Hilary Menos is a poet. Her first collection, Berg, (Seren, 2009) won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2010. Her second collection is Red Devon, (Seren, 2013). Her first pamphlet, Extra Maths, was one of four winners of The Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition 2004/05. Her second pamphlet, Wheelbarrow Farm, was one of four winners of the 2010 Templar Pamphlet & Collection Awards.
“Menos creates small worlds packed tight, seamless, masterfully compressed. Her poems have wit, range and strength; they are contemporary, varied and highly imaginative.” — Ruth Padel
“… crackles with formal skill, with extraordinary, vibrant language … and with great style.” — Carol Ann Duffy
“One of the strongest emerging voices in British poetry.” — Michael Symmons Roberts
NEWS: New pamphlet Human Tissue is a winner in The Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition 2019-20
It was published by Smith/Doorstop and launched at The Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere on 1st February 2020
There is a genuine pressure of content in the best of these skilfully managed and imaginatively engaged poems. The evidently real life story as it unfolds is quietly told and affecting. We all found it easy to agree that this was an outstanding collection, because of its material, but also because of its openness and artistry. It is a worthy winner and one that many people will engage with and appreciate. — Neil Astley, Michael Schmidt and Amy Wack, judges of The Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition 2019-20
“ … a life and death thriller of a poetry book. A gifted poet, Menos writes the kind of English that operates like a surgeon’s knife on its material, with the difference that it has a sure grasp of the metaphorical implications and potential of its subject matter. Her readers will surely be impressed by the eloquence and beauty of her insight.” — Hugo Williams
“This pamphlet documents these experiences, sometimes aslant and sometimes head on, with an acuity available only to a genuinely superb poet with a heightened passion for her subject. The result is one of the most moving, stylish and, indeed, life-affirming pamphlets I have read in years.” — Rory Waterman in PN Review 253
Order Human Tissue today