... To Denise Riley is a transnational and transgenerational poetry anthology to celebrate the work, contribution, and influence of one of our major poets and foremost philosophers, Denise Riley. It includes work from ninety-four authors; each has gifted an individual contribution inspired by Riley’s work in some form, be it in the fields of art history, political philosophy, poetics or creative writing; all are offered in tribute to the different spaces and ways in which Riley's work opens new possibilities for its readers.
The book has been prepared as a surprise collective gift by editors, Ágnes Lehóczky and Zoë Skoulding, and publisher, Boiler House Press. Announced to coincide with her 70th birthday, it was presented at an event in her honour in April, 2018. It is available now for friends and fans who would also like to 'give something back': proceeds will be donated to a charity of Riley's choosing.
In many ways our problem is an indefinable or a bizarre one: how to point at someone who prefers anonymity. How does one adequately address, without drawing unwanted attention to one’s addressee? How can we celebrate the work of our contemporary when she rejects any self-promotion, shuns (self-)publicity, loathes public attention or exposure? Her principle still firmly stands with an echo in all our collective hearing: "Who anyone is or I am is nothing to the work..." because, despite all one’s personal sorrows and private catastrophes, or one’s own disappointments or even pleasures in the world, it is ‘language’ which ‘speaks’ or dictates; or simply because:
"The writer / properly should be the last person that the reader or the listener need think about / yet the poet with her signature stands up trembling, grateful, mortally embarrassed / and especially embarrassing to herself, patting her hair and twittering If, if only / I need not have a physical appearance! To be sheer air, and mousseline!" (Riley, 'Dark Looks')
... from Ágnes Lehóczky's preface, 'In Defence of Paradoxes'.
Peter Gizzi • Wendy Mulford • Fanny Howe • Frances Presley • Allen Fisher • Amy De’Ath • George Szirtes • Sophie Robinson •Simon Smith •Alan Halsey • Geraldine Monk • Alice Notley • Kelvin Corcoran • Ken Edwards • Nick Totton • Michael Haslam • Peter Robinson • Scott Thurston • Oz Hardwick • John Hall •John James • Carol Watts • Peter Riley • Ralph Hawkins • Rebecca Tamás • Joe Dunthorne • Lisa Samuels • Meghan Purvis • Andrew Spragg • Thomas Lowenstein • Rod Mengham • Tim Atkins • Alex Houen • Nigel Wheale • Katy Evans-Bush • Simon Perril • Rosmarie Waldrop • Keith Waldrop • Emily Critchley • Peter Hughes • Amaan Hyder • Lyn Hejinian • Imogen Cassels • So Mayer • James Cummins • Juha Virtanen • Kyle Lovell • Adam Piette • Geoff Ward • Stephanie Burt • Nathan Hamilton • Tiffany Atkinson • Caleb Klaces • Sam Buchan-Watts • John Welch • Anna Selby • Martin Thom • Ben Borek • Rachel Warriner • Samuel Solomon • Tony Lopez • Vahni Capildeo • Linda Kemp • Jenna Butler • Edmund Hardy • Felicity Allen • J.T. Welsch • John Clegg • Carrie Etter • Harriet Tarlo • Colin Herd • Deryn Rees-Jones • David Herd • Jeff Hilson • Rachel Blau DuPlessis • Sarah Hesketh • Sarah Hayden • Wanda O’Connor • Kimberly Campanello • Emily Berry • Marianne Morris • Ian Davidson • Michael Kindellan • Rajiv Krishnan • Andrea Brady • Patricia Debney • Andrea Holland • Sophie Collins • Lila Matsumoto • Daniel Eltringham • Jeremy Harding • Lisa Robertson • Zoë Skoulding • Ágnes Lehóczky