On today’s episode of The Poems We Made Along the Way Gregory Kearns speaks to Natalie Shapero about line breaks, stand up comedy and only writing in iambic pentameter for the first 7 years of being a poet.

Natalie Shapero is a poet and teacher. Her most recent collection is Stay Dead published in the UK by Outspoken Press and in the US by Copper Canyon Press. And of course it was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Her previous collections include Popular Longing, Hard Child and No Object. She teaches at UC Irvine.

Thank you to the T.S. Eliot Prize for facilitating this episode as part of a series of interviews with poets shortlisted for the 2025 prize. www.tseliot.com/prize/prize-year/the-t-s-eliot-prize-2025/        

Books and other things

Stay Dead: https://www.outspokenldn.com/shop/staydead

Popular Longing: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/popular-longing-by-natalie-shapero/

Hard Child: https://www.powells.com/book/hard-child-9781556595097

No Object: https://www.powells.com/book/no-object-9780983368670

You can also use our affiliate link for Bookshop to find most of the books by most of the guests from the show. They are organised into lists for each series. If you use this link, we get a fraction of the money you spend: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/series-five-the-poems-we-made-along-the-way            

We’d also recommend enquiring with your local bookshops or libraries as well.

Things to read/watch/listen/etc in relationship to this interview:

Natalie Shapero talks about her work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWAiZLPfoME

Natalie Shapero Drunk as a Poet: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/natalie-shapero/id1735261299?i=1000731801211

The Usual

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Theme tune: Joe Chesterman-March who can be found here: https://joecm.co.uk    

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