Poetry Wales magazine has announced two new joint editors – Marvin Thompson and Zoë Brigley. Marvin Thompson, who was born in London to Jamaican parents, now lives in south Wales, and was this year’s winner of the National Poetry Competition. His debut collection Road Trip (Peepal Tree Press, 2020) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and was recently shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year in the poetry category.

Marvin Thompson said: “What this says about Poetry Wales as an institution is massive. Part of fighting for a more inclusive world is providing equal opportunities. I now stand as the first editor of colour to work for this illustrious journal. With Zoë, I look forward to promoting poets from under-represented backgrounds. We will work hard to highlight issues of equality and ecology for Wales and the wider world.”

Zoë Brigley is the author of three books of poetry: Hand & Skull (2019), Conquest (2012), and The Secret (2007), all published by Bloodaxe. She is also co-editor of a new anthology of poetry 100 Poems to Save the Earth (Seren, 2021).

She said: “It is an incredible honour for me to edit Poetry Wales with Marvin – the magazine that I first published a poem in when I was just 18. Poetry Wales will continue to be a necessary and important space for Welsh writers, including Welsh working class poetry, and innovative writing. We also want Poetry Wales to be a magazine of choice for writers who have traditionally been under-represented, and a key space for beginning writers to find resources and advice. […] Poetry Wales will also be engaging with one of the greatest struggles of our times – the fight to prevent climate disaster.”

Their first official issue as joint editors will be published in March 2022.