Lawrence Sail Launch Readings
'There is a shimmering quality to Sail’s sensibility which moves easily between sharply focused observations of the particulars of object and place, the play of light on the locally loved and known, and a constant alertness to larger climates and movements…close and subtle looking and a rich, playful use of language are the tools by which discoveries are made.' – Peter Scupham, PN Review
Lawrence Sail's latest collection Double Takes is published by Bloodaxe Books in June 2026. His collection's title reflects the poems’ central concern with many aspects of duality – whether manifested in the context of human relations, translations, ‘the moment saved from time’ or the touchstone of mortality. In some instances, juxtapositions and counterpoints bring affinities to light; in others, distance and difference. A number of the poems address the political and the public: the plight of refugees, a photo of Putin beside Gorbachev’s coffin, Brecht’s take on the ways of the world. Others confront the hard consequences of illness.
Lawrence Sail was born in London and brought up in Exeter. He studied French and German at Oxford University, then taught for some years in Kenya, before returning to teach in the UK. He is now a freelance writer and lives in Exeter. His retrospective, Waking Dreams: New & Selected Poems, a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation, was published by Bloodaxe in 2010, and followed by his later collections The Quick (2015) and Guises (2020).
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday 30 June, 6.30pm
Exeter launch of Double Takes
Waterstones, 252 High St, Exeter EX4 3PZ
Lawrence Sail will be reading from his new poetry collection Double Takes.
Complimentary glass of wine/soft drink in the interval.
Tickets: £5 (£3 for Waterstones Card holders)
More details and booking here.
Friday 2 October
Reading at Two Moors Festival (Devon and Somerset)
Lawrence will be reading from Double Takes alongside Julia Copus.
Further details TBC
PAST EVENTS
JOINT ONLINE LAUNCH
Tuesday 23 June 2026 - Online launch event with John Challis, Frank Ormsby and Lawrence Sail
Joint online launch event for new June 2026 titles by John Challis, Frank Ormsby and Lawrence Sail. All three poets celebrated the publication of their new books, with John Challis and Lawrence Sail by reading live from their books. Frank Ormsby draws on his experience of living with Parkinson's Disease in his recent work and is unable to take part, but has been able to make audio recordings to be played during this event with screen-shared poems from his book.
The post-reading discussion with the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley, featured John Challis and Lawrence Sail along with Frank Ormsby's friend, the writer and broadcaster Malachi O'Doherty, who made the audio recordings.
This free Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available below and on this YouTube page: https://youtube.com/live/6OitDbheZ8A
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Lawrence Sail and host Julia Copus discussed two classic poems by Emily Dickinson - ‘I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -’ and ‘I could die - to know -', in the Royal Literary Fund's Poetry Break series, released 17 November 2022. Listen via the RLF website here.
His article ‘The Third Foot: Writers on Ageing’, released on 24 October 2022, can be read on the RLF website here.
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Ahead of the book launch for Guises, Literature Works asked Neil Astley of Bloodaxe Books to write a short piece about Lawrence Sail's poetry.
'Lawrence Sail’s poems balance dream and history, delight and unease: they weigh the art of the possible against the encroachment of time. His characteristic themes are the border country between belief and doubt; the interplay of memory and imagination; the possibilities of art; and the context of silence. Attentive to the often alluring details of the material and natural world, many of them reflecting a lifelong love of the sea, his poems also contemplate the relationship between appearance and essence.'
Read the full piece here: https://literatureworks.org.uk/features/on-the-poetry-of-lawrence-sail-by-bloodaxe-books-editor-neil-astley/
[05 June 2026]
