Alison Lock - Poet, Author

Welcome to my Home Page

I write poetry, prose, and short stories, and I am a tutor for Life Writing for Transformation courses. 

Latest:

'Unfurling' from Palewell Press. A pamphlet of poems as meditations and observances written during the Covid 19 lockdowns. Available in print and in digital form.

Here is an extract of a reading from the launch event. 

Lure:Between the Ears click to hear the Radio 3 recording.

Alison Lock's memory of a near-fatal accident on the Yorkshire moors becomes a dreamlike journey into a landscape in close-up, where nature has the power to kill or cure.

'With words, I state my being in the world,

and however softly uttered, even whispered,

they are caught on the breeze, slight feathers

to bed the nests, plumage to vane the flight,

to fletch the arrows, fly the fishing lure.'

Here, a woman writes for her life. The resulting book is transformative, a liminal journey into the bones of a seemingly familiar landscape with the power to kill or save. Lure is unafraid, the work of a remarkable poet.

    Cathy Galvin

Out of physical trauma, Alison Lock creates a gorgeous lyric evocation of a unique part of Yorkshire, and therefore the world.

    Robert Minhinnick

A Witness of Waxwings, Cultured Llama Publishing, 2017. Longlisted for the Saboteur Awards - short story collection, 2018.

A Witness of Waxwings invites us into worlds of shifting time and identities, where brutal reality is often witnessed through a liminal lens. Within these stories are shifts of light, perception, slips into other realms, where people are inhabited by birds, selkies and sprites. There are ghosts in the ocean, faces in the wake. Alison Lock’s fictional world is a route map to unexplored mindscapes.

A collection of short stories.

Revealing the Odour of Earth. Calder Valley Poetry. 2017.

These fresh and vivid poems are written from a combination of an acute observer’s eye and a reflective, often spiritual insight. Although meanings may emerge and interpretations are sometimes floated, the poet always remains mindful of the ineffable primacy of encounter and experience. Steve Ely

Alison Lock’s poems are landscape made language. With close attention to form and sound, rhythm and rhyme, she thoughtfully observes and interprets her environment, both its terrain and the birds and beasts, trees and wildflowers that share it. This collection is a testimony to the poetic skills of a sensitive watcher of the world. Bob Horne

Maysun and the Wingfish, Mother's Milk Books, 2016.

‘With her lyrical prose and talent for invention, Alison Lock conjures a magical world, with its own intriguing myths and vivid details. I was enchanted by Maysun’s story from the very first chapter.’ Zoe Gilbert

‘A beautifully imagined world with an atmosphere that lingers. A young girl finds true power when she aligns her destiny with the natural and the supernatural.’ Ana Salote

A fantasy novella for young/YA readers.

Beyond Wings, Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2015.

“Alison Lock's is a highly individual voice. A traveller, an impressionist artist-inwords, her 'room' (or rooms – as she describes them, all of them 'rented') is the landscape, the seascape, the sky-scape of nature, in all its brilliant secret detail.

She's clearly a lover of words, and she's good at finding the right words. She's a minimalist; and (rare poetic virtue) she knows when to stop.

This is a collection to be read at a sitting; the whole is infinitely more compelling than its parts. It's not so much a body of verses as a travelogue of lyrical aperçus; it offers a consistent vision of an everyday natural world that is freshly invested with particularity and significance. Lock has a practised alertness to what is there. It is this focus, this closeness of attention and precision of description that gives her verse its authority.” R V Bailey

A Slither of Air, Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2011.

Alison Lock’s first collection of poetry is A Slither of Air. She was a winner of the 2010 Indigo Dreams Poetry Collection Competition.

'Like a gentle voice in your ear, these poems speak of love and life and pain and war with words so precisely-chosen they will make you tremble. A wonderful collection.' Laura Sheridan

‘I found myself holding my breath as the fresh, delicious images in this poetry caressed my senses. Everything one hopes for in poetry is delivered in memorable abundance.’ Joanne Klassen

A poetry collection.

Eye of the Heron.

A performance of 'eye of the heron' at the launch of the Holmfirth Arts Festival, Choppards Mission, Holmfirth, June 13th 2013. With musician Robin Bowles and photographer Richard Raby.

- The poetry reading set to music was more than the sum of its parts. Excellent and held at the right time of day. The evening summer light filtered through the beautiful windows and enhanced the performance. An excellent beginning to the Festival.  

Three Hares.

A collaboration of poetry and music.

'This is about the trees/how they sustain us/how they nourish our culture/our folklore/our myths/our deepest dreams'. 

Poetry - Alison Lock. Music - Robin Bowles. Drum and sound technician - Marc Layton-Bennett.