Poet & Author

Luke Palmer writes poetry and YA fiction. His debut pamphlet of poems, Spring in the Hospital, won the Prole Pamphlet contest in 2018. His second, In all my books my father dies, was released in March 2021 by The Red Ceilings Press. He placed second in the 2021 Verve poetry competition and was the winner of the 2022 Winchester Poetry Prize. His first full collection will be published by Broken Sleep Books in early 2024.

Luke’s debut YA novel, Grow, was published in July 2021 by Firefly Press. It was longlisted for the 2022 YOTO Carnegie Medal, shortlisted for the 2022 Branford Boase Award and is longlisted for the 2023 UKLA Book Awards. It was listed in the Sunday Times Children’s Books of the Year 2021. Writing in the Irish Times, Claire Hennessey described Grow as ‘an unsettling and compelling debut that deserves a place on many book shelves.’

His work has been described as unflinching, immaculately crafted, stark and beautiful, with a melancholic and entrancing authorial voice.