@kingsartshums – Karen Downs-Barton

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 theContinue reading “Minx in the Guardian”

i Newspaper Article

Did you know that November is National Care Leavers month? It wasn’t well publicised but as an in-and-out resident of state childcare I was delighted to contribute this article to the i newspaper. I hope it goes some way to raising awareness of the changes taking place for young people in care and how simpleContinue reading “i Newspaper Article”

A New Form for National Poetry Day

I’m delighted to announce that Ink Sweat and Tears has published my poem Gone Not Gone on International Poetry Day. This years theme is PLAY and the poem not only features the wonders of the infinite inventiveness of children in a form that ‘plays’ with the use of language.

Minx at Edinburgh International Book Festival

I’m excited to share that next week I’ll be at #EdBookFest, in conversation with the lovely Shasta Hanif Ali about what it means to belong, and how exploring belonging is at the core of Minx. Expect the unexpected in this conversation that looks at the quirks of language, mining archives for rootedness, and creating newContinue reading “Minx at Edinburgh International Book Festival”

Performing Poems from Minx

At last BBC radio 4’s The Verb featuring me reading poems from Minx is available on BBC iPlayer. It was a delight to be able to share the poems live, talk about areas where poetry meets performance in diverse settings and through diverse concepts of what a poem can be. The poetry/performance interface included poetryContinue reading “Performing Poems from Minx”

Minx on The Verb

Yesterday I was at Media City to record a session for BBC Radio 4’s much loved The Verb hosted by Ian McMillan. It was fantastic to read three poems from Minx, explore a neon line from Faroese poetry, hear about activism through ‘poetry bombs,’ and meet Naz, poet in residence at Luton FC. The programContinue reading “Minx on The Verb”

Ledbury Festival with Ruth Padel

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be at Ledbury Literature Festival on Friday July 4th with the wonderful Ruth Padel. We’ll be at Burgage Hall from 4pm and if you can’t be with us in person the event is being live streamed on Vimeo. Fabulous! The festival literature says: In Girl, Ruth Padel offers a fresh and questioningContinue reading “Ledbury Festival with Ruth Padel”

Minx featured on Louise Wilford’s Showcase

I was honoured to be invited to be interviewed by Louise Wilford for her literary blog recently. There were questions that took us to some wonderfully diverse areas including portable writing spaces, cocktail alchemy, how to ‘get into poetry’, plus of course sharing poems from Minx and how they came into being. The interview isContinue reading “Minx featured on Louise Wilford’s Showcase”

Launch Day

I’m sending out a massive ‘Thank You’ to all the lovely people who came to @lrbbookshop on Tuesday evening to celebrate #Minx and launch her into the world.

Minx is a Dainty Dish at Foyles

I was having a day out in London and popped into Foyles for some essential browsing and bookish sustenance in their cafe and who should I see cheekily sitting on a table in the poetry department? Minx! She was in great company next to Anthony Joseph, Lemn Sissay and a bevvy of other poetic wanderers.Continue reading “Minx is a Dainty Dish at Foyles”