Judges’ Comments

A relatively new press on the scene, Broken Sleep Books storms onto this years shortlist not simply because of the quantity of its submissions (which is substantial) but the quality of that quantity. Here is an editorial hand and eye that seems to do right by its incredibly diverse authors. The books are marked by a kind of verve and vivacity – poets willing to risk a bit more, to say things a little louder, and an editorial hand that doesn’t unduly restrain but allows the diversity of voices and poetics to beautifully and elegantly be.