Rosamund Taylor is a poet and critic. A selection of her poetry won the Mairtín Crawford Award at the Belfast Book Festival in 2017, and in 2019 her poem Lammergeier came third in the International Ginkgo Prize for Eco Poetry. In March 2020, her unpublished pamphlet, We Lose Our Edges, was one of five to be highly commended in the Mslexia/PBS Women’s Poetry Pamphlet Competition. Her poem, Pride 2017, was chosen by Poetry Ireland as one of twelve “Pocket Poems” to be widely distributed in celebration of National Poetry Day 2020.
Her work is widely published in Ireland and abroad. Recently, poems have appeared in in Magma, Agenda, Banshee, Channel, Poetry Ireland Review and on LambdaLiterary.Org. In 2015, she won joint-second place for the Patrick Kavanagh Award. She has been twice nominated for a Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, in 2017 and 2019 respectively. She was chosen to take part in the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series in 2015, and in 2019 she was a recipient of a Words Ireland mentorship. Her essay on the poetry of Mary Oliver appeared in The Trumpet in 2019.
Rosamund’s work asks whether we define our own identity, or whether an identity is thrust upon us. Her poetry is not political but often becomes politicised by its reader. For example, it can be hard for the voice of a lesbian to be recognised: Rosamund has written and published numerous love poems to her wife, but readers often assume these poems are written from a male perspective. Because of this, a love poem from a woman, to a woman, becomes a challenge to the mainstream simply by existing. Rosamund explores this subject in depth in her pamphlet We Lose Our Edges.
Existing in a marginal space has inspired Rosamund to look to historical figures who have existed outside the norms. What does it mean to challenge expectation and tradition? She asks this question in reference to women in science, such as Caroline Herschel, the 18th century astronomer, who was told reading was almost as bad for her as witchcraft, or looks to Joan of Arc, who was so far from the accepted norms that she was burned at the stake. Rosamund also explores her own experience as a neurodiverse person, and the challenges she has faced to find a place in the world.
Rosamund is an experienced editor of both poetry and prose. Connect with her on GoodReads to see what she’s currently reading, and get in touch if you are interested in her work as a writer, book-reviewer or editor.