Shortlisted for the Forward Prize Best First Collection 2023 The poems in Cowboy are knowing, millennial, internet-sick, funny, with deep undercurrents: of embodied and disembodied spiritualities; of the knowledge of animals; of familial mythologies; of grief and longing; of autism and navigating diagnoses; of early and enduring disappointment; of the wildness underneath the smooth glass-and-chrome surfaces of contemporary life. The echo of a question permeates the collection - where does a person grow up? - moving restlessly between rural Wales, London and the American South; between the esoteric spaces of the internet; between the artlessness of childhood and adolescence transfigured inexplicably into a disquieting adulthood, with its attendant weirdness of rent-paying, cohabiting, the churn of mindless work and alienation. The generous abundance of Cowboy's references - memes, early noughties television shows, pop songs, cities and their suburbs, video games - bring anxiety and pressure, joy and glory to this singularly impressive debut.

The wildness and alienation of our contemporary anxieties - diagnoses, spiritualities, memes and mythologies - bring complexity and vitality to this impressive debut.

About the Author
Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and artist of Canadian, Jamaican, Saltwater-Geechee and Welsh heritage. She is an editor at bath magg. In 2021, she was an Eric Gregory Award recipient and the winner of The White Review Poet's Prize. A poetry pamphlet, Kaleido, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022. Cowboy is her first book. She lives in London.

Reviews
A collection of great promise that captures the exhilaration of being young. * Sunday Times *
This debut is hilarious, moving and dazzlingly new ... Cowboy marks the entry of a significant and exciting new voice into British poetry. -- Rebecca Tamas * The Guardian *
A truly dazzling debut, full of utterly inventive and original work ... Walker's voice is at once razor sharp and enigmatic, a sophisticated blend of control and swagger that gives the collection an assurance beyond its years. * Jane Yeh *
A phenomenal debut. Walker's voice speaks so sharply not just to this generation but also to generations past and to whatever will follow. * Gboyega Odubanjo *
Cowboy is breathtaking in its depth, rootedness and conjurings ... Kandace Siobhan Walker's exquisite touch both harnesses and transforms tradition. Certainly one of the best poets of her generation. * Lillian Allen, Poet Laureate of Toronto *
Electrifying, shocking even .. attuned precisely to the slippery present moment, reminding us that a poem might awaken something important or urgent within. * Richard Scott *



Book Information
ISBN 9781800818149
Author Kandace Siobhan Walker
Format Paperback
Page Count 80
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 110g
Dimensions(mm) 122mm * 191mm * 5mm