**SHORTLISTED FOR THE T. S. ELIOT PRIZE**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE SEAMUS HEANEY FIRST COLLECTION PRIZE**

'Fresh, urgent, alive... genius' PATIENCE AGBABI

This assured and arresting first collection moves deftly and with purpose into private, hidden places - a locked shed, the dark of a battery farm, a murky riverbed, a late-night bar - to show, unflinchingly and in cinematic detail, what we might otherwise choose not to see. Sight is both a gift and curse, of course: given or taken away in poems of windows and curtains, torches and blindfolds, and yet here - following in the tradition of Oswald and Heaney - each image is freshly minted through a cool, objective eye.

Every poem seeks to inhabit those seemingly small but pivotal moments which have monumental, sometimes mortal, consequences. For Pajak, time is fluid: a blink can be 'slow as an eclipse', our lifetimes are fleeting, our deaths often lingering and seldom peaceful or painless.

Vivid and visceral, steadily examining violence, sexual encounters, childhood and ageing (a dying grandmother's 'slow pink eyelids, those quick teaspoon breaths'), cars and cities, and Nature - full of wonder and threat - Slide is always asking pertinent questions: illuminating brutality, frailty and tenderness, the responsibility of those who witness - whether voyeur, bystander or reader. This is a charged, beautifully observed and thrilling debut.

About the Author
Mark Pajak was born in Merseyside in 1987. His work has received a Northern Writers' Award, a Society of Authors' Grant, an Eric Gregory Award and a UNESCO international writing residency. Slide was shortlisted for both the T.S. Eliot Prize and the John Pollard International Poetry Prize and won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize.

Reviews
Every spare word has been stripped ... Slide is the most polished debut here. * Daily Telegraph, *2022 TS Eliot Prize Shortlist* *
Mark Pajak's debut does not read like a debut: there is no fumbling beginner's luck, no rough moments or threadbare patches - it's polished craftsmanship throughout is striking... Slide deserves to be a blazing success. * Observer, *Poetry Book of the Month* *
[A] poised and visceral debut... Pajak's writing pulses with a rhythmic intensity which compels the reader not to look away. * Guardian *
A tremendously empathetic book, it is full of compassion for people and animals, whose pain is felt vividly... Unlike so many hyped debut collections, Slide more than lives up to readers' expectations. * Times Literary Supplement *
Mark Pajak's skillful poems keep themselves open, especially to childhood and adolescent experience. Even so, they are far from frail - their insight and imaginative verve make them robust as well as eloquent. -- Carol Ann Duffy



Book Information
ISBN 9781787330313
Author Mark Pajak
Format Paperback
Page Count 80
Imprint Jonathan Cape Ltd
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 100g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 132mm * 14mm