Ruby Robinson

Ruby Robinson

Ruby Robinson (b. 1985, Manchester) grew up in Sheffield and Doncaster: her poetry has been published in The Poetry Review and Poetry. She draws inspiration from writing which takes her ‘somewhere unexpected’, and lists previous Forward Prize–winners Ted Hughes and Claudia Rankine as amongst those who have left a lasting impression on her.

Robinson says that, as a child, she used to ‘write things down that angered or confused me, in lieu of being able to protest out loud’. This relationship between sound, quietness and expression is an important part of Every Little Sound, with its epigraph from tinnitus expert Dr David Baguley: ‘Internal gain – an internal volume control which helps us amplify and focus upon quiet sounds in times of threat, danger or intense concentration’. Robinson brings that intense concentration to the otherwise drowned-out sounds of our everyday internal world.

There’s a fascinating review of this collection by Martin Crucefix, here.

Forward Prizes History:

• 2016 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection, shortlisted for Every Little Sound (Liverpool University Press)