvia Plath book
Ian has won an Arts Council England Lottery Funded Project Grant to produce an anthology of poems and essays in response to the legacy of Sylvia Plath. He will co-edit the book with fellow Hebden Bridge poet Sarah Corbett. Continue Reading
Why I Write Poetry
Ian is the editor of Why I Write Poetry: Essays on Becoming a Poet, Keeping Going and Advice for the Writing Life – fourth in the best-selling series of creative writing handbooks from Nine Arches Press.
Butcher’s Dog 15
Ian co-edited issue 15 of Butcher’s Dog alongside Jo Clement. Together they whittled down almost 3000 anonymous submissions to choose 23 poems for publication in the magazine, which will be launched in June, 2021.
Russian translation
Two poems from Zebra have been selected and translated by poet and critic Dmitry Kuzmin for inclusion in Russia’s first anthology of AIDS and HIV related poetry. Featured poets include Thom Gunn, Derek Jarman and Danez Smith.
Zebra longlisted for The Portico Prize
Along with collections by Zaffar Kunial and Michael Symmons Roberts, Zebra was one of three poetry books that made the longlist of The Portico Prize for Literature in 2019. No poetry featured on the shortlist.
In 2019, Ian was invited to guest edit Issue 12 of renowned poetry journal, Butcher’s Dog, alongside managing editor Jo Clement.
Zebra
Published in spring 2019, Zebra went to a second print run just eight weeks after its launch. The Yorkshire Times said of the book, ‘In all of its magnificent bounty Zebra must be one of the poetry collections of 2019.’
First Book Coming Soon
Ian’s debut full-length collection of poetry, Zebra, is forthcoming from Nine Arches Press in April 2019.
Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes
‘Return of the discotheque dancers’, a celebration of lives lost to AIDS in the early years of the disease, was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018.
Readings
“Our headliner Ian Humphreys being absolutely brilliant…”
– Bad Language on Twitter (August 31, 2017)
Review of ‘Ten: Poets of the New Generation’
In these troubled times we need more good poets than ever. Luckily I’ve seen the future of poetry – and it’s bright.
– Christina Patterson, The Guardian