Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, poet and director Anna Jordan will release her debut poetry collection Decade this spring, published by Broken Sleep Books.
The collection will be released online on Wednesday 29 April, with an in-person launch taking place on Tuesday 5 May at The Poetry Café in London.
Decade is an autobiographical collection bringing together poems written over ten turbulent years, described as “a fierce, autobiographical collection” with writing that combines dark humour and sudden tenderness.
 
 
 
 
Set across recognisable domestic and public spaces, from a seaside Premier Inn to Jordan’s childhood kitchen, the poems explore grief, miscarriage, motherhood, separation, depression and falling in love.
Written in Jordan’s direct and theatrical style, the collection holds comedy and despair in the same breath, presenting what the publisher describes as a poetic journey of human experience.
The book draws inspiration from Jordan’s family history, particularly her father, who wrote her mother a poem every day for 25 years until her death, later published as the online collection A Love in Verse.
Jordan is best known for her award-winning play Yenwhich received the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and for her work in television including Succession for HBO and Killing Eve for the BBC.
The release of Decade coincides with Jordan’s translation of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Childrenwhich opens at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, echoing similar themes of motherhood and loss.
Previous praise for Jordan’s writing includes “The dynamic range of Jordan’s writing is extraordinary” from The Guardian, and “It’s called Decade for a reason but this collection seems to encompass lifetimes” from playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker.
 
 
 
 
Author and comedian Sara Pascoe has also praised the work, saying: “Generous, visceral and darkly comic. I love Anna’s huge-hearted writing”.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
