Canongate and Cheerio to publish two collections from the host of Poetry Unbound

Canongate and Cheerio will publish two collections from the host of the "Poetry Unbound" podcast, Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Canongate c.e.o. Jamie Byng acquired world English rights to 44 Poems on Being with Each Other: A Poetry Unbound Collection from Clare Conville of C&W Agency. Jill Bialosky of W W Norton has licensed the US rights. Simultaneously, Cheerio, a publishing imprint in association with the Estate of Francis Bacon, co-directed by Harriet Vyner, will publish Kitchen Hymns, a new collection of original poetry by Ó Tuama. Cheerio’s poetry editor Martha Sprackland acquired rights to the book in the UK, while in the US rights were bought by Michael Wiegers, executive editor of Copper Canyon Press.  

"44 Poems on Being with Each Other is a celebratory anthology, exploring human connection through 44 poems," the synopsis says. "With an observant eye, Pádraig Ó Tuama shares an enlightening meditation on each poem, revealing the ways we relate to each other, the world around us and ourselves. Featuring a remarkable and refreshing range of exceptional poems from Mosab Abu Toha, Constantine P Cavafy, Chen Chen, Joy Harjo, Jericho Brown and many more, this collection articulates the power of poetry itself; it illuminates aspects of the human condition, particularly the ways we are inextricably linked to each other, and provides inspiration for grounded self-reflection."

The synopsis for Kitchen Hymns says: "The collection features poems of originality and feeling and acts as a provocation to thought, and an invocation of the forces that direct the strange, branching paths of our lives."

Ó Tuama said: "I’m thrilled to have two releases in early 2025: 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (Canongate and Norton) is an anthology of 44 poems, with accompanying essays, that celebrate the electricity that occurs between people: at parties, in arguments, in crisis, in friendship. Kitchen Hymns (Cheerio and Copper Canyon Press) explores what happens when hymns, mythology, eros, hell, lament and birds have a conversation together."

Byng added: "Pádraig’s exceptional podcast was a source of great nourishment and connection for millions of people during those first lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 and we were all delighted by the considerable success of the first Poetry Unbound [Canongate Books] book that came about as a result of the podcast. To be following this up with another Poetry Unbound anthology is a thrill because Pádraig is a magnificent guide and curator of poems as well as a beautiful and generous communicator. And to be partnering again with Jill Bialosky and the team at Norton only adds to our belief in the audiences we can reach with this new collection."

Sprackland commented: "Pádraig’s poems handle such lively, tender and universal matters as grief and faith with verve and originality. In registers of rage, eros and melody, towards nature, elegy and praise, Kitchen Hymns is a study in form and lyric address."