Sharon Black

Welcome to my website, a place for me to share my poems with anyone who fancies turning up or who stumbles in accidentally needing shelter. The photo above was taken by my friend Charlie at a river spot near where I live in the Cévennes mountains.

I have published 5 full collections of poetry and 1 poetry pamphlet. Details of these can be found on the Publications page.

In 2026-27, I am launching my new book, Things That Fruit in Darkness. So far I have given readings at/for Stirling Central Library, The Graveyard Shift in Edinburgh, St Leonard's Chapel in St Andrews, The Alchemy Experiment in Glasgow, Daydreams Bookshop in Milngavie, and St Mungo's Mirrorball at Waterstones in Glasgow. Thank you to everyone who came to these events, I loved them all!
Still to come are in-words at Greenwich Library in London on 10 November 2026 (joint launch with Emily Wills & Alex Josephy, with me on Zoom), and Shore Poets in Edinburgh on 27 May 2027. Do join me if you can!

I'm delighted to have been awarded 1st prize in the Magma Poetry Competition 2025/2026, judged by Rishi Dastidar, with my poem The cleverest man in the world.
Another, My headband has eleven moth holes, won 2nd prize in the Kent & Sussex Open Poetry Competition 2026, judged by Mimi Khalvati.
I am thrilled to have won The Poetry Society's inaugural Tobias Hill Poetry Prize in 2025 with my poem Baggies.
Very happy also to have won 1st prizes in the Kent & Sussex Open Poetry Competition 2025 with my poem Oblivious, in the Wells Open Poetry Competition 2025 with my poem Dinger, Short for Shrodinger, and in the Frogmore Poetry Prize 2025 with my poem Pont des Arts.
My poem Fractals was awarded 2nd prize in the Ware Open Poetry Competition 2025.
Another, Lungs, came in 3rd in the Magma Poetry Competition 2025 (Editors Prize).
Finally, my poem In the Garden of Fleeting Mutability, was highly commended in the Charles Causley Trust Poetry Competition 2025.
The Last Woman Born on the Island was longlisted as one of 12 titles for the Highland Book Prize 2022. It was also named by publisher Vagabond Voices as their best-selling book of 2022, across all categories. Charlotte Gann, writing in The Frogmore Papers, describes the poems as "generous, full of atmosphere and sense of place".
Reviews of The Red House have been very forthcoming, perhaps due to the niche-ness of the collection. Hilary Menos of The Friday Poem, says, "love of language underpins this new collection"; Clare Best, writing in The Frogmore Papers, describes it as, "rich in thought, language, memory, story and humanity", while Mandy Haggith calls it "deliciously vivid poetry" in the pages of in Northwords Now. Jennifer McGowan in Orbis says simply, "Read this book". Did my heart do a flutter? Oh yes.