Shadow - Alison Brackenbury

Alison Brackenbury's first collection, Dreams of Power, was published by Carcanet in the distant days of 1981. 'A vivid new talent', said the Sunday Times. She then became a horse owner, mother and manual worker. In a life with more subjects than time, she has assembled a further six collections. Her poems have appeared in all the major journals, many anthologies and a variety of national newspapers, and have won an Eric Gregory and a Cholmondeley Award.

Throughout her writing life, her love of the natural world has recurred. Horses, cats, birds, hedgehogs - the creatures with whom we share the world - fascinate her. This group of tender, enquiring poems gathers them together for the first  time.