Marvin Thompson and Zoë Brigley have been appointed by Poetry Wales as the magazine’s first joint editors.
Marvin Thompson and Zoë Brigley are the newest and first poets to join Poetry Wales as joint editors to the magazine. Their first official issue as joint editors will be published March 2022.
Thompson was born in London and now lives in south Wales as a writer, teacher and filmmaker. His debut collection Road Trip (Peepal Tree Press, 2020) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was selected by the Poetry Society as one of five Black Lives Matter Inspiration books in June 2020. This year, he was chosen as the winner of The National Poetry Competition.
Thompson wrote: “I am overjoyed to be appointed as the new editor of Poetry Wales with Zoë Brigley. What this says about Poetry Wales as an institution is massive. Championing diversity goes beyond performative acts such as black squares on Instagram. Part of fighting for a more inclusive world is providing equal opportunities. This is what Poetry Wales afforded me. I now stand as the first editor of colour to work for this illustrious journal. As always, I dedicate my success to my parents, my partner and my Dual Heritage paternal children and step-children. With Zoë, I look forward to promoting poets from under-represented backgrounds. We will work hard to highlight issues of equality and ecology for Wales and the wider world.”
Brigley is assistant professor in English and Sexuality Studies at the Ohio State University and the author of three books of poetry: Hand & Skull (2019), Conquest (2012), and The Secret (2007), all published by Bloodaxe. She is also co-editor of a new anthology of poetry, 100 Poems to Save the Earth (Seren, 2021).
“It is an incredible honour for me to edit Poetry Wales with Marvin – the magazine that I first published a poem in when I was just 18,” wrote Brigley. “Poetry Wales will continue to be a necessary and important space for Welsh writers, including Welsh working class poetry, and innovative writing. We also want Poetry Wales to be a magazine of choice for writers who have traditionally been under-represented, and a key space for beginning writers to find resources and advice. […] Poetry Wales will also be engaging with one of the greatest struggles of our times – the fight to prevent climate disaster.”
To find out more about Poetry Wales, visit their website.
