C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor

Winner of the T S Eliot Prize 2022  & Polari Book Prize
 
A new  poetry collection from UK Slam Poetry champion, Joelle Taylor...
 
The female body is a political space.
 
C+nto enters the private lives of women from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests they led in the ‘90s to reclaim their bodies as their own – their difficult balance between survival and self-expression. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor’s cantos to uncover these underground communities forged by women.
Part-memoir and part-conjecture, Taylor explores sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate. C+nto is a love poem, a riot, a late night and an honouring.
 
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‘This writing is visionary – I was taken to the heart of a dense poetic history, saw every image as though I were living it. What a powerful thing to experience in a book. I loved it.’  - Hollie McNish
 
‘C+nto is the best of hybrids. A reclamation and a proclamation. A book and a performance. A roll call and a remembrance. A tribute and a critique, not just for the Lesbian community, but for anyone who has had to struggle to establish their life and identity. A powerful celebration of an important culture.’  - Roger Robinson
 
‘C+nto is an altar of a book. These halting and haunting stories of loss, battle, love and survival offer an ebullient doorway into a fragile world. Joelle Taylor has an unmatched gift as a poet, memoirist and chronicler.'  - Inua Ellams