Small Hands by Mona Arshi Helen Mort wandering clerics of the Middle

wandering clerics of the Middle Ages

and a generous selection from the work of Máirtín Ó Direáin

His broad range and eye for the particular combine to make this an exceptional collection

Julia Bird's poems are beautifully textured

Will Harris

Small Hands by Mona Arshi Helen Mort wandering clerics of the MiddleWinner of the 2015 Forward Prize for Best First Collection Mona Arshis debut collection, 'Small Hands', introduces a brilliant and compelling new voice. At the centre of the book is the slow detonation of grief after her brothers death but her work focuses on the whole variety of human experience: pleasure, hardship, tradition, energised by language which is in turn both tender and risky. Often startling as well as lyrical, Arshis poems resist fixity;