Something New: Alternative Poems for Alternative Weddings edited by Caroline Bird and Rachel Long
Poetry Book Society Special Commendation Autumn 2025 Ana Sampson Eliot is called upon to

Eliot is called upon to become the completely public man

this anthology offers rare and intimate insights into the creative challenges of writing poetry now and the vital importance of dialogue as a free space for the play of ideas and critical thinking

Sophia Thakur

Her refreshing muscularity gives her a distinct voice

driven by a desire for disappearance

Something New: Alternative Poems for Alternative Weddings edited by Caroline Bird and Rachel Long<br><b>Poetry Book Society Special Commendation Autumn 2025</b> Ana Sampson Eliot is called upon toUntil recently, a wedding was no place for reinvention: everything from the location to the outfits to the language of the ceremony was decided by our particular cultures, religions and social expectations of gender and domestic roles; and of course, many of us were unable to get married at all. Now gay marriage is legal in Britain; heterosexual couples can have civil partnerships; we can get hitched in a yurt or a cave or on a rollercoaster. But the