“Everybody sees the world a little differently,” Natalie Ann Holborow said, while introducing us all to her beautiful new collection of poetry Little Universe, journaling the ways she has observed the world around her. From people-watching in a hospital ward, to rediscovering an appreciation for nature during her lockdown walks through Gower, Natalie’s collection is a lovely appreciation for people and places alike.
Natalie is a winner of the Terry Hetherington Award and the Robin Reeves Prize, and has been shortlisted and commended for the Bridport Prize, the National Poetry Competition, the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine and the Cursed Murphy Spoken Word Award among others. She has attended international panels, including Hay Festival, Berlin, Sweden and Kolkata. Natalie is a CIM-qualified marketer, an editor of the Terry Hetherington Awards anthology and a proud patron of The Leon Heart Fund charity.
Little Universe both celebrates and destigmatises. Natalie calls important attention to women feeling unsafe while running, especially as someone who frequently runs marathons to fundraise for The Leon Heart Fund. She quoted an international survey she’d read: “Of 4,500 women aged 16 to 34 more than 50% were afraid of being physically attacked while running, while 38% of the women said they had experienced physical or verbal harassment while running.” Her poem ‘Run like a Girl’ captures that feeling of fear and discomfort, but has a spark of fiery defiance. Alongside powerful poems like this, ‘As though nothing has changed’ is an incredibly tender poem.
Dedicated to the memory of her grandfather, Natalie writes about the Friday evening routine they used to have together and the disbelief when she finds she’s not talking to anyone at all. The poem recognises that even though the grief makes it difficult, it’s worth keeping up that routine as a way to honour the memory of a loved one. A lot of her poems combine the feelings of grief and hope, how hope can be the answer. In ‘You Won’t Always Recognise Hope When You See Her’, instead of an angelic depiction of personified Hope, Natalie characterises her as raw, imperfect and realistic. Hope doesn’t need to be perfect – it just needs to be real.
When asked about the advice she could give for other writers, Natalie said: “Connect with other people. A lot of people think that writing can be isolating, and at times it can be… Connecting with other people, seeing their passions, can inspire you and remind you why you love what you do.” She added, “All the writers around here have heard of each other… everyone celebrates each other.”
Natalie told us how she began writing Little Universe during lockdown, submitting her individual poems for workshops, and realised that there was something linking them all together and inspiring the collection. In poems like ‘The Janitor is Crying in the Gents’,
Natalie observes all that’s around her, from the grandest to the smallest, openly and poignantly. She writes with a hope that women can someday run at night and feel safe, that Autism and Diabetes are normalised and that inspiration can come from anywhere as long as you look.
Thank you to Waterstones Swansea for hosting a lovely evening, thank you to Natalie Ann Holborow for sharing her wonderful new poetry collection Little Universe, and thank you to all those who attended the launch. Be sure to grab yourself a copy of Little Universe and discover the beautiful way that Natalie sees the world.
Matthew Stephen Yan
