Sophia Blackwell's new collection, The Fire-Eater's Lover, is about performance of all kinds. Whether it's the rituals of seduction, the trials and triumphs of squeezing into a red vintage dress or the adrenalin of putting a microphone to your lips, these poems are filled with the joy of performing. The Fire-Eater's Lover conjures together scraps of everything from classic blues songs to job rejection letters, marriage proposals and medical questionnaires, and whips them into a circus of illicit sex, love lost and found, bittersweet goodbyes and moments of illumination.

Poetry is increasingly democratic in its use of different formats, but it can be difficult to know how to navigate the range of options available. In a competitive field, this information is not always easy to access, and many poets make mistakes. This handbook is here to help. How do you make the finances work? Should you release a pamphlet or a full collection? Which promoters should you work with? How can you get your work reviewed? How do you maintain a public profile if performance isn't for you? What mentoring and publication options are open for mid-career poets? The Poetry Writers' Handbook will answer all these questions and more. It provides: - practical advice on managing income and funding a career - detailed information on printing and distribution, marketing and publicity, and submission to editors, reviewers and prizes - up-to-date contacts for funding organisations, prizes, publishers and magazines for poets and their work. It gives a clear and up-to-date picture of what poets should focus on at different stages in their career.

In her third collection, acclaimed performance poet Sophia Blackwell explores connections, relationships and journeys, and celebrates their importance in a divided world. From Brighton, Paris and the Edinburgh Fringe to Amsterdam, Australia and outer space, The Other Woman maps women's journeys through time and geography, exploring identities, bloodlines, buried pasts and alternative futures, ending up somewhere new and different - the country of marriage.