James Byrne
James Byrne (b 1977, UK) is a poet, editor and translator.
He was recognised by The Times as one of British poetry’s rising stars in 2009, and his work has been translated into multiple languages. His editorial work also has a global focus, and he co-edited the first anthology of Burmese poetry ever published for an international audience, Bones Will Crow, in 2015. He followed that in 2019 with another co-editor project, I Am a Rohingya: Poetry from the Camps and Beyond.
Embracing the digital poetry revolution years before most other editors, Byrne transformed The Wolf into one of the most influential online poetry journals, promoting innovative and diverse writing from around the world.
His writing continues to take inspiration from a diverse range of sources. His forthcoming collection, The Caprices, was written in response to paintings by Goya.
Reading James Byrne is like gulping firewater shots of the world ... The extraordinary and deftly employed lexicon derives from everywhere.
Forrest Gander on Everything Broken Up Dances
This poet operates without a safety net, walking the tightrope of language between heart and mind, understanding, with Gaston Bachelard, that ‘the imagination is a form of human boldness’.
Penelope Shuttle on Blood/Sugar