Spurious Language

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James Appleby's debut book of poems

Highly commended in the International Book & Pamphlet Competition

Details for pre-order below​

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Presenting Spurious Language at Wordsworth Grasmere ​

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“Appleby moves through these poems like a simultaneous interpreter, always attuned to the tensions of language. His poetry is both playful and serious, human and exact — alive to the ways language binds us together even as it fractures and divides.” – Jamie Cameron, The London Magazine

 

“Deft and concentrated, fluent and exact, James Appleby’s poetry makes us witnesses – then steps away, leaving us among the eloquent fumes.” – Angela Ball, The Best American Poetry blog

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A spurious language exists in books but not outside them. A man at a funeral with ash in his mouth. A rat, a whale off an industrial coast. The recriminations of a body discovered in the street.

 

Appleby’s debut follows the translations, between languages and experience, that define our interaction with the world. Restless and shifting in form, serious about humour, never shrinking from difficult subject or technique, it was highly commended in The International Book & Pamphlet Competition, “the most prestigious competition of its kind… launching the careers of many well-established poets” (The Poetry Business).

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Spurious Language will be released in mid-June 2025, with launch events in Edinburgh, Manchester, and London. An international book tour will take place later in the year, with poetry festivals in Sibiu, Istanbul, and Vilnius.

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Pre-orders: To pre-order Spurious Language, please contact James at interpretmagazine@outlook.com with the subject heading 'Pre-order of Spurious Language'. Pre-orders can also be made via the website of Blue Diode Publishing.

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