In 2025, Nine Arches Press launched their nationwide Primers scheme in search of exciting new voices in poetry, with Laurie Bolger as selecting editor. After reading through hundreds of anonymous entries, and narrowing down the choices from longlist to shortlist, three poets emerged as clear choices: Carl Alexandersson, Rachel Jeffcoat, and Olivia Tuck. Primers Volume Eight now showcases their exceptional and groundbreaking new work in poetry. Each poet moves between territories of the self and the worlds we inhabit – from reflections of queer joy in landscape and nature, to the voices of ancestors, of women with 'long memories and short tempers', to a neurodivergent perspective of the precious planet we call our home in a time of environmental crisis. Steadily focused, haunting and distinctive, this is an essential collection of new work from three of poetry's most talented emerging voices.
