The year began with Joelle Taylor’s C+nto & Othered Poems (Westbourne) winning the TS Eliot prize. This powerful account of butch lesbian communities is a vital read, with a striking insistence on claiming the physical space of club and bar as a way to unpick the damage done by a hostile world; where sanctuary can be found, repair can begin. Taylor’s language, at once gaudy and deadly, is driven by “the sound belonging makes”.
