Folkish
Published on 23. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
978-1-916760-36-3 (ISBN)
Description
Folkish is a trickster figure masquerading as a poetry collection. Full of ghosts, worms, saints, and Northern English folklore, Kym Deyn's debut is playful, spirited and absolutely furious - moving between the alive, the legendary, and the haunted in endlessly inventive forms.
Between deep time and mischief, Deyn's poetry hungers and sharpens its spells - casting curses on bad landlords, exhaustion and poverty. These poems know intimately the coexistence of darkness and light, the mirror's slippery surface, and all that moves like magic in the depths of forest and root, containing multitudes - "a million sipping leaf-mouths, now quiet and peaty". Here, poetry is an act of wild transformation - boundless and entirely distinctive, unafraid of reconfiguration and re-enchantment.
Between deep time and mischief, Deyn's poetry hungers and sharpens its spells - casting curses on bad landlords, exhaustion and poverty. These poems know intimately the coexistence of darkness and light, the mirror's slippery surface, and all that moves like magic in the depths of forest and root, containing multitudes - "a million sipping leaf-mouths, now quiet and peaty". Here, poetry is an act of wild transformation - boundless and entirely distinctive, unafraid of reconfiguration and re-enchantment.
Reviews / Votes
"As the title suggests, Kym Deyn's Folkish, is good-old-fashioned-up-to-the-minute fun - spinning truthful tales both old and new with twists of feint to impress, seduce and transform." -- Kimberly Campanello 'Bold, inventive, sardonic. Ripe with scavenger gods, local saints and legends, Folkish scours the land and throws everything into its spellbag, shaking it hard: Leafy elms and hedgehog pate; kittiwakes and ugly new builds; glowflies dancing in the wood.' -- Richard Skelton 'Queer and disconcerting, Kym Deyn's debut is chock-full with poems which tear at both the heart and the guts. They inhabit a world where dark eyes scour graveyards for breakfast and saints are as likely to spit as to pray. This is poetry as hauntology, where England's North is alive with untrustworthy and beguiling pasts, presents, and futures. Folkish is a glorious exhibition of witchy play and wit, where the Devil prowls and Deyn never fails to answer back.' -- Rachel MannMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Rugby
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 139 mm
Width: 216 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
150 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-916760-36-3 (9781916760363)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Kym Deyn is a poet and writer of weird fiction who moonlights variously as a tarot reader, a librarian, and the editor of The Braag CIC, a publisher based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Their pamphlets include Dionysia and Unfurl. They have been widely published in anthologies and journals for their poetry and prose, including Butcher's Dog, 14 Poems and Strange Horizons. They've been shortlisted for awards including The Bridport Prize and recently came third in the 2025 Oxford Poetry Prize. Folkish is their debut collection.