Helen Tookey
@helentookey.bsky.social
Poet. Writer. Based in Liverpool, UK. Published by Carcanet Press, Longbarrow Press and Liverpool University Press.
Do you teach (or just enjoy) place-writing or creative non-fiction? Please check out my new book! It comes recommended by Iain Sinclair and @drdavidcooper.bsky.social so can’t be too dusty! Liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781836240341
Outward Bound from Liverpool: Reading Malcolm Lowry | Home
Helen Tookey is a poet, writer, editor and lecturer. Originally from Leicestershire, she has lived in Liverpool since 2000. She teaches creative writing at Liverpool John Moores University.
Liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
September 17, 2026 at 8:23 AM
Do you teach (or just enjoy) place-writing or creative non-fiction? Please check out my new book! It comes recommended by Iain Sinclair and @drdavidcooper.bsky.social so can’t be too dusty! Liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781836240341
Tidying my office today I found this gem by @tomjenksuk.bsky.social . ‘Out in the gazebo, Crabtree builds his defence’. I remember seeing Tom read it and being rendered helpless with giggles. Very limited edition too so it’s undoubtedly worth a fortune now, not that I’m parting with it. Ah Crabtree.
August 26, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Tidying my office today I found this gem by @tomjenksuk.bsky.social . ‘Out in the gazebo, Crabtree builds his defence’. I remember seeing Tom read it and being rendered helpless with giggles. Very limited edition too so it’s undoubtedly worth a fortune now, not that I’m parting with it. Ah Crabtree.
Reposted by Helen Tookey
Delighted to find my new book on display in Liverpool’s fab radical bookshop, News from Nowhere (alongside lots of other brilliant books). Now proudly sporting a ‘signed copy’ sticker! @livunipress.bsky.social
August 26, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Delighted to find my new book on display in Liverpool’s fab radical bookshop, News from Nowhere (alongside lots of other brilliant books). Now proudly sporting a ‘signed copy’ sticker! @livunipress.bsky.social
I’m delighted that this book is now out in the world, and looking forward to launching it @thebluecoat.bsky.social on 8th Sept. Ahoy fellow Lowry fan @imcmillan.bsky.social - hope you might enjoy this too-loose-lowry-trek!
More new book photos... We're excited to see orders of Outward Bound from Liverpool arriving!
If you would like to learn more about the book, join author @helentookey.bsky.social at @thebluecoat.bsky.social on Tuesday 8th September for the book launch, part of Smithdown Litfest. bit.ly/TookeyLaunch
If you would like to learn more about the book, join author @helentookey.bsky.social at @thebluecoat.bsky.social on Tuesday 8th September for the book launch, part of Smithdown Litfest. bit.ly/TookeyLaunch
August 24, 2026 at 8:28 PM
I’m delighted that this book is now out in the world, and looking forward to launching it @thebluecoat.bsky.social on 8th Sept. Ahoy fellow Lowry fan @imcmillan.bsky.social - hope you might enjoy this too-loose-lowry-trek!
Thanks so much, Nick. Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted the book to capture (and explore) - how it FEELS to read Lowry, and why. I am really hoping it brings new readers to his work because it’s so rich. @livunipress.bsky.social
I read random passages last night. I love this perspective you've chosen. While we have many volumes of academia on Lowry, we don't have enough about reading Lowry. That is the thing that connects all of us. The emotion of reading his writing. Bravo Helen. One of my favorite Lowry books already..
August 20, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Thanks so much, Nick. Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted the book to capture (and explore) - how it FEELS to read Lowry, and why. I am really hoping it brings new readers to his work because it’s so rich. @livunipress.bsky.social
Here’s a quare one for you @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk. In ‘54321’, Manfred Mann tell us ‘The Trojans waited at the gate for weeks/ In a wooden horse to the city they sneaked’. Having propounded this radically revisionist theory they then ask ‘Who let them in? Was it the Greeks?’ …
August 20, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Here’s a quare one for you @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk. In ‘54321’, Manfred Mann tell us ‘The Trojans waited at the gate for weeks/ In a wooden horse to the city they sneaked’. Having propounded this radically revisionist theory they then ask ‘Who let them in? Was it the Greeks?’ …
First sighting of my book in the wild! Exciting! @livunipress.bsky.social
Editor's note: Received @helentookey.bsky.social latest Lowry offering today. It's always a good day when you are able to pull some Lowryian item from the mailbox..
August 20, 2026 at 7:27 AM
First sighting of my book in the wild! Exciting! @livunipress.bsky.social
@ljmuimpact.bsky.social @rilch-ljmu.bsky.social @centreplacewriting.bsky.social @thebluecoat.bsky.social
Outward Bound from Liverpool: Reading Malcolm Lowry by @helentookey.bsky.social is now available! This #OpenAccess title explores the lasting presence of Merseyside and its landscapes in Lowry’s writing.
Learn more: bit.ly/LUPOutwardBo...
#LiteraryStudies #Liverpool
Learn more: bit.ly/LUPOutwardBo...
#LiteraryStudies #Liverpool
August 14, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Book launch, 8 Sept @thebluecoat.bsky.social - if you’re in Liverpool or vicinity, it would be great to see you there
Join us at @thebluecoat.bsky.social on Tuesday 8th September for the launch event, part of Smithdown Litfest. Author Helen Tookey will read from this new book, in conversation with the Bluecoat’s Director of Cultural Legacies, Bryan Biggs. Details and free registration here: smithdownlitfest.com
Outward Bound from Liverpool: Reading Malcolm Lowry - Smithdown Litfest: Liverpool's Year Round Literary Festival
The book launch of Outward Bound from Liverpool: Reading Malcolm Lowry by poet, writer and LJMU creative writing lecturer Helen Tookey.
smithdownlitfest.com
August 14, 2026 at 11:40 AM
Book launch, 8 Sept @thebluecoat.bsky.social - if you’re in Liverpool or vicinity, it would be great to see you there
My new book is published today!
Outward Bound from Liverpool: Reading Malcolm Lowry by @helentookey.bsky.social is now available! This #OpenAccess title explores the lasting presence of Merseyside and its landscapes in Lowry’s writing.
Learn more: bit.ly/LUPOutwardBo...
#LiteraryStudies #Liverpool
Learn more: bit.ly/LUPOutwardBo...
#LiteraryStudies #Liverpool
August 14, 2026 at 11:39 AM
My new book is published today!
Fantastic piece here by Katherine Rundell. Could not agree more with everything she says. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom
Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?
www.theguardian.com
August 8, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Fantastic piece here by Katherine Rundell. Could not agree more with everything she says. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
This is nice…
'I need to hear the old voices under the seabed'
I adore this stunning collection of poems & sound recordings from Martin Heslop & Helen Tookey, from a residency in Nova Scotia
Published with care + attention by @longbarrowpress.bsky.social
Available here longbarrowpress.com/2025/06/23/t...
I adore this stunning collection of poems & sound recordings from Martin Heslop & Helen Tookey, from a residency in Nova Scotia
Published with care + attention by @longbarrowpress.bsky.social
Available here longbarrowpress.com/2025/06/23/t...
July 20, 2026 at 10:57 AM
This is nice…
Water falling from the sky!!
July 18, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Water falling from the sky!!
Rereading Stephen Sexton’s If All the World and Love Were Young, I’m struck all over again by what an extraordinary achievement it is - an elegy for his mother (and for his own childhood) written through the world of Super Mario. So inventive and so moving.
July 18, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Rereading Stephen Sexton’s If All the World and Love Were Young, I’m struck all over again by what an extraordinary achievement it is - an elegy for his mother (and for his own childhood) written through the world of Super Mario. So inventive and so moving.
17 degrees and cloudy! Bliss.
July 18, 2026 at 8:20 AM
17 degrees and cloudy! Bliss.
Scottie Scheffler always puts me in mind of a Depression-era Midwest farmer who’s just come in from a long day in the fields and is about to tell his wife that the alfalfa crop (or whatever) has failed and they’re gonna have to sell the farm.
July 16, 2026 at 7:10 AM
Scottie Scheffler always puts me in mind of a Depression-era Midwest farmer who’s just come in from a long day in the fields and is about to tell his wife that the alfalfa crop (or whatever) has failed and they’re gonna have to sell the farm.
Fascinated to hear that Rahul ‘The Wall’ Dravid is a possible replacement for Baz as England men’s Test coach. From one extreme to the other… (Dravid and Thorpe two of my early cricketing heroes. I love nuggetty batting.)
July 14, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Fascinated to hear that Rahul ‘The Wall’ Dravid is a possible replacement for Baz as England men’s Test coach. From one extreme to the other… (Dravid and Thorpe two of my early cricketing heroes. I love nuggetty batting.)
Reposted by Helen Tookey
"'To the End of the Land' is a poem-sequence working eloquently as a choir."
Thanks to Jake Morris-Campbell for his review of Helen Tookey & Martin Heslop's collaboration in the current issue of Poetry London. You can buy the pamphlet & CD here:
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
Thanks to Jake Morris-Campbell for his review of Helen Tookey & Martin Heslop's collaboration in the current issue of Poetry London. You can buy the pamphlet & CD here:
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
June 26, 2026 at 9:33 AM
"'To the End of the Land' is a poem-sequence working eloquently as a choir."
Thanks to Jake Morris-Campbell for his review of Helen Tookey & Martin Heslop's collaboration in the current issue of Poetry London. You can buy the pamphlet & CD here:
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
Thanks to Jake Morris-Campbell for his review of Helen Tookey & Martin Heslop's collaboration in the current issue of Poetry London. You can buy the pamphlet & CD here:
longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...
Texted my 23yo yesterday to tell her David Hockney had died. She replied ‘oh dear, that’s my day ruined’. She’s been a fan ever since seeing one of his pool paintings when she was quite little. I think that’s cool.
June 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Texted my 23yo yesterday to tell her David Hockney had died. She replied ‘oh dear, that’s my day ruined’. She’s been a fan ever since seeing one of his pool paintings when she was quite little. I think that’s cool.
Yay, the World Cup starts today. I mean the women’s T20 World Cup, obviously.
June 12, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Yay, the World Cup starts today. I mean the women’s T20 World Cup, obviously.
Bought this from Oxfam but didn’t notice it was signed until I got home. I love Matthew Sweeney’s writing so it’s nice to have this trace of him (even though I’m not Paul).
June 1, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Bought this from Oxfam but didn’t notice it was signed until I got home. I love Matthew Sweeney’s writing so it’s nice to have this trace of him (even though I’m not Paul).
The end of Isaac Asimov’s ‘Galley Slave’ (1957). The anti-robot academic is shown up as a liar and humiliated in court by Susan Calvin of US Robots, so on the face of it he’s the loser, on the wrong side of history. But I don’t think Asimov wants us to think it’s that simple…
May 31, 2026 at 6:57 PM
The end of Isaac Asimov’s ‘Galley Slave’ (1957). The anti-robot academic is shown up as a liar and humiliated in court by Susan Calvin of US Robots, so on the face of it he’s the loser, on the wrong side of history. But I don’t think Asimov wants us to think it’s that simple…
This is such an interesting piece, thank you @louisekenward.bsky.social . Nine months into chronic pain, I’m still floundering, trying to find some way of learning to inhabit an utterly changed landscape (and possibly write from it). It’s so valuable to know that others are doing the same.
I have a new essay up at @unibirmingham.bsky.social Arts of Place site. 'Art of the Marsh' considers how creative practice changes through illness. Here I visit the beach at Pett and sit on the bench dedicated to Fay Godwin.
#FayGodwin
more.bham.ac.uk/artsofplace/...
#FayGodwin
more.bham.ac.uk/artsofplace/...
Art of the Marsh – Arts of Place
more.bham.ac.uk
May 30, 2026 at 5:12 PM
This is such an interesting piece, thank you @louisekenward.bsky.social . Nine months into chronic pain, I’m still floundering, trying to find some way of learning to inhabit an utterly changed landscape (and possibly write from it). It’s so valuable to know that others are doing the same.
Oh, fuck off, Tony.
May 27, 2026 at 10:07 AM
Oh, fuck off, Tony.
‘A Meditation of Small Frogs’ by Charlotte Eichler, from Swimming Between Islands (@carcanet.bsky.social). @pollyrowena.bsky.social read this and thought of you!
May 25, 2026 at 1:49 PM
‘A Meditation of Small Frogs’ by Charlotte Eichler, from Swimming Between Islands (@carcanet.bsky.social). @pollyrowena.bsky.social read this and thought of you!