Bad Betty Press

06/08/2025

They not only have an excellent small press business model, but act as a wonderful resources for poets

04/08/2025

Big congrats to Ciara Maguire, whose book IMPOSSIBLE HEAT () is longlisted for the First Book Prize, and congrats to everyone on the list 💗🌈

Pick up a copy of Impossible Heat from our website, or order it in to your local indie bookshop

25/07/2025

💫 Out 25th September:

WOMAN : PLANT : LANGUAGE by 🌿🌱🍄🪷

We’re so excited to bring Agata’s stunning debut collection into the world 💗

Part lullaby, part insurrection, Agata Masłowska’s dazzling poetry is powered by the drive to understand life at its deepest level, pre-human and beyond borders. To explode language, grasping what we can know in our bones and roots, and to live according to that knowing. Lyrically sublime, playfully provocative, the poems in Woman : Plant : Language disrupt form to challenge rampant authority, layering the lived experiences of womanhood, migration and war between the ripple of bryophytes, the songs of the soil, the fading call of endangered species. Masłowska’s work is myceliumesque, linking arms with Etel Adnan, Jane Hirshfield, Nan Shepherd, Anna Tsing and more, to flourish within a crystalline network of thinkers. An unforgettable debut, calling us back to the unspeakable world.

17/07/2025

We’re jumping for joy, and very proud to announce that Mum Does The Washing is shortlisted for best single poem performed at the this poem was filmed at Bad Betty Live by 💖🎉✨

Josh is an absolute legend of the poetry scene and this year he is on an incredible and deserved run. We couldn’t be happier to see this poem and collection receiving this well-deserved recognition. Congrats to all the poets and publishers shortlisted!

17/07/2025

We’re jumping for joy, and very proud to announce that Desree’s ALTAR has been shortlisted for the Prize for Best First Collection 💖🎉✨

Desree is not only an incredible writer, but also a generous artist who brings as much energy to helping writers develop and lifting community as she does to connecting with audiences in the UK and abroad. We couldn’t be happier to see her collection receiving this well-deserved recognition. Congrats to all the poets and publishers shortlisted!

14/07/2025

Our free workshop series in conjunction with Bad Ideas Club is back

A bad poem’s just an early draft...

Poets! Share new work, first drafts and ‘bad’ ideas in a warm, inclusive setting.

Come and join a professional poet for a relaxed poetry workshop where you can share your ideas and work on new projects.

Brought to us by Nottingham-based independent publishers Bad Betty Press.

Supported by funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Three libraries will host three workshops. Book your place for one or come along to all three!

With workshop leaders and

02/07/2025

BAD IDEAS CLUB IS BACK

Welcome to the Bad Ideas Club! ✍

Are you a budding (or experienced) poet looking for a friendly space to share your work? Join us for a series of workshops with Nottingham-based publishers Bad Betty Press , starting at Inspire Mansfield Central Library next month. Share your ideas and work on new projects without judgement - after all, a bad poem is just an early draft...

📅 Saturdays 9, 16 & 23 August
🕚 11am - 1pm
🎫 FREE, booking required

Find out more and book your space 👉 inspireculture.org.uk/BadIdeasClub

26/06/2025

💫 Happy publication day 💫

YOUNG, DUMB, AND FULL OF POEMS is born. “Give it to your best barista, throw it in the levers of the machine, read it in among the flourishing weeds that crack our concrete.” So Mayer

[N.B. The print run is winging its way to Bad Betty HQ a day or two behind schedule. If you’re pre-ordered copies, they’ll be with you in the coming days, and thanks for bearing with us!]

12/06/2025

Happy publication day 🎉 🎉
📷 (this photo is just too good!)

MUTABANI & [ ]THER POEMS is out in the world. Get a copy from us, from Francis-Xavier or order in to your local indie bookshop!

Trade orders via Central Books

06/06/2025

✨NEW EBOOK✨Animal Experiments, the breathtaking first collection by , is now available in EPUB form. Pick up a copy from our online shop or wherever you get your ebooks, and read it instantly! 🐜🪲🐞🐝

05/06/2025

“Weaving elegy and the immediate in an irresistible rhythm…” Lovely review of ’s Why I Am Not a Bus Driver in the Summer Bulletin, alongside & Jen Hadfield 😍 Thank you Jasmine Gray ❤️

04/06/2025

Hey loves. We’re grateful and relieved to have received a small project grant from Arts Council England, enabling us to roll out the core work we had planned for this year, including forthcoming publications from & , a UK poetry tour in October and November, in collaboration with , and free Bad Ideas Club workshops with . It’s been a bumpy ride to get here, and we couldn’t have done it without you. If you supported or shared our Crowdfunder, bought a book, ran a fundraiser ( ❤️), donated a performance, bought a ticket, helped promote our work or got in touch to send your solidarity, THANK YOU for helping us keep the lights on.