Hollie McNish

The poet Hollie McNish is about as far from the ‘tortured poet in a garret’ stereotype as it’s possible to be. Thank goodness!

She’s funny, sweary, down-to-earth, hugely entertaining and prone to interrupting her readings, mid-poem, to relate an anecdote or provide a wry observation. She writes about life, love, relationships, sex, bodies, pregnancy, motherhood, politics, race, migration and economics from a refreshingly frank, female, perspective. All of which has won her a huge following of fans.

Hollie won the 2016 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, and it couldn’t have gone to a more deserving or downright likeable poet.

Her new collection, ‘Plum’, includes poems about her childhood, teens, twenties and thirties (to date...) - including many that were actually written when she was a child or adolescent, and her responses to them from her current perspective.

She concluded tonight’s performance at the Unity with a poem about how much she loves her shoulders.

“smeared with freckles...
...these perched, glowing, dappled, oval beauties!”

So, when I had a chat with her afterwards, I couldn’t resist asking whether she’d mind ‘giving it some shoulder’ for the camera. She said she’d never been asked before but she was happy to oblige!

Incidentally, in her show she noted that she’s been asked to sign breasts “Three times. All in Manchester!”. I see that the next show in her tour is in... you guessed it, Manchester! I hope she, and her audience, enjoy the experience!

Here’s Hollie with ‘British National Breakfast’ http://poetrysociety.org.uk/education/page-fright/hollie-mcnish/british-national-breakfast/

And you can also hear an interview with her on last week’s ‘Book Shambles’ podcast... http://cosmicshambles.com/bookshambles/festivalpoetryshambles