The top expat poets to watch in 2019
Thomas Gray once said, “Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn”. For many people around the world, reading poetry is an effective way to unwind and relax. Whether you have recently relocated and are looking for a way to take a step back from the chaos, or are thinking about making the life changing move, words can really help to express your emotions. In light of this, the team at Santa Fe Relocation have selected the top expatriate poets to watch in 2019.
Dante Micheaux
Dante Micheaux is most famous for being the author of Amorous Shepherd, a 2010 Sheep Meadow Press. Some of his poems have been featured in Poetry, Callaloo, PN Review, The American Poetry Review and The African American Review which is a ‘scholarly aggregation of essays on African–American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and books’. As a result of his success, Micheaux has been shortlisted for a number of awards including the prestigious Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Prize.
Sarah Fletcher
Sarah Fletcher is a British-American poet living in London attending Royal Holloway and her poetry has been recognised across the globe. It has even been published in the London Magazine and The Rialto, known as ‘the poetry magazine to read’. Following these achievements, Sarah was named the 2012 Foyle Young Poet of the Year and has won two Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes. She has also been shortlisted for the Stephen Spender Prize in association with the Guardian, adding to her extensive list of achievements. Some of the stars most popular poems are Woman, 30, Seeks Orlando Bloom, Love Poem and Our Daughter.
Tamar Yoseloff
Born in 1965 in the United States of America, Tamar Yoseloff is a well-known poet now living in the United Kingdom. In total, she has published five full collections, including her debut booked called Sweetheart. In 2007, Tamar was appointed the role of Poetry Editor at Art World magazine, which was just the beginning of her career. Since then, she has edited a number of pieces including Lookout: Poetry from Aldeburgh Beach and A Room to Live In: A Kettle’s Yard Anthology. Tamar Yoseloff has been shortlisted for a number awards including the Ted Hughes Award, which sparked her career as a lecturer.
R.A. Villanueva
R.A. Villanueva is the fourth top expat to watch this year, and for good reason. Not only did his debut Reliquaria win the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, but he has also won the Ninth Letter Literary Award. His writing has also appeared in the American Poetry Review and Prac Crit, an online journal featuring a range of poetry. When asked why he was surprised to hear that US poets don’t really read UK poets, he said: “there are many contemporary American poets who are being read and reviewed in the U.K. and who are being published by British publishers: Kaveh Akbar, Danez Smith, Morgan Parker, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, Maggie Nelson. That dynamic doesn’t go the other way, however; there isn’t an independent U.S. edition of Vahni Capildeo or Karen McCarthy Woolf, Sarah Howe or Warsan Shire. And most of our chancing upon British poets in the U.S. seems to be via Twitter, through Poetry and Poetry Review’s collaborations, or by way of The African Poetry Book Series’ chapbooks”
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