Malcolm Carson

Malcolm Carson was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. He moved to Belfast with his family before returning to Lincolnshire, becoming an auctioneer and then a farm labourer. He studied English at Nottingham University, and then taught in colleges and universities. He now lives in Carlisle, Cumbria. He has published four full collections: Breccia in 2006, Rangi Changi and other poems in 2011, Route Choice in 2016 and The Where and When in 2019, as well as a pamphlet, Cleethorpes Comes to Paris, in 2014. All are from Shoestring Press.

What some of the reviewers say:

Malcolm Carson's Breccia is a find…The voice is strong, the language sensuously enacts what is described…I was particularly attracted to the poems in the third section of the book, poems about the Cumbrian fells, which strongly reminded me of the poetry of Norman Nicholson. A deep sense of geological time as a context in which to understand human time is present in both poets, and Nicholson would, I'm certain, have admired these poems as much as I do

…this is very much my kind of book. Anyone who likes reading fine poems will think so too.

Matt Simpson in Stride Magazine

The family songs, outings, prejudices and rows are closely woven together with wrack, limpets, dulse and dialect, all beautifully expressed... In Breccia Carson truly makes his mark, speaks.

Jackie Hardy in Other Poetry

Malcolm Carson neatly catches our attention in the first poem of his new collection Route Choice. ‘Bookmark’ is based on the rather familiar device of memory triggered by a rediscovered photograph. From a book that has long been

left quiet and unbothered, out slips

a photo of myself, my sister,

long since lost.

I like the passing thought that a book might be bothered by being taken down from a shelf; but more disturbing is the subtle suggestion that it might be the sister herself – rather than merely her picture – who is destined subsequently to be lost.

Thomas Ovans in London Grip