The Unmothering Class

Anne Ryland was born and brought up in Essex. She studied German at Bristol University, qualified as a secondary school teacher at Leeds University, then in 2002 gained a Distinction in the MA in Writing Poetry at Newcastle University. After working as an adult literacy tutor for a number of years, she is now a freelance tutor of English and Creative Writing, and runs writing workshops for community groups in and around her home town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Her poems have been widely published in magazines and anthologies. Her first collection, Autumnologist, was short-listed for The Forward (Felix Dennis) Best First Collection Prize 2006.
The Unmothering Class is Anne’s second full-length collection.

A powerful sense of history pervades Anne Ryland’s impressive second collection – history played out on the world’s stage as well as within families and the genes passed between them. This layering – ‘a stem stitch flowing through lives’ – creates a work of substance, authority and variety. These poems are shape-shifters, animated narratives of ordinary lives made extraordinary by the poet’s precision, a wonder and attentiveness ‘not far from love’. There is plenty to delight in (staircases, secrets, stars) and be moved by (letters, winters, sorrows). Reading these poems reminds me of looking at Paula Rego’s paintings – playful but haunting, stories back-lit by uneasy truths.

Linda France