Author(s): Will Burns

Nature | England | History | Snips

'Will Burns is a soulful English poet of the kind we don't make enough of' MAX PORTER'Hugely affecting and timely' LUKE TURNER'A boldly struck chord, one that contains many of the dissonances, but also the harmonies, found in England today' CHRIS POWERIn THE PAPER LANTERN, a single speaker charts and interrogates the shifts in mood and understanding that have defined a surreal, transformative period in both his own history and that of the surrounding area. Set in a shuttered pub - The Paper Lantern - in a village in the very middle of the country adjacent to the Chequers estate, the narrator embarks on a series of walks in the Chiltern Hills, which become the landscape for evocations of a past scarred with trauma and a present lacking compass. From local raves in secret valleys and the history of landmarks such as Halton House, to the fallout of the lockdown period, climate change and capitalism, THE PAPER LANTERN creates a tangible, lived-in, complicated rendering of a place.

This elegiac debut... exerts a steady power, opening an unexpected conduit into the national psyche. -- Anthony Cummins * DAILY MAIL *
Full of acute social observations, it's a time capsule in the making. -- Hephzibah Anderson * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
Individual moments are presented as opportunities to recognise the self, the savour our individuality in the world, to experience rather than merely endure * Times Literary Supplement *
A remarkable achievement in a book that feels at once timely and deeply considered, an antidote to the clickbait, flashing headline style of journalism that has, perhaps understandably, proliferated during the pandemic. From the first page, the insights come hard and fast. There is a pared-back lyricism and clarity to the writing, commentary that is both intelligent and sensitive to the surrounding world . . . The backbone of The Paper Lantern is the author's searing way of detailing the inequalities and issues of modern society . . . There are meticulous arguments on climate change, capitalism and class, particularly the "dull and rapacious middle class" . . . The careful attention to nature and community echo the novels of Sarah Moss * IRISH TIMES *
Will Burns is a soulful English poet of the kind we don't make enough of, fiercely intelligent, sensitive to the tiniest nuances of politics or history, attentive to the light and shade of human relationships, constantly addressing ideas of landscape and place with gentle, warm introspection. He is a poet of the unglamorous artificial English homelands, honest about class, memory, unease and experience in a way that few contemporary writers are. He doesn't try and sound clever in the line, he shows across his whole body of work that he is truly wise -- MAX PORTER

Author Biography: Will Burns is a poet and writer based in Buckinghamshire. He began publishing his poetry in 2014 when he was named a Faber & Faber New Poet, and since then he has also published poetry pamphlets with Clutag Press, Rough Trade Books and his first full collection, COUNTRY MUSIC, with Offord Road Books in 2020, which was Book of the Week in the London Review Bookshop.