C+NTO

Joelle Taylor

From Shelf: Polari Book Prize Shortlist 2022

WINNER OF THE T S ELIOT PRIZE 2021. Part-memoir, part-conjecture, Joelle Taylor investigates sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate.

WINNER OF THE T S ELIOT PRIZE 2021. The female body is a political space. C+nto enters the private lives of women from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests they led in the '90s to reclaim their bodies as their own - their difficult balance between survival and self-expression. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor's cantos to uncover these underground communities forged by women. Part-memoir and part-conjecture, Taylor explores sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate. C+nto is a love poem, a riot, a late night, and an honouring.