Poetry

‘January’, my poetry collection  published by Maytree Press, November 2020, ISBN 9781913508104

‘Sarah Barr’s subtle and refined poems probe, examining what lies concealed, as though by ice and snow, or fog. ‘ Annie Fisher, Sphinx, Happenstance Press

‘I think it’s a very good collection. I love the cold thread running through – the idea that a temperature could serve as a unifying theme, signalled, of course, by the title. I like how ice appears in different and surprising guises – like in the ice-making compartment of the fridge! Then I feel a softening, a melting perhaps, in the collection at the poem Reservoir and a deepening into nature and the nature of relationships – rain, orchids, earwigs -‘ Greta Stoddart

‘January is a varied, accessible collection of poems filled with understated emotions from a writer who is practised and confident in handling the profound with a light touch.’  Emma Storr, London Grip

‘Simple phrasing holds carefully nuanced images: the menace of cracking ice, a long-married couple surrounded by ‘masks / and stiff-limbed, velvet-dressed dolls.’ The writing carries on unfolding inside the reader long after their eyes have left the page.’ John McCullough

My poems are published in magazines, newspapers, anthologies and collections including in: The Best New British and Irish Poets 2019-2021; The Frogmore Papers; The Bridport Prize Anthologies 2010 and 2016; South; The Interpreter’s House; Poems in the Waiting Room; The New European; Other Poetry;  collections from Templar  and Emma Press. My poetry has appeared in various ezines, including The Poetry Village;  Meniscus; And Other Poems;  Ink, Sweat and Tears, and Snakeskin; online on the Poetry Society website.

Among the prizes won by my poems are first in the Frogmore Poetry Prize 2015 and the National Memory Day poetry competition 2018, second in the Poetry on the Lake competition  2018, and placed in the Bridport Prize 2010 and 2016.

My writing for children has appeared in various publications, including The Caterpillar.

I was the selected poet for South poetry magazine issue 43, profile written by poet Paul Hyland.

I give readings at festivals, book launches, arts centres, and for groups, most recently performing in February 2020 at Evershot in The Beginning of Spring celebration with Annie Freud.

@saraharsteele

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