Isabelle Kenyon

Isabelle Kenyon is a Northern poet and author of five chapbooks. She is the editor of Fly on the Wall Press, a socially conscious small press for chapbooks and anthologies. Her 2020 books are with Indigo Dreams ('Growing Pains') and Wild Pressed Books (short story 'The Town Talks'). She was shortlisted for the Streetcake Experimental Writing Prize 2019 and for the Lichfield Cathedral Competition 2019.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

The Long Take by Robin Robertson and The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee. Unfortunately, both of which I am only vaguely enjoying in which I picked up because of the prizes they had been shortlisted for… I think the problem is I don’t really care about any of the characters!

A book you loved reading at a child.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funk: Meg’s dad has the ability to read characters from books into living in the real world which causes complications when the villains come out of certain books…

A book you have given as a gift / recommended to a friend.

The short story collection The Thing Around Her Neck (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) for her excellent storytelling, and Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy, because the arguments and the insights into Muslim cultures around the world and how Muslim women live there was enlightening.

The first and last books on your bookcase/shelf.

Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo, and 30 Clouds by George Szirtes and Clarissa Upchurch.

A book that you feel is underrated and deserves more attention.

The First Bad Man by Miranda July – we need more weird books with unreliable narrators!