The collections of three award-winning Manchester Met poets have been singled out in The Guardian’s latest Poetry Review Roundup, which highlights the most notable recent poetry in the UK.
‘Spellbinding’, ‘deeply felt’ and ‘Midas-like’ were some of the accolades given to new work by Prof Jean Sprackland, Dr Kim Moore and Prof Michael Symmons Roberts in the review published this weekend.
Due to launch at Manchester Met’s Manchester Poetry Library on May 28, Prof Sprackland’s sixth collection, Goyle, Chert, Mire was described by Guardian reviewer and poet, novelist and critic Kit Fan as ‘a profound, enduring collection’.
A Professor of Creative Writing at Manchester Met’s Manchester Writing School and highly acclaimed poet, Sprackland tackles themes of place, time, illness and recovery in her new collection, with each poem shaped by her local landscape.
Praised for its ‘disciplined response to illness and dissolution’, the collection is noted for its interwoven sonnet sequences and its engagement with nature and language.
Renowned Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Dr Kim Moore’s The House of Broken Things, meanwhile, is recognised for its ambition and emotional directness in its exploration of intergenerational trauma and motherhood.
With one poem described as ‘literary inheritance meets bodily terror’, the collection is noted for its unflinching portrayal of childbirth, motherhood and vulnerability. It is an achievement that follows multiple successes including her 2022 Forward Prize for Poetry award for her anthology All the Men I Never Married.
Included among The Guardian’s standout publications is Professor of Poetry Michael Symmons Roberts’ Dog Star, a collection recently launched at Manchester Poetry Library and which explores society’s increasingly turbulent relationship with nature. It was praised in the review for its ‘sure-footed confidence’, ‘Midas-like gift for metamorphosis’ and ‘urgent new energy’.
A fellow prize-winning poet, Prof Symmons Roberts has written nine poetry collections and multiple dramas and documentaries for radio, including for the BBC’s centenary year.
The triple Guardian recognition comes at an important time for Manchester Met’s poetry community at Manchester Poetry Library. In addition to Prof Sprackland’s collection launch on May 28, Dr Moore will launch The House of Broken Thingson May 7, giving audiences the opportunity to hear her ‘in conversation’ with fellow Manchester Met senior lecturer and acclaimed writer Dr Malika Booker.
Manchester Poetry Library’s summer exhibition Elemental, meanwhile, will be curated by Prof Sprackland and will focus on her poetry collection. Incorporating physical elements of the landscape in the poems such as rock, water, wind, mud, hill and ditch, the free exhibition will be open to the public from April 20 until October 31 2026.
The full Guardian Poetry Review Roundup can be read here.
More information on upcoming free events at Manchester Poetry Library can be found in their spring 2026 programme here.
