Soho (Faber Poetry)

Review 'Outstanding . . . Scott's tone is sometimes splendidly, defiantly drama-queenly . . . This is the most impressive debut since Andrew McMillan's Physical' ― Literary Review [This collection] demonstrate[s] a dazzling range and control of form - but these aren't fireworks shot into daylight. Scott's project is as political as it is personal, and the kaleidoscopic picture of contemporary queerness he builds through these poems is as urgent as it is alluring... Dark, joyous and as fierce as a love-bite: read Soho now. -- A K Blakemore ― Poetry London 'A portrait of gay shame both profound and precise in its prismatic exploration of the queer self ... a vital, visceral debut.' -- Jade Cuttle ― Poetry Review 'Richard Scott's stunning debut collection Soho is a passionate and sometimes furious love letter to the LGBTQ+ community and its chequered history, revelling in the beautiful joy of sexual identity and mourning scars of past violence. The collection leaps vividly to life in the titular poetic sequence Soho, a wondering journey through London's Soho - if you ever get the chance to see Richard Scott read live, jump on that opportunity ASAP.' ― Marie Claire 'Soho is a hyper-sexualised exhibition of vulnerability and trauma, at once violent and tender. Scott combines a uniquely verdant lyricism with his precise, excoriating, wit ... Asking us to remain with, even to interrogate, our own feelings of discomfort, Soho makes for powerful, urgent and deeply relevant reading.' -- Nell Osborne ― The Manchester Review 'By turns explicit and playful, elegiac and defiant, Richard Scott's Soho draws on the fiercer traditions of queer poetry without ultimately depending on those who have gone before. The result is a debut not bound by allegiance to some generalised category but liberated by joy and clear execution ... Soho so brilliantly breaks new ground. Scott and his poetry live in a world that we inhabit, but the sure eye and fierce joy of this book also make it a new world to rejoice in.' -- Patrick Davidson Roberts ― Poetry School Product Description SHORTLISTED FOR THE T. S. ELIOT PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA POETRY AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE In this intimate and vital debut, Richard Scott creates an uncompromising portrait of love and gay shame. Examining how trauma becomes a part of the language we use, Scott takes us back to our roots: childhood incidents, the violence our scars betray, forgotten forebears and histories. The hungers of sexual encounters are underscored by the risks that threaten when we give ourselves to or accept another. But the poems celebrate joy and tenderness, too, as in a sequence re-imagining the love poetry of Verlaine. The collection crescendos to Scott's tour de force, 'Oh My Soho!', where a night stroll under the street lamps of Soho Square becomes a search for true lineage, a reclamation of stolen ancestors, hope for healing, and, above all, the finding of our truest selves. Book Description Debut collection presenting an uncompromising portrait of love and shame within London's Soho community About the Author Richard Scott was born in London. His first book Soho (Faber & Faber, 2018) was a Gay's the Word book of the year and shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot prize. Recent works include 'Quartz' in Poetry Review and 'Amethyst' in the anthology Queer Life, Queer Love (Muswell Press). Richard's poetry has been translated into German and French. He is a lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London and he teaches poetry at the Faber Academy.