Back in 2012, Ash Dickinson was doing a gig and Clive Birnie thought ‘performance poets, they need books too!’ and Burning Eye was born. Ten years later, thousands of book sold, over a hundred poets on our list, Burning Eye has achieved a unique place in the indie publishing world and with our 2022 list, we continue to produce books for the very best spoken word, performance, slam and stand up poets in the UK.

    We are over the moon to share our exciting 2022 poetry list today – these 18 books will help us celebrate a decade of publishing the underdogs, the underrepresented and the absolutely surreal artists that shape modern poetry on the stage. We are so thrilled to have more trans and non-binary writers than ever before as well as more pamphlets and debuts. We welcome back some of favourites too!

    Get excited and share the love!

    Moving through moods and atmospheres (Passion, Anger, Joy, Nature/ The Sea, Melancholy, Philosophical/ Mystical, and finally Whimsy), Spectral is a book intended to be read in a number of different ways. The new collection from Fay Roberts (ze/zir they/them) is out with us March 2022.

    Chosen Family by ibizo lami (she/they) is a raw but gentle story of recovery and strength. Set in the waiting room of Dr Unicorn’s office, ibizo reflects on the instances that have knocked her down and built them back up again. Out March 2022.

    Madeleine Ekezie has done everything right but when she discovers the story of The Body – a maybe mythical, definitely magical being who feeds the hungry and soothes the hurt – Maddy blows her life up to find it. Maz Hedgehog‘s (they/them) debut collection The Body in It’s Seasons is out April 2022.

    Good Listeners leads you through the afterlife of trauma and disability. You will meet many strangers to guide you into a world where you may suddenly find yourself coping. Pascal Vine‘s (he/him) brilliant pamphlet is out April 2022.

    Scottish poet Ross McFarlane (he/him) joins the BE staple with his new pamphlet Life Goals of the Millennials or The Commune Manifesto out April 2022. A personal statement of intent, an affirmation, a life goal, to retain the joy that comes from our hardfought & close-knit bonds.

    Katie (Tom) Walters’ (they/them) debut collection My Body is a Resource I Am Willing To Expend comes to terms with sickness and the a reconfiguration of life with a disability. From their bed, they rebel with righteous crip pride, rage, grief and mourning. Out May 2022.

    In Bibi June‘s (they/them) Kinsey Scale for the Emotionally Fragile Queer, our lives are not represented by rigid numbers, but by poetry on queer love, happiness, protest, friendships, and the ability of queers to adapt to a changing world. This phenomenal pamphlet is out May 2022.

    The very first Burning Eye poet, Ash Dickinson returns for our 10th year with Instructions for Outlaws – Birds emerge from nests of tables, a fox is lured from buddleia with a fishing line, an Amazon warehouse proves no match for the written word all this and more! Out in May 2022.

    Jemima Foxtrot’s (she/they) highly anticipated A New Game, out June 2022, whirls you through a world of vivid images, hedonism, memory and wonder as it celebrates and investigates the minutiae of everyday life.

    Panya Banjoko’s (she/her)- (Re)framing the Archive gives space to those voices that are otherwise submerged and highlight the disparity in underrepresentation of Black people as curators of their own history. This essential collection is out June 2022.

    Jackie Juno‘s (she/her) Priestess of the Powder Puff Experiment has taken four years to create and compile; a distillation of deep self enquiry, bold uncensored rants, hilarious absurdism reflecting modern life’s insanity, and tender moments of beauty inspired by the natural world. Coming June 2022.

    Ta-da! Bargain Bin Rom-Com is the first collection of poems by Leena Norms (she/her). From the politics of ice-cream to the permission slip you didn’t know you needed, this is a tongue-in-cheek look at living on a planet that is filled with both doom and glitter. Out July 2022.

    Delighted to have Vera Chok‘s debut Chinese Kisses out in September 2022. A examination of the body after loss, the mish mash of negative spaces that ultimately create texture and wry knowledge.

    We are over the moon to have Sally Jenkinson back with her third pamphlet – a poem cycle about giving birth. A creative response to the seemingly improbable and yet utterly commonplace act of somehow producing a human from your body. Pantomime Horse, Russian Doll, Egg is out September 2022.

    Take your little feelings-junkie-self on a dash through the house of fun. Louise Fazackerley (she/her) joins our 10th year list with her new collection The Pleasure Dome. Out September 2022.

    Annie Rutherford translates Nora Gomringer‘s bestselling collections into one definitive book for english readers. We are so thrilled to have Nora back as she is one of Germany’s greatest living poets. Out October 2022.

    A pleasure to have Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson on our 2022 list with his first BE collection More Mixed Messages which will be out in the winter.

    And finally, we are thrilled to have Leyla Josephine‘s (she/her) first collection of poetry In Public/In Private out in November 2022. Leyla writes about secrets, faith, shame, lust,and death unapologetically. She fearlessly reaches through every page and asks ‘Have you felt this too?’.

    More from these poets and their books will be available early in 2022. For now, check out our latest 2021 collections.