International Book & Pamphlet Competition

When I Think of My Body as a Horse centres around the experience of infertility and baby loss with a wider focus on body ownership and motherhood. The poems follow a totemic animal theme rooted in nature through which the poet explores her own experience of the loss of her daughter, an IVF baby, during an emergency c-section in 2010. The poems in When I Think of My Body as a Horse are about trauma, but they are also about recovery and the powerful, animal instincts that surround the act of creating a family, and how this is absorbed and accepted as part of a wider narrative when there is no 'rainbow baby' to add closure to the trauma of loss.

The Last Dinosaur in Doncaster is an exuberant journey down the ginnels of Yorkshire; from The Miners' Strike and its ramifications, to men who should have been astronauts and no-nonsense women who get stuff done. These poems celebrate the importance of belonging, in all its gritty splendour.

In Rosalind Easton's lively and inventive debut collection, everyday objects are invested with glamour and drama: a mascara wand and a pair of peacock suede stilettos are brought to life in poems exploring the complexities of relationships, and a Mayfair lingerie store provides the setting for a transformative bra fitting experience. A diverse range of literary and cultural references inspires several poems, with the poet's grandmother coming back to life as a book to 'play intellectual drinking games with Shakespeare', and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor taking over the running of a secondary school. In other poems, Tilda Swinton's magazine photo shoot as David Bowie sparks an exploration of the relationship between history and identity, and a night at the Shepherd's Bush Empire with Suede becomes a celebration of the enduring power of teenage memories.

In Your Absence is a response to a year of bereavement, a murder and a trial, estrangements, departures and insights. Troubled by ghosts, these poems are ultimately a gift to anyone stranded in the whiteout of loss.