Kinship

Following the success of the New Beginnings project in 2021 and Spectrum project in 2022, the Kinship project seeks to continue celebrating identity through poetry. We want the resulting anthology – scheduled for October – to be an exploration of community and belonging, a firm but joyous collection that celebrates what unites us, resolute in the face of those who seek to divide us.

Kinship

Concepts of belonging and community have constantly evolving definitions, and have been at the centre of fierce debate in recent years. The first twenty-three years of the new millennium have seen a rise in rhetoric aimed at those without the voice to argue back, and waves of toxic abuse have proliferated – and genocide. How relevant, then, to unite and raise our voices, to celebrate the rich tapestry of humanity, and to explore the labels we use to identify and express ourselves.

Kinship is a poetry anthology that seeks to provide a platform for marginalised voices, and to celebrate the great diversity and rich variation in the identities of people from around the world and from a huge cross-section of walks of life.

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Details

Competition opened on Friday 21st April; closed on Saturday 17th June

Longlist announced on Tuesday 12th September

Shortlist announced on Monday 2nd October

Winners announced at a virtual launch on Monday 17th October

Entry cost: free

Open to: anyone, anywhere, any age. We’re particularly keen to hear from those who do not consider the aspect of kinship they’re writing about to be represented in traditional or mainstream media. Rules →

Poetry length: up to 100 lines or 750 words, only one (must be previously unpublished) poem per applicant.

1st prize: £200

2nd prize: £100

Special mentions at the judges’ discretion.

All of the poems on the shortlist will be published in a volume, and everyone included will receive a copy of the book, and will be invited to take place in an online launch event.

Meet the Judges

Photo © Jo Cotterill

Miriam Halahmy

Miriam was a teacher for 25 years, and, having worked with refugees and asylum seekers in schools, her writing engages with historical and contemporary issues that affect children across time – most notably the plight of refugees. Her young-adult novel, Hidden, was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and has been adapted for the stage. Saving Hanno, Miriam’s new book, is about a boy who comes on the Kindertransport and reflects on the grief and loss experienced by refugee children.

Photo © Tom Denbigh

Tom Denbigh

Tom Denbigh lives in Bristol with an obscene number of books. He is the first Bristol Pride Poet Laureate and a BBC 1Extra Emerging Artist Talent Search winner. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and festivals around the UK, and has brought poetry to Brighton and London Prides. He is a producer at Milk Poetry and has facilitated writing workshops for groups of students from the UK and abroad (he is particularly proud of his work with queer young people). His debut collection …and then she ate him is out now with Burning Eye Books.

Photo © Reshma Ruia

Reshma Ruia

Reshma Ruia is an award-winning author and poet. She has a PhD and Master’s in Creative Writing from Manchester University. She has published two novels (including Still Lives with Renard Press), a poetry collection and a short story collection. Her work has appeared in international anthologies and journals, and she has had work commissioned by the BBC. She is the co-founder of The Whole Kahani – a writers’ collective of British South Asian writers. Born in India and brought up in Rome, her writing explores the preoccupations of those who possess a multiple sense of belonging.

Photo © Matt Dady-Leonard

Will Dady

Will Dady grew up in the wonderfully named Great Snoring in North Norfolk, and now lives in London. He is the Publisher at Renard Press, which he founded in 2020. A publisher of classic and contemporary fiction, non-fiction, theatre and poetry, part of Renard’s raison d’être is to empower and provide a platform to marginalised voices. The New Beginnings project was set up in 2021 as an antidote to the less pleasant aspects of the pandemic, and its huge success in attracting stirring entries has made these projects a firm fixture in Renard’s publishing programme.

Support the Project

If, like us, you think this is a really important project, we’d love your help! Please do help us to get the word out – on social media (#Kinship) and in real life, as we’d love to reach people who aren’t on Facebook or Twitter, too!

This project is going to need money to get off the ground. If you’re able to, please pre-order the anthology or consider becoming a sponsor of the project – in return we’ll add your name to a special ‘thanks’ page in the book, and you can choose your level of support and receive various perks, including tote bags, deluxe editions and more. Sponsor →

If you know someone who would be interested in the project, please share this page with them! Click here to email them →

Sponsor the Project

Target: £1,500 | Funded so far: £550 | Backers: 18 | 37% funded

37%

Print & Digital
Supporter

£15 | 6 backers

Sponsor by £15 to receive:

The anthology in print once it’s published
The e-book edition too
Your name on a special ‘thanks’ page in the book

Print & Digital Plus Supporter

£20 | 5 backers

Sponsor by £20 to receive:

The anthology in print once it’s published
The e-book edition too
A set of postcards with the cover art
A Renard Press tote bag
Your name on a special ‘thanks’ page in the book

Deluxe
Supporter

£50 | 5 backers

Sponsor by £50 to receive:

A deluxe hardback edition of the anthology
A copy of the paperback too
The e-book edition too
A set of postcards with the cover art
A Renard Press tote bag
Your name on a special ‘thanks’ page in the book

Doubled Up and Arty
Supporter

£100 | 1 backer

Sponsor by £100 to receive:

Two deluxe hardback editions of the anthology
Two copies of the paperback too
The e-book edition too
A set of postcards with the cover art
A Renard Press tote bag
A limited edition art print of the cover artwork
Your name on a special ‘thanks’ page in the book

Enter

The competition has now closed for entry.

Rules

We want to keep this fairly simple and open – the only rules we have for entry are below.

There is no minimum (or maximum) age requirement for entry, but please bear in mind that if you’re under 18 you legally need to have parental or guardian consent to enter. Anyone can submit, but please read the brief first and make sure that your poem and entry fits.
The work must be your own, and we ask that you don’t submit it elsewhere in the mean time.
Please do not include photographs or illustrations.
Please only submit once – we will only consider your first entry if you enter again.
Entries must be received by 11.59PM on Saturday 17th June 2023 to be considered.

Longlist

We’re delighted to announce the longlist (102 poems) for the Kinship competition, which you can find below (sorted by title – you can search this page with ctrl/cmd + ‘F’ to find a name). Some longlisted poems are available to read online – in which case they will be orange in the list below. In the mean time, please consider becoming a sponsor to help us bear the costs of this important project.

‘12.7.22’ by Jasmine Kate Wickens
‘A Memoirist Asks What Desert I Will Have to Enter to Tell My Story’ by Ivy Raff
‘A Return’ by Michele Clement
‘A Speech on How to Knot a Hausa Tongue’ by Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi
‘A Three-Foot-Wide Dream’ by Anne Marie Wells
‘Ancestral Flow’ by Mary L. Moody
‘Are You My Mother?’ by Elisha Gabb
‘At 1 a.m. on the 6th of March’ by Connor Johnston
‘Bad Indian’ by Srishti Jain
‘Beautiful Apostate’ by Bek King
‘Bird Watching in Central Florida’ by Anastasia Jill
‘Birthright’ by Jessie Lee
‘Blood Orange’ by Caoimhe Matthews
‘Blue Bench’ by Ruth Allen-Humphreys
‘Bonfire Museum’ by Jennifer Duffy
‘Breaking Ground’ by Jean Gillespie
‘Can You Spell That For Me?’ by Roisin Harkin
‘Carbon Slowly Turning’ by Steve Baggs
‘Carried’ by Dianne McPhelim
‘Carved From Concrete’ by E.J. Wade
‘Chain of Supply’ by Benedict Hangiriza
‘Child of My Child’ by M.V. Williams
‘Church Concert 3’ by Robin Daglish
‘Diagnostic, AB Form’ by Helen Chen
‘Domestic Bliss’ by Ilisha Thiru Purcell
‘Double English’ by Stuart Wrigley
‘Down to the Sea at Malaga’ by Rosalie Alston
‘Dreaming at Border Control’ by Hussein Sheekh
‘Drop In’ by Thea Smiley
‘Dull Silver’ by Harry Turner
‘Earthstruck’ by Junyi Chew
‘Elegy for Great Aunt Trudy’ by Renee Emerson
‘Evening in Sevilla’ by Gloria Sanders
‘Ex-Pat’ by Jennifer M Phillips
‘Fable’ by Naoise Gale
‘Family Trees’ by Daphne Sampson
‘Funny Little People’ by Rosie Bramwell
‘Generational Trauma’ by Inga Piotrowska
‘Get Up, Love’ by Magda Smith
‘Greenhill’ by Helen Bluesky
‘Hades’ by Elizabeth Train-Brown
‘Hands’ by Erin Jamieson
‘Harvest Home’ by Martin Bennett
‘Here, Where the Secret People Live’ by Jane Burn
‘Here’s to Us Spanglish Kids’ by M.A. Dubbs
‘Hiraeth’ by Sam Szanto
‘His Shoes’ by Deborah Gaudin
‘History Baked in a Hot Oven’ by Caroline Bracken
‘Home Town’ by Sharon Milley
‘Homeless’ by Liz Diamond
‘Honeycomb’ by Ieva Dapkevicius
‘I Think I Might Be Human’ by Kay Saunders
‘In Praise of Uncles’ by Terry Jones
‘In the Silence of My Nights’ by Madeleine McDonald
‘Journeyman’ by Oz Hardwick
‘Kinship’ by Peter Hill
‘Last Supper 1993’ by Mariyam Karolia
‘Laundry Litany’ by A.W. Earl
‘Letter to an Unnamed Woman’ by Matilda Dewar
‘Letterfall’ by Utsuk Upreti
‘London I’m Home’ by Ansuya Patel
‘Lovesong’ by Alyson Smith
‘Ma, Your Little Girl Is Becoming a Planet’ by Fedora Mensah
‘Meandering in Sankofa’ by Abayomi Ayo-Kayode
‘Meeting a Half Sister’ by Shelly Reed Thieman
‘Memories of a Pier’ by Pen Avey
‘Mother’s Day’ by Liz Verlander
‘My Hair Is My Power’ by Rosie Bergonzi
‘Nightsingers’ by Dave Wynne-Jones
‘Ohana’ by Ellie Herda-Grimwood
‘Our Family Scrapbook’ by Erin Gannon
‘Our Kitchen’ by Rachel Robertson
‘Rebel Yell’ by Jazz McCoull
‘Redland Green’ by Dominic James
‘Sitting on a Bench, Waiting’ by Steve Denehan
‘Sitting on Your Bed’ by Ginger
‘Styx’ by Jayant Kashyap
‘Teeth Removal Can Be Fun, Sometimes’ by Rush Day
‘The Borrowed One’ by Hélène Le Bohec
‘The Campouts’ by Cyrus Larcombe Moore
‘The Collective Woman’ by Fiona Hatch
‘The Council Estate’ by Linda M.
‘The Earthquake’ by David Holper
‘The Historian Misremembers’ by Abu Bakr Sadiq
‘The Home Infestations and My Father’s Trip to Idaho’ by Maddie Malone
‘The Lost Music of Ifẹ̀’ by Emmanuella Oyinkansola Adewole
‘The Old Man and the Violin’ by Catherine Edmunds
‘The Revolution Will Be Feathered, Sequined, Butch…’ by A.G. Parker
‘The Salt Farmers’ by Sally Tate
‘The Singer’ by Niam Moore
‘The Venus of Renancourt’ by James O’Hara-Knight
‘Things Have Changed’ by Akshata
‘Three Decades Old’ by L.G.T.
‘We Pictured it Sunny’ by Naomi Dean
‘Weirdos’ by Emilio D. Puerta
‘What Really Matters’ by Ronita Chattopadhyay
‘When I Ask Ammā to Sponsor Me for Pride Run 10K’ by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan
‘When You Were (Before I Was)’ by Vijaya Venkatesan
‘Wielkanoc’ by Beatrix Hart
‘Xuēlóu, Hénán 2021’ by Mea Andrews
‘Yellow’ by Yong Takahashi
‘You (A Puddle)’ by Tom Chachewitz

Shortlist

‘A Memoirist Asks What Desert I Will Have to Enter to Tell My Story’ by Ivy Raff
‘A Return’ by Michele Clement
‘A Speech on How to Knot a Hausa Tongue’ by Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi
‘A Three-Foot-Wide Dream’ by Anne Marie Wells
‘At 1 a.m. on the 6th of March’ by Connor Johnston
‘Bad Indian’ by Srishti Jain
‘Beautiful Apostate’ by Bek King
‘Birthright’ by Jessie Lee
‘Blood Orange’ by Caoimhe Matthews
‘Breaking Ground’ by Jean Gillespie
‘Can You Spell That For Me?’ by Roisin Harkin
‘Carbon Slowly Turning’ by Steve Baggs
‘Carried’ by Dianne McPhelim
‘Chain of Supply’ by Benedict Hangiriza
‘Diagnostic, AB Form’ by Helen Chen
‘Domestic Bliss’ by Ilisha Thiru Purcell
‘Double English’ by Stuart Wrigley
‘Down to the Sea at Malaga’ by Rosalie Alston
‘Drop In’ by Thea Smiley
‘Earthstruck’ by Junyi Chew
‘Elegy for Great Aunt Trudy’ by Renee Emerson
‘Fable’ by Naoise Gale
‘Family Trees’ by Daphne Sampson
‘Generational Trauma’ by Inga Piotrowska
‘Hades’ by Elizabeth Train-Brown
‘Here’s to Us Spanglish Kids’ by M.A. Dubbs
‘Hiraeth’ by Sam Szanto
‘His Shoes’ by Deborah Gaudin
‘History Baked in a Hot Oven’ by Caroline Bracken
‘I Think I Might Be Human’ by Kay Saunders
‘Journeyman’ by Oz Hardwick
‘Last Supper 1993’ by Mariyam Karolia
‘Laundry Litany’ by A.W. Earl
‘Letterfall’ by Utsuk Upreti
‘Lovesong’ by Alyson Smith
‘Ma, Your Little Girl Is Becoming a Planet’ by Fedora Mensah
‘Ohana’ by Ellie Herda-Grimwood
‘Our Family Scrapbook’ by Erin Gannon
‘Our Kitchen’ by Rachel Robertson
‘Rebel Yell’ by Jazz McCoull
‘Sitting on a Bench, Waiting’ by Steve Denehan
‘Sitting on Your Bed’ by Ginger
‘Styx’ by Jayant Kashyap
‘Teeth Removal Can Be Fun, Sometimes’ by Rush Day
‘The Old Man and the Violin’ by Catherine Edmunds
‘The Singer’ by Niam Moore
‘We Pictured it Sunny’ by Naomi Dean
‘When I Ask Ammā to Sponsor Me for Pride Run 10K’ by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan
‘When You Were (Before I Was)’ by Vijaya Venkatesan
‘Xuēlóu, Hénán 2021’ by Mea Andrews
‘You (A Puddle)’ by Tom Chachewitz

Winners

First place

‘History Baked in a Hot Oven’ by Caroline Bracken

Runner-up

‘Carried’ by Dianne McPhelim

Special mentions from the judges

‘At 1 a.m. on the 6th of March’ by Connor Johnston (special mention from Miriam Halahmy)
‘A Three-Foot-Wide Dream’ by Anne Marie Wells (special mention from Tom Denbigh)
‘A Memoirist Asks What Desert I Will Have to Enter to Tell My Story’ by Ivy Raff (special mention from Reshma Ruia)
‘Styx’ by Jayant Kashyap (special mention from Will Dady)