Penguin signs 'powerful' collection on parenthood from poet Maria Ferguson

Penguin has signed Maria Ferguson’s “raw and powerful” new poetry collection Swell.

Penguin Press senior commissioning editor Donald Futers and publishing director Chloe Currens bought world all language rights from Kirsty McLachlan at Morgan Green Creatives. The book will be published by Penguin Poetry on 30th January 2025.

"Eloquent and uncompromising, Swell explores the triumphs and hardships of the journey to new motherhood – through pregnancy, miscarriage, birth and beyond," the synopsis says. "Maria Ferguson’s second poetry collection is a raw and powerful documentation of one woman’s experience of becoming a mother. Against a backdrop of the sounds and sensations of daily life, she longs for her own mother’s embrace, observes as her body changes and charts a course through loss and wilting house plants toward recovery, empowerment and renewal."

Ferguson said: "Writing Swell has been an incredibly daunting yet liberating experience. This book has been a constant companion through a time of great change, both personally and in the wider world. I’m thrilled it has found a home at Penguin and am excited to join their list of fresh contemporary voices, adding to the current dialogue surrounding modern motherhood."

In a joint statement, Currens and Futers added: "Maria Ferguson seems to have everything up her sleeve: down-to-earth simplicity and poetic flights of the imagination, humour and heartache, stillness and chaos. She’s the friend you wish you had, talking to you about things we should all hear a lot more about."

McLachlan commented: "Maria’s new collection, Swell, is a frank, unflinching look at new parenthood. I’m endlessly proud to be working with such a brilliant poet."