Minx

The latest news on Minx – her travels and who she’s met along the way.

Minx Navigating Unexpected Places
With just 15 days until Minx is published and takes her first steps into the world alone I’m sharing some words about her by the lovely Romalyn Ante.
‘Minx is a forceful collection that examines the intricacies of personhood, grief, and memory. These poems convey what’s it like to live between languages and histories. With striking imaginative power, the collection deftly portrays how we navigate the territories of longing, while also finding moments of beauty and solace in the most unexpected places’. Romalyn Ante
Many thanks Romalyn for such a lovely endorsement.

Minx in the Guardian

I’m excited to share news that Minx has featured in The Best Recent Poetry – review roundup by Philip Terry in the Guardian. Philip says of: Minx
This assured debut takes us into the heart of a precarious Anglo-Romany childhood on the edge of urban society, where casual bar work easily slips into casual sex work, and on to explore the perils of state care in the ominously named Home for Crying Children. It’s not just the Dickensian narrative that’s gripping, but the way it brings different forms to bear on its material, without the least sense of strain: from support workers’ multiple-choice questionnaires to shape poems in the style of Dylan Thomas, to desperate letters to an absent sister. Add a peppering of Romany – we quickly pick up “babbi” (baby), “drom” (roads) and “rawni” (lady) – and you have the makings of a heady mix.
I’d like to thank Philip, for such an insightful and considered review.

I was honoured and moved by the words about Minx by Joelle Taylor when I read them on the books fly cover. ‘Minx is a splinter of a book, something that interrupts the body. It’s a beautiful violence, each page a shock of poetry that renders an underclass family vivid. Rich, delicate, and brutal. Minx is essential reading, a constant companion. Read it.’  Joelle Taylor                      

I posted last weeks ‘notes from the little Minx’ a little early as I was reading at The Social in Soho with some pretty amazing poets – Andrew MacMillan, Fiona Benson, Mona Arshi, Michael Simmons Roberts, and Sarah Howe. Ironically, I was able to thank Anthony Anaxagorou for kindly allowing me to use two quotes from Joelle’s excellent book C+nto and Other Poems, as epigraphs in Minx as he was at the reading. I also got my hands on a copy of my little Minx for the first time. It felt strange to hold her newness and I’m not sure I’ve fully grasped that she’s actually here… but I will.

This week I’m heading to The Satellite of Love in Bristol to hear Helen Ivory and Martin Figura read so I’m posting early and will head out into the garden, stare at the night sky and see if I can spot the planets that are, apparently, in a cosmic parade. This must be a sign!

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I’m posting my weekly update about Minx and her travels a little early as I’ll be on some travels myself midweek. I wanted to share Pascale Petit’s generous words about her with you.  
‘Every poem in Minx is an enthralling read. Karen Downs-Barton’s gifts are a combination of compelling subjects from a brutal childhood and exquisite formal invention. Add to this powerful mix the linguistic riches of the Roma language and the result is a thrilling new arrival.’  Pascale Petit

Today I uploaded a short film to most of my social media outlets to share the wonderful words that Lemn Sissay has said about Minx. I will try to add it here too as I’d love to share it with you too.

‘Like amber, these poems capture moments of time, place and feeling which otherwise would be unseen and ignored. How are we to survive our memories if they are not held like this? Every one of us who are writers must document our time in care and outside of it. I found Minx heartbreaking. Downs-Barton warns, “Children who stay here become line drawings nobody / colours in.” It’s a line I will never forget. There are more’ 

Lemn Sissay

With launch day fast approaching it’s time to start whetting your appetite with some postings of what people have been saying about the collection. 
Today I’m posting an image of the front page but each Wednesday I’ll add another Minx-based quote, recommendation, or press release. So are the first postings on my Minx dedicated page.

I’m so pleased with the cover and here is a quote from the wonderful Ruth Padel after reading Minx:

‘“Be ready”, one poem says. Minx is a true song of life, beautiful, poignant, colourful as a carnival, challenging but full of depth and empathy’            
Ruth Padel