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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Ground Water
Nominee:Guardian First Book Award -First Book (2004)
In this
sparkling debut, Matthew Hollis immerses us in the undercurrents of our
lives. Love and loss are buoyed by a house full of milk, an orchard
underwater, the laws of walking on water. Rainwater, floodwater, flux -
the liquid landscapes which shift relentlessly in Ground Water -
threaten and comfort by turns. Matthew Hollis's poems are brimming with
courage in adversity as well as the promise of renewal, culminating in a
powerful sequence about a father's struggle with terminal illness.
Matthew Hollis's first collection Ground Water was shortlisted
for the Guardian First Book Award, Whitbread Poetry Award and Forward
Prize for Best First Collection. His second collection, Earth House, followed in 2023.
Book Details
- Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
- Publish Date: Jan 29th, 2004
- Pages: 64
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.40in - 0.20in - 0.25lb
- EAN: 9781852246570
- Categories: • European - English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh• Subjects & Themes - Death, Grief, Loss• Subjects & Themes - Family
About the Author
Matthew Hollis was born in Norwich in 1971, and now lives in London. His debut Ground Water (Bloodaxe Books, 2004) was shortlisted for the Guardian
First Book Award, the Whitbread Poetry Award and the Forward Prize for
Best First Collection; it was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. He
is co-editor of Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry (Bloodaxe Books, 2000) and 101 Poems Against War (Faber & Faber, 2003), and editor of Selected Poems of Edward Thomas (Faber & Faber, 2011). Now All Roads Lead to France: the Last Years of Edward Thomas
(Faber & Faber, UK, 2011; Norton, US, 2012) won the Costa Biography
Award and the H. W. Fisher Biography Prize, was Radio 4 Book of the
Week and Sunday Times Biography of the Year. He has published the handmade and letterpress pamphlets Stones (Incline Press, 2016), East (Clutag Press, 2016), Leaves (Hazel Press, 2020) and Havener (Bonnefant Press, 2022). Leaves was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2021. He is the author of The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem
(Faber & Faber, UK, Norton, US, 2022). He was Poetry Editor at
Faber & Faber from 2012 to 2023. His second book-length collection, Earth House, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2023 and was longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2023.
First Book Award, the Whitbread Poetry Award and the Forward Prize for
Best First Collection; it was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. He
is co-editor of Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry (Bloodaxe Books, 2000) and 101 Poems Against War (Faber & Faber, 2003), and editor of Selected Poems of Edward Thomas (Faber & Faber, 2011). Now All Roads Lead to France: the Last Years of Edward Thomas
(Faber & Faber, UK, 2011; Norton, US, 2012) won the Costa Biography
Award and the H. W. Fisher Biography Prize, was Radio 4 Book of the
Week and Sunday Times Biography of the Year. He has published the handmade and letterpress pamphlets Stones (Incline Press, 2016), East (Clutag Press, 2016), Leaves (Hazel Press, 2020) and Havener (Bonnefant Press, 2022). Leaves was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award 2021. He is the author of The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem
(Faber & Faber, UK, Norton, US, 2022). He was Poetry Editor at
Faber & Faber from 2012 to 2023. His second book-length collection, Earth House, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2023 and was longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2023.
Praise for this book
An impressive debut...the metaphorical language is finely judged,
touching both the landscapes and the people crawling its surface with a
shrewd but never less than sympathetic gaze.-- D.J. Taylor, The Guardian
touching both the landscapes and the people crawling its surface with a
shrewd but never less than sympathetic gaze.-- D.J. Taylor, The Guardian
Matthew Hollis shows an impressive confidence in the promptings of the
imagination and no desire at all to ingratiate himself. Craft, not
attitude, is what counts. Poems are sometimes called "quiet" when really
they're inaudible. His are genuinely quiet, drawing in the ear to
enjoy, for example, his artful rendering in slowed folk-song rhythm of
the terror and excitement of floods.--Sean O'Brien, The Sunday Times
imagination and no desire at all to ingratiate himself. Craft, not
attitude, is what counts. Poems are sometimes called "quiet" when really
they're inaudible. His are genuinely quiet, drawing in the ear to
enjoy, for example, his artful rendering in slowed folk-song rhythm of
the terror and excitement of floods.--Sean O'Brien, The Sunday Times
Affecting, redolent with sorrow but resolutely tough-minded.--David Harsent, Poetry Book Society Bulletin