The Knives of Villalejo: Poetry - Softcover

Poetry. Twenty years in the writing, THE KNIVES OF VILLALEJO is Matthew Stewart's first full collection. Stretching from suburban Surrey to the vineyards of Extremadura, Spain, its poems' delicate syllablic structures belie the vast wells of emotion beneath. Throughout the collection, brevity and apparent simplicity pack an unexpected punch — each line, each poem, a perfectly poised, discrete drop, held together by the tensions of home and exile, then and now, before and after. Together, they form a pent-up storm.

Matthew Stewart lives between West Sussex and Extremadura. Following a comprehensive school education, he took a degree in Modern Languages at St Peter's College, Oxford. He works in the Spanish wine trade and has published two pamphlets with HappenStance Press (Inventing Truth, 2011 and Tasting Notes, 2012). He runs poetry blog Rogue Strands and has been published in Ambit, London Magazine and The Rialto. This is his first full collection.