Penelope Shuttle Readings
‘The capacious and playful latest from Shuttle (Lyonesse) offers twin poles of memory and imagination, taking place in part among the scenes, recollections, and visions of childhood […] She captures the blending of love and loss, of personal grief and environmental anxiety, that comes with growing up […] Quietly witty and slyly allusive, this dispenses poignant reflections on the poet’s personal history.’ – Publishers Weekly, on History of the Child
Penelope Shuttle's latest collection History of the Child is published by Bloodaxe in February 2026. History of the Child is a highly evocative exploration of childhood, memory, and imagination, blending personal and historical perspectives. The book’s themes include parenting, grief, nature, emotional recovery and connections to the past, guided by the idea of childhood as a transformative and rebellious space.
Her previous collection Redgrove’s Wife was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2006. Sandgrain and Hourglass (2010) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her retrospective, Unsent: New & Selected Poems 1980-2012 (Bloodaxe Books, 2012), drew on ten collections published over three decades plus the title-collection, Unsent. Her later collections from Bloodaxe are Will you walk a little faster? (2017), her double collection Lyonesse (2021), longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2022, and History of the Child (2026). Heath, a collaboration about Hounslow Heath with John Greening, was published by Nine Arches in 2016.
First published as a novelist, her fiction includes All the Usual Hours of Sleeping (1969), Wailing Monkey Embracing a Tree (1973) and Rainsplitter in the Zodiac Garden (1977). Penelope Shuttle has lived in Cornwall since 1970, is the widow of the poet Peter Redgrove, and has a grown-up daughter Zoe, who works in the field of sustainable energy.
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The Publishers Weekly review of 7 January 2026 can be read in full here. History of the Child will be distributed in the US by Consortium Book Sales from 15 April 2026.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday 26 May, 7.30-10pm, Uncut Poets, Exeter
Penelope Shuttle will be guest poet at Uncut Poets' monthly poetry night on 26 May. Hosted by Chrissy Banks and Matt Bryden. Plus open mic.
Tuesday 30 June, 8pm, Ledbury Poetry Festival
History of the Child: Penelope Shuttle
Burgage Hall
Tickets: £14
Moving through childhood, grief, nature, and imagination in four interconnected sequences, Penelope Shuttle’s latest collection History of the Child moves from historical and mythic figures to intimate reflections on Shuttle’s own childhood. Shuttle will be reading a selection of poems from this powerful new collection and will be joined on stage in conversation with Neil Astley (editor and founder of Bloodaxe Books). Hold tight – foreboding, magic, history and humour abound.
Booking details: https://ledburypoetry.org.uk/home/whats-on/
PAST EVENTS
Tuesday 24 February 2026, 7pm - YouTube
Online launch reading by Polly Clark, Cathy Galvin and Penelope Shuttle
Polly Clark, Cathy Galvin and Penelope Shuttle joined Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley for this launch event for our new February titles. All three poets will be celebrated the publication of their new books by reading live and discussing their work.
This free Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available on this YouTube page: https://youtube.com/live/XA38CZZs9yE.
Thursday 7 April 2022 (online)
Lyonesse: An Interview For Fire River Poets with Penelope Shuttle
Penelope Shuttle read and was interviewed in a Fire River Poets online event. A transcript of the interview can be read here.
Tuesday 22 June 2021, joint live-streamed launch event hosted by Bloodaxe Books
This wonderful joint launch reading by Penelope Shuttle, A.B. Jackson and John Challis celebrating the publication of their new poetry collections was live streamed on 22 June 2021. The audience was taken on a journey under the sea to the submerged land of Lyonesse with Penelope Shuttle, over the ocean with A B Jackson's The Voyage of St Brendan, and both underground and overground in London with John Challis in his debut The Resurrectionists.
The event was hosted by editor Neil Astley from his home in Northumberland. Penelope joined from her home in Falmouth, John from Whitley Bay, and Scottish poet A B Jackson from his home in Leeds. Their collections are all published on 24 June 2021 by Bloodaxe Books - all three are 'making something new out of things that have been lost', as Penelope put it.
John Challis read first in each set, followed by Penelope, then A B Jackson. The readings were followed by discussion and Q&A with the online audience. All three books explore the past in one form or another - 'archaeology by verse', according to one audience member.
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Penelope Shuttle was a guest on the Irish podcast Books for Breakfast, hosted by poets Peter Sirr and Enda Wyley, on 10 June 2021. She was talking to Peter about her 13th collection Lyonesse, and read four poems from the book. Penelope is introduced at 23:00. Listen to the interview here.
An in-depth interview with Penelope Shuttle about Lyonesse is online at Wombwell Rainbow Book Reviews here. Penelope was speaking to Paul Brookes.
Lyonesse was featured as The Observer's Poetry Book of the Month for July 2021.
‘Combining two collections in one, the veteran poet immerses us in a mythical kingdom in this extraordinary flow of work’ Read the review in full here.
Penelope Shuttle's 'wonderful 13th collection' Lyonesse was reviewed in The Guardian here.
Lyonesse was reviewed in the second of Mab Jones’ round ups of new independently-published poetry in the Welsh magazine Buzz. Read online here.
‘Fluid, thoughtful, and full of imagination, this is quite simply a must-read.’ – Mab Jones, Buzz Magazine
[05 February 2026]
