Nigel Jarrett is a freelance writer and music critic. He has written poetry, essays and short stories for such journals as the Observer magazine, London Magazine, Planet, Agenda, Poetry Wales and Poetry Ireland, and many others, as he says, of dim provenance and solemn obscurity.
He is a winner of the Rhys Davies Award for short fiction, and the 2016 inaugural Templar Shorts prize. A collection of his stories, Funderland, was published in October 2011 to widespread acclaim. In November 2013, Parthian published his first poetry collection, Miners At The Quarry Pool. A novel, Slowly Burning, and a second story collection, Who Killed Emil Kreisler?, appeared in 2016. His latest novel, Notes from the Superhorse Stable, was published in July 2022 by Saron.
Gwyriad: Poems by Nigel Jarrett
A personal memory evokes class solidarity in the shadow of Newport’s transporter bridge. A search for a seat in a crowded café reveals a life of courage and loss. An answerphone message reflects the uncertainties and embarrassments of personal relationships, and a visit to the circus becomes a metaphor for changing times. At the heart of this volume, ‘Y Fenni/Fishponds’ depicts inmates and staff at the mental hospitals in Abergavenny and Bristol.
In award-winning writer Nigel Jarrett’s second poetry collection, and second publication with Cockatrice Books, technical skill and broad-ranging intelligence join depth of insight into human nature and an intimate knowledge of the social and industrial history of south Wales.
‘Brilliance and intrigue of language; an ability to trawl the impassive depths.’
Phoebe Walker, Lunar Poetry
‘Jarrett has wit and a remarkably sustained musical ear.’
Michael Knott, New Welsh Review
‘Miners At The Quarry Pool is a brilliantly atmospheric and unsettling collection, both emotionally charged and coldly objective.’
Liam Nolan, Books Council of Wales
Five Go to Switzerland & Other Stories by Nigel Jarrett
A daughter curious about her widowed father’s love life; a woman survivor of domestic abuse; a wife who learns something startling about her jazz-loving husband at his funeral; an old actor facing memory loss; a couple whose son was executed by militants; a black American academic staying in Wordsworth country while his university investigates a student complaint; an early 20th-century scullery maid being taught to read by a sinister manservant… and more.
In his fourth wide-ranging and vivid collection, award-winning writer Nigel Jarrett disturbs the clear, slow-flowing waters of ordinary lives to reveal their complications and unresolved tensions, and to celebrate those who emerge from tribulation chastened but unvanquished.
‘Here are vivid and vital stories that crackle like bushfire and ignite delight… I read them with unbridled pleasure and holy envy.’
Jon Gower
‘Jarrett’s stories take seemingly ordinary or innocent situations and gently tease out their emotional complexity.’
Lesley McDowell, The Independent
‘Explaining what Jarrett does with language is a bit like trying to map gossamer with a chunky felt-tip.’
Mary-Ann Constantine