Alan Buckley book launch: “Still”

On 25 July at 7.30pm in The Community Works, we’ll celebrate the publication of Still, the second full poetry collection by Alan Buckley.

Still has its origins in the third lockdown of January 2021, when Alan began writing short, tightly structured poems during – and prompted by – his daily walk from East Oxford’s Marsh Park to the Lye Valley nature reserve. The apparently narrow focus of these poems belies their scope and ambition, as Still repeatedly shows the reader that “nothing is too mundane / to be transformed.” There’ll also be guest readings from OPL regulars Carl Tomlinson and Zoe Olivia Brown, and the evening will be hosted by Sophia Blackwell, who played a big part in Oxford’s spoken word scene back in the noughties.

Tickets are £5 each (£2 concessions) – book here to avoid disappointment! The building is accessible, but if you have any specific access needs, please drop us an email at oxfordpoetrylibrary@gmail.com beforehand. Doors will open at 7.00pm.

Still has already been gathering praise ahead of its publication in July by Blue Diode Press, an independent poetry publisher based in Edinburgh:

Still asks the reader to notice the ordinary moments that often contain profound connection – human to human, human to the natural world, and that human observing the natural world interacting with itself… I found myself reaching for these poems again and again as a reminder of how to see magic in the ordinary world that I might “otherwise have missed,” and how often it’s those small encounters that save us “when nothing else / will.”

– Marjorie Lotfi

Alan Buckley is one of those secret gems of UK poetry whose work can’t help but grow and grow in stature. His latest book is a truly virtuoso performance – an entire collection written in an entirely new form. These ‘douzaines’ are crammed with incident and insight. They are vital, enthralling waymarkers on a path we can’t help but follow, through landscape, through time, towards ourselves. 

– John Glenday

A little more about the readers:

Sophia Blackwell is the author of five books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, including The Fire-Eater’s Lover and The Other Woman, which was longlisted for the Polari Prize, from Burning Eye Books. Her most recent book, The Poetry Writers’ Handbook, was published by Bloomsbury in 2022.

Carl Tomlinson lives on a smallholding in Oxfordshire. His poems have appeared in Orbis, South, Spelt, The High Window, The Alchemy Spoon and several anthologies. His debut pamphlet, Changing Places was published in 2021 by Fair Acre Press.

Zoe Olivia Brown is a poet and biologist from The Bahamas, currently based in Oxford as she pursues her PhD. She writes poetry rooted in her personal experiences, exploring themes of identity, place, human connection, and the heart.

Alan Buckley is the author of two pamphlets (Shiver and The Long Haul), and the full collections Touched (HappenStance 2020), and Still (Blue Diode Press 2025). His poems have been highly commended in the Forward and Bridport prizes. He was a founding editor of the award-winning pamphlet publisher ignitionpress, and has taught creative writing to young people with both First Story and Arvon. He lives in Oxford, where he also works as a psychotherapist.