Primers Volume Six

In 2021, Nine Arches Press launched their nationwide Primers scheme for a sixth time, in search of exciting new voices in poetry, with Rishi Dastidar and Jane Commane as selecting editors. After reading through hundreds of anonymous entries, and narrowing down the choices from longlist to shortlist, three poets emerged as clear choices: Kym Deyn, Estelle Price and Fathima Zahra.
Primers: Volume Six now brings together a showcase from each of the three poets. Startling, original and packed with flair, Deyn, Price and Zahra explore everything from magic and mourning, cross-examinations of power and patriarchy, and the intimate secrets and 'Parent cuts' of growing up. These are poems of becoming and being, of difference and defiance, of other worlds, hard lessons and leaps of faith. Primers is proud to present these bold and dynamic poems from three of contemporary poetry's most exciting new voices.
Praise for Primers: Volume Six
"There is of course nothing more exciting in reading poetry than finding a voice new to you, and feeling that feeling – where the brain says 'oh hello, what have we here?', as the skin responds with a tingle and your face starts smiling as you realise, there is something special in these words. That, roughly described, was our initial sensation on seeing the work of Kym Deyn, Estelle Price and Fathima Zahra. Each, in their unique ways, have that uncanny ability to recast what you thought you knew, as they make you look then look again at who we are, how we live, and what we might be."
– Rishi Dastidar

Kym Deyn is a poet and writer of weird fiction who moonlights variously as a tarot reader, a librarian, and the editor of The Braag CIC, a publisher based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Their pamphlets include Dionysia and Unfurl. They have been widely published in anthologies and journals for their poetry and prose, including Butcher's Dog, 14 Poems and Strange Horizons. They've been shortlisted for awards including The Bridport Prize and recently came third in the 2025 Oxford Poetry Prize. Folkish is their debut collection.Estelle Price is the winner of the 2021 Welsh Poetry Competition and the 2018 Book of Kells Writing Competition. Her poetry has been placed/ listed in the National, Bridport, Welshpool, London Magazine and other competitions. Poems have left home for Poetry Wales, Crannog, Marble Poetry, 14 Lines, Alchemy Spoon and the Stony Thursday Book. Before she knew she was a poet she was a lawyer, a classicist, a charity workerFathima Zahra is an Indian poet and performer based in Essex. She is a Barbican Young Poet and a Roundhouse Poetry Collective alum. Her poems have won the Bridport Prize, Asia House Poetry Slam and Wells Fest Young Poets Prize. Her debut pamphlet Sargam / Swargam is out with ignitionpress.