Rachel Lewis
what if the sun only ever rises, what if every wrinkle on the pavement finds a speaking voice, what if the way I was made wasn’t made for this?
From From the Ground to the Birdsong (Flipped Eye)
Rachel Lewis is a poet and writer from London. Her debut pamphlet, Three Degrees of Separation, won the Wordsmith HQ Pamphlet Prize and was published by Wordsmith HQ in 2019. Her poetry has since been published by Flipped Eye, Magma, bath magg and Under the Radar, among others. She won the Genesis Emerging Writers Award in 2022 and has been longlisted for the Bridport, Mslexia and London Magazine poetry prizes and The Book Edit Award. She is a two-time Foyle Young Poet of the Year and an alumna of the Barbican Young Poets.
She loves creating spaces that other poets can write inside. She’s a Poet in School for The Poetry Society and a regular Artist-in-Residence for the Apples and Snakes SPINE Festival. She received Arts Council England funding to run Disabled Joy: The Writing Happiness Project and has facilitated workshops for groups including Age UK Camden and the Tarim Network.
She is insatiably curious about how to both write and live. On her Substack, A Poet’s Work, the only newsletter about ways to be a poet, she interviews poets about their work beyond writing poems. Subscribe for free here.
Rachel Lewis is a poet and writer from London. Her debut pamphlet, Three Degrees of Separation (Wordsmith HQ, 2019), won the Wordsmith HQ Pamphlet Prize, and her poetry has since been published by Flipped Eye, Magma, bath magg and Under the Radar. She won the Genesis Emerging Writers Award in 2022 and is a Poet in School for The Poetry Society.
Poetry
Selected poems
- ‘today’ and ‘trying to hide’, Anthropocene Journal
- ‘The Decision’ and ‘Ilium’, Kindling Journal
- ‘The millpond’, bind collective
- ‘On becoming Irish after Brexit’, bath magg
Selected awards and grants
- Longlisted, The Book Edit Award · 2025
- Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Grant · 2024
- Longlisted, London Magazine Poetry Prize · 2024
- Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant · 2022
- Winner, Genesis Emerging Writers Award · 2022
- Longlisted, Bridport Prize (Poetry) · 2022
- Longlisted, Mslexia Poetry Competition · 2022
- Shortlisted, Poetry London Mentoring Award · 2020
- Winner, Wordsmith HQ Pamphlet Prize · 2019
- Foyle Young Poet of the Year · 2009 and 2012
Development
- Barbican Young Poets · 2021–22 and 2023–24
- CRIPtic x Spread the Word writers’ retreat · 2021
- Apples and Snakes Arvon course · 2020
- Apples and Snakes Writing Room · 2019
- Roundhouse Cross-Arts Collective · 2018
- Poet in the City Young Producers’ Programme · 2017
- BA English Literature, University of Cambridge · 2016
Listen
- People’s Poetry Podcast
An interview about Three Degrees of Separation and its poems on mental illness, family, friendship and recovery.
- Poetry on Mental Health, Poetry in Aldeburgh
Readings from the Poetry in Aldeburgh Festival 2021.
- Voicing Our Silences, with Romalyn Ante
A conversation on resilience, mental health and community in the context of migration, with readings and writing exercises.
Contact
Instagram @rachel_lewis_poet · Substack A Poet’s Work