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A. K. Blakemore

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A. K. Blakemore
Blakemore at the British Library in 2023
Blakemore at the British Library in 2023
BornAmy Katrina Blakemore
(1991-05-11) 11 May 1991 (age 34)
London, England
OccupationPoet • translator • novelist
LanguageEnglish
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Period2007–present

Amy Katrina Blakemore (born 11 May 1991), known professionally as A. K. Blakemore, is an English author, poet, translator, and former model.

Life and career

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Amy Katrina Blakemore was born on 11 May 1991[1] in London, England.[2][3] She was raised in South London, where she attended comprehensive school in Deptford. She then went on to study language and literature at the University of Oxford.[4]

Blakemore has cited Sam Riviere, Mary Ruefle, and Emily Dickinson as influences.[4] She was a winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award for her poems "Peckham Rye Lane" and "You Envied the Stars Their Height" in 2007 and 2008, respectively.[5] In 2009 her work was anthologized in Bloodaxe Books's Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century. Her first single author publication, the pamphlet Amy's Intro, was published in 2012 as part of Nasty Little Press's Intro series.[3]

Humbert Summer, Blakemore's first full-length poetry collection, was published by Eyewear Publishing in 2015. That same year she won the Melita Hume Prize for Poetry.[4][6] In 2016 she collaborated with If a Leaf Falls Press to publish the pamphlet pro ana, which was only distributed in a run of twenty-four copies.[3] Her sophomore poetry collection Fondue was subsequently published by Offord Road Books in 2018[7] and awarded a Ledbury Forte Prize for the Best Second Collection at the 2019 Ledbury Poetry Festival.[8]

Further original poetry has been featured in various literary publications including The White Review,[2] Hotel,[9] and Ambit,[10] as well as anthologized in Stop Sharpening Your Knives No. 4 (Egg Box, 2011) and The Best of British Poetry (Salt Publishing, 2015). In collaboration with Dave Haysom, Blakemore translated My Tenantless Body, a collection of poetry by Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo. The collection was published by the Poetry Translation Centre as part of their World Poets Series in 2019.[11]

Since 2021, Blakemore has moved toward becoming a novelist. Her first novel, The Manningtree Witches (Granta Books, 2021), is a fictional account of the Essex witch trials. It has received generally positive reviews,[12][13] and was the 2021 winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize.[14]

The Glutton (Granta Books, 2023) fictionalizes the true story of Tarrare, a French showman with polyphagia who served as a military courier in the French Revolution. It was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize[15] and the Encore Award.[16]

Bibliography

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Poetry

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  • Amy's Intro (Nasty Little Press, 2012)
  • Humbert Summer (Eyewear Publishing, 2015)
  • pro ana (If a Leaf Falls Press, 2016)
  • Fondue (Offord Road Books, 2018)

Work as translator

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Novels

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References

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  1. ^ A. K. Blakemore [@barbiedreamhearse]; (10 May 2015). "Turning 24 tomorrow !!" – via Instagram.
  2. ^ a b "A. K. Blakemore". The White Review. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  3. ^ a b c "A K Blakemore". Poetry International. Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Hadley, Sophie (10 March 2015). "A.K. Blakemore: Wine, Morrissey and improving poetry". Artefact. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  5. ^ "A.K. Blakemore". The Poetry Society. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  6. ^ Martha Sprackland (26 June 2018). "A.K. Blakemore, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Amy Key and Zaffar Kunial". London Review Bookshop (Podcast). Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  7. ^ Hildyard, Rosanna (2019). "Review: 'Fondue' by A. K. Blakemore". Poetry School. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  8. ^ "Opening Event 2019 Festival". Ledbury Poetry Festival. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  9. ^ "A.K. Blakemore". Hotel. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  10. ^ Blakemore, A.K. (2019). "Tiergarten". Ambit. No. 234. p. 4.
  11. ^ Cin, Tice. "Interview with AK Blakemore". Poetry Translation Centre. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  12. ^ O’Donnell, Paraic (12 March 2021). "The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore review – a darkly witty debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  13. ^ Merritt, Stephanie (29 March 2021). "The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore review – menacing and thrilling debut". The Observer. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  14. ^ McKenna, Steph. "The Desmond Elliott Prize 2021". National Centre for Writing. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  15. ^ Creamer, Ella (21 March 2024). "Caleb Azumah Nelson and Mary Jean Chan shortlisted for Dylan Thomas prize". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  16. ^ Spanoudi, Melina (30 May 2024). "Novels by Isabella Hammad and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ vying for the 10k Encore Award". The Bookseller. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
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