Sidekick Books

10/06/2025

There's just over a week to go in our latest submissions callout to poets, UK-based and beyond. If you'd like the chance to be part of Sidekick's hit '10 Poets' series, follow the link for more details of the latest two upcoming titles: 'Ten Poets Prowl the Seas in Search of Plunder', and 'Ten Poets Spend the Night in a Vampire's Castle'.

19/05/2025

SUBMISSIONS EXTENSION. Want to be part of the Ten Poets series? Fancy playing the part of Jacquotte Delahaye or Jonathan Harker? We've extended our latest call for submissions to 19 June. Share far and wide!

Submissions Call: Ten Poets Prowl the Seas in Search of Plunder and Ten Poets Spend the Night in a Vampire’s Castle DEADLINE: 18 MAY 19 JUNE 2025 The next two books in our hit 10 Poets series, set for a late summer and spooky November release respectively, take us to the realms of buoyant buccanee...

19/05/2025

Experimenting with new ebook versions of the books. Would you want to collect Sidekick titles on Kobo or Kindle?

25/11/2024

This Wednesday at ARU in Cambridge: two back-to-back reading events! The launch of a new Cambridge Writing Centre anthology, Future Perfect Tense, followed by Future Karaoke: Supernatural Beings, a quickfire round of poems and short, short stories inspired by banshees, pixies, black dogs, recaps and more! Join us in person if you're Cambridgeshire-based, or book to watch via Zoom. Both events are free, with wine and soft drinks for those physically attending.

Booking link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/future-karaoke-supernatural-beings-tickets-1064275419429

31/10/2024

Since 'Ten Poets Defend Their Cities From Giant Strange Beasts' came out within a month of Broken Sleep's 'Devastation Songs', it was a good excuse for Jon to dive into the history of giant monster poems!

Writing about huge monsters is one way of confronting the things that make us feel small and vulnerable.

29/10/2024

The next Future Karaoke, hosted by the Sidekick team and organised by Cambridge Writing Centre, will be 'Supernatural Beings': new poems and stories based on the extensive list of creatures in the 19th-century Denham tracts. It's on 27th November and will be a hybrid event, which means you can attend online. Booking/details: http://bit.ly/futurekaraoke9

03/10/2024

Inspired by this year's National Poetry Day theme, we're taking the giant leap of putting out a call for submissions for the next book in Sidekick's 10 Poets series. Join a group of specially selected poet-astronauts on the launchpad ...

Details: https://sidekickbooks.com/booklab/submissions/

03/09/2024

Four new titles -- our first in two years -- released this week, in the form of the Ten Poets series! Ten Poets Defend Their Cities from Giant, Strange Beasts. Ten Poets Get to the Bottom of Some Grisly Crimes. Ten Poets Tell You Their Favourite Ghost Story. Ten Poets Charm the Pants off Ten Historical Figures.

So many very exciting and varied poets! Just for starters: Clare Pollard, Vasiliki Albedo, Kym Deyn, Geraldine Clarkson, Livia Franchini, Caleb Parkin, Matthew Haigh ...

More previews and content from these books are upcoming, but for now, do jump on in:

https://sidekickbooks.com/booklab/product-tag/10-poets/

03/04/2024

Future Karaoke: Polar Expedition is tonight! You can still book tickets, including for the Zoom broadcast, at bit.ly/futurekaraoke6 . Here's one final interactive poem. It's a 'vote-for-your-goddess poem', so it only works if multiple people get involved. The print version can be filled in with a pen, and for an online version I've made a Mentimeter poll: https://www.menti.com/al7omhzyuhwt

28/03/2024

Six-day rallying cry for Future Karaoke: Polar Expedition, a hybrid online/in-person reading event with local Cambridge poets and writers reading new work based on objects in the Polar Museum. Here's another interactive poem, based on a line from Apsley Cherry-Gerard's 'The Worst Journey in the World'.

20/03/2024

Out in the wild: some interactive poem posters for Future Karaoke: Polar Expedition, including 'vote-for-your-favourite-snow-goddess' and 'put-on-your-snow-goggles-to-see-through-the-icy-glare', a 3D poem!