Minx in the Guardian

I’m super excited to announce that Minx has made it into the pages of the Guardian newspaper as one of Rishi Dastidar’s ‘Best Poetry of 2025’. Here’s what Rishi had to say about her… ‘Karen Downs‑Barton’s debut /Minx/ (Chatto & Windus) was similarly eye-catching, unsparingly detailing both the poet’s time in the care system, and the wider discrimination she experienced coming from an Anglo-Romany background. Her use of Roma language in her poems adds an unexpected lushness to the often bleak content.’
It was lovely to rub shoulders with other Chatto poets, Leo Boix for Southernmost Sonnets and my editor Sarah Howe for Foretokens and a number of other books I’ve loved diving into this year including Isabelle Baafi’s wonderful Chaotic Good. Thank you to Sarah and my Chatto team, my ever supportive agent Elise and to Rishi for his generous remarks and reading. What a fabulous way to end the year.