Adventus

Sue Vickerman has received three Arts Council (UK) awards for her poetry, novels and short stories. 'Passionate, laconic poetry' (UA Fanthorpe), 'salt-drenched - I loved it' (Sandi Toksvig), 'Excellent' (Bloodaxe's Neil Astley), 'piercingly topical - a glorious achievement' (Magnus Magnusson).
Sue Vickerman's latest poetry collection ADVENTUS is 24 poems which, though perennials, may be read as daily pre-Christmas reflections from 1st December. Reviews - 'A murder at Christmas', and the poet 'a wandering Orlando figure with a tsunamic sense of insecurity' (Yorkshire Times).

Sue Vickerman's first poetry collection SHAG was closely followed by THE SOCIAL DECLINE OF THE OYSTERCATCHER. Her novel SPECIAL NEEDS is a biting commentary on Englishness, snobbery, sex and identity.

KUNST, a poetry collection illustrated with life-drawings, is published under the name of fictional character 'Suki', the failed poet and jobbing artist's model (ageing, single, desperate) created by Sue Vickerman and with whom Sue also has a joint collection, THIN BONES LIKE WISH-BONES.

An international readership follows the 'Suki' character's online serialised life-story - a tale both funny and desolate. Read A SMALL LIFE, its sequel TWO SMALL LIVES, and the third volume TRUE LIFE NUDE at: sukithelifemodel.co.uk and watch Suki's movie shorts for free on Sue Vickerman's Amazon author-page.

Home is wherever Sue Vickerman hangs her hat, but her native Yorkshire in England's rugged post-industrial north always draws her back.

Do Christmas and all the build-up to it affect you emotionally, whether you were brought up in a Christian background or not? As Sue writes,
"Advent was at one time a dour season of prayer, fasting and penitence. For me a distinct melancholy hangs over our grey rainy islands during December's darkening days. Some people just enjoy the telly and the partying, and others doubtless try to ignore the whole thing. But I think there are also those who, like me, spend the festive season running an emotional gamut. Underlying the commercial clamour there's a nostalgic sense of loss; a wistfulness - not for how it used to be in Christmases past, but for how it might have been and never really was.
Adventus: the coming. These twenty-five poems reflect on Christmases past and current; on lives lived; on endings of years and of relationships; on beginnings, anxieties, hopes, and an uncertain future."
Though these poems are perennials, they also serve as daily Advent readings starting from the first day of December.