Aidan Semmens
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​Winner of the Scottish Poetry Library's
​Julia Budenz Commemorative Prize
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and 2024 Mallaig Book Festival Deirdre Roberts Prize 

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Featured in the relaunch of Salt Publishing's
Salt Modern Poets series, October 2022

THE JAZZ AGE
An entertainment

by Aidan Semmens



This startling collection is a sequence of surreal fantasies in which famous figures from (mostly) the past – sometimes singly, sometimes in unlikely pairings – make incongruous, anachronistic appearances in modern settings and situations, or in episodes from times not their own. Incongruous and laugh-out-loud funny, the poems delight the reader, yet much darker elements are at play.
Available now from Salt Publishing

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 "Textures that constantly engage and surprise and read as inevitably and unpredictably as a Coltrane solo" — Tony Baker

"laugh-out-loud funny" — Chris Hamilton-Emery

"The Jazz Age is a terrific book" — John Matthias

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Praise for Aidan's previous book,
There Will Be Singing (Shearsman Books 2020)


“There’s an exuberance of the poet in full stride. Typically, the phrasing and imagery are seductive and of the physical world being lived. Learning is carried lightly, erudition not pushed at the reader but drawn into the lyricism.” — Kelvin Corcoran


“thoughtful and stimulating ... a fascinating book which I’m sure you’ll want to read more than once” — Steve Spence in Stride magazine

“I devoured it in a single sitting. Now I'm reading it again, one poem a night, to savour what you have achieved.” — Brian Marley

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Also available:
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Life Has Become More Cheerful

​A fragmented account of the Russian Revolution and how it changed the world

My family's part in the Russian Revolution: i newspaper feature  >
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other books

books by Aidan Semmens

photos

photos by Aidan Semmens
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